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Soviet Union [USSR] Ivan IV
The development of the tsar's autocratic powers reached a
culmination during the reign of Ivan IV. Ivan, who became known as
"the Terrible" or "the Dread," strengthened the position of the
tsar to an unprecedented degree, thus demonstrating the risks of
unbridled power in the hands of an unbalanced individual. Although
apparently intelligent and energetic, he suffered from bouts of
paranoia and depression, and his rule was prone to extreme
violence.
Ivan IV became grand prince of Muscovy in 1533 at the age of
three. Various
boyar (see Glossary) factions competed for control
over the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547. Reflecting
Muscovy's new imperial claims, Ivan was crowned tsar in an
elaborate ritual modeled after the coronation of the Byzantine
emperors. Ivan continued to be assisted by a group of boyars, and
his reign began a series of useful reforms. During the 1550s, a new
law code was promulgated, the military was revamped, and local
government was reorganized. These reforms were undoubtedly intended
to strengthen Muscovy in the face of continuous warfare.
During the late 1550s, Ivan became angry with his advisers, the
government, and the boyars. Historians have not determined whether
his wrath was caused by policy differences, personal animosities,
or mental imbalance. In any case, he divided Muscovy into two
parts: his private domain and the public realm. For his private
domain, Ivan chose some of the most prosperous and important
districts in Muscovy. In these areas, Ivan's agents attacked
boyars, merchants, and even common people, summarily executing them
and confiscating their land and possessions. A decade of terror
descended over Muscovy. As a result of the
oprichnina (see Glossary), Ivan broke the economic
and political power of the
leading boyar families, thereby destroying precisely those persons
who had built up Muscovy and were the most capable of running it.
Trade was curtailed, and peasants, faced with mounting taxes and
physical violence, began to leave central Muscovy. Efforts to
curtail the mobility of the peasants brought Muscovy closer to
legal serfdom. In 1572 Ivan finally abandoned the practices
followed during the oprichnina.
Despite domestic turmoil, Muscovy continued to wage wars and to
expand. Ivan defeated and annexed the Kazan' Khanate in 1552 and
later the Astrakhan' Khanate. With these victories, Muscovy gained
access to the entire Volga River littoral and Central Asia.
Muscovy's expansion eastward encountered relatively little
resistance. In 1581 the Stroganov merchant family, interested in
the fur trade, hired a
cossack (see Glossary) leader, Ermak, to
lead an expedition into western Siberia. Ermak defeated the
Siberian Khanate and claimed the territories west of the Ob' and
Irtysh rivers for Muscovy
(see
fig. 3).
Expanding northwest toward the Baltic Sea proved to be much
more difficult. In 1558 Ivan invaded Livonia, which eventually
embroiled him in a twenty-five-year war against Poland, Lithuania,
Sweden, and Denmark. Despite occasional successes, Ivan's army was
pushed back, and Muscovy failed to secure a position on the Baltic
Sea. The war drained Muscovy. Some historians believe that the
oprichnina was initiated to mobilize resources for the war
and to counter opposition to it. In any case, Ivan's domestic and
foreign policies were devastating for Muscovy, and they led to a
period of social struggle and civil war, the so-called Time of
Troubles (1598-1613).
Data as of May 1989
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