Ivan the Terrible by Viktor Vasnetsov 
**Ivan IV Vasilyevich** (25 August 1530 – 28 March 1584), more often known in English as **Ivan the Terrible**, was the first Tsar (Emperor) of Russia. He was the Grand Prince of Moscow before that. He was called Ivan the Terrible because in those days the word terrible meant "formidable" or "fearsome", not "really bad". This is comes from his Russian nickname *Ivan Grozny*, which also means "Ivan the Formidable".

Life
----

Ivan became the Grand Prince of Moscow when he was just three years old. When he was young, a group of Russian nobles ran the country in his place. In those days, Russia was divided into many kingdoms like Moscow. At the age of 16, Ivan and his government changed his title to Tsar of all Russia. Over the next few years, Ivan took full control of the government and conquered lands to the east of the Tatars. He began turning Russia from a divided group of kingdoms into an empire with one powerful ruler, at the cost of many lives. He died in 1584 at age of 54, Nevertheless, he remains the longest ruling Russian leader in Russian History.

Wars
----

In 1558-63, Russia fought countries to the west in the Livonian War. They lost lands around the Baltic Sea to the west, but the war gave Ivan more control over his own country. Ivan was harsh towards the Russian nobles (known as the *boyars*). He executed many and took lands from others in order to make himself more powerful. This was known as the *oprichnina*, and it was done by his private army called the *Oprichniks*. In 1570 Ivan and the Oprichniks also killed many people in Novgorod, a city he thought was not being loyal to him. Later in his reign, Russia had battles with the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Tatars and conquered more lands to the east, including Siberia. Ivan also increased trade with England and set up Russia's first printing press.

Ivan was known to get very angry at times. His behaviour seems to have varied a lot, as he could at times be intelligent and quiet. His mental health became worse in the second half of his reign, especially after the death of his first wife Anastasia in 1560. It is believed that during one of his rages he caused the death of his son and heir Ivan as well as the same son's unborn son. His other son Feodor would be the next Tsar. Feodor was a weak ruler, and this led to a war called the Time of Troubles.

| * v
* t
* e
List of Russian monarchs |
| --- |
| Grand Princes | 
* Yuri Dolgorukiy
* Andrei I Bogolyubsky
* Mikhail of Vladimir
* Vsevolod the Big Nest
* Yuri II of Vladimir
* Konstantin of Rostov
* Yuri II of Vladimir
* Yaroslav II of Vladimir
* Sviatoslav III of Vladimir
* Andrey II of Vladimir
* Alexander Nevsky
* Yaroslav of Tver
* Vasily of Kostroma
* Dmitry of Pereslavl
* Andrey of Gorodets
* Mikhail of Tver
* Yuri of Moscow
* Dmitry the Terrible Eyes
* Alexander of Tver
* Ivan I
* Simeon the Proud
* Ivan II
* Dmitry of Suzdal
* Dmitry Donskoy
* Vasily I
* Vasily II
* Ivan III the Great
* Vasily III
* Ivan IV
 |
| Tsars | 
* Ivan IV the Terrible
* Simeon Bekbulatovich (one year only as a puppet monarch of Ivan IV)
* Ivan IV the Terrible
* Feodor I
* Boris
* Feodor II
* *False Dmitry I* (*also as* **Emperor**)
* Vasili IV
* *Vladislav*
* Michael
* Alexis
* Feodor III
* Peter I *and* Ivan V (co-rulers)
 |
| Emperors and Empresses | 
* Peter I the Great
* Catherine I
* Peter II
* Anna
* Ivan VI
* Elizabeth
* Peter III
* Catherine II the Great
* Paul I
* Alexander I
* Nicholas I
* Alexander II
* Alexander III
* Nicholas II
 |

| Authority control Edit this at Wikidata |
| --- |
| International | 
* FAST
* ISNI
	+ 2
* VIAF
* WorldCat Identities

 |
| National | 
* Norway
* Chile
* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Catalonia
* Germany
* Italy
* Israel
* Belgium
* United States
* Sweden
* Latvia
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Australia
* Greece
* Croatia
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Vatican

 |
| Academics | 
* CiNii

 |
| Artists | 
* MusicBrainz artist

 |
| People | 
* Germany
* Trove

 |
| Other | 
* SNAC
* IdRef

 |