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Intrigues and Reforms in Muscovite Russia: Ivan the Terrible

Learn about Ivan the Terrible's reign, military conquests, the Oprichnina, and the turbulent aftermath leading to the Time of Troubles and rise of the Romanov dynasty in Imperial Russia.

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Intrigues and Reforms in Muscovite Russia: Ivan the Terrible

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  1. Russia: The Beginning

  2. Muscovite Russia

  3. Ivan IV (aka: Ivan the Terrible) • Became Grand Prince of Moscow at age 3 (1533) • So who actually did the ruling? Boyars. • Took the thrown as the Tsar of All Russia in 1547 • Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? He meant for it to. • For the first part of his reign, he was Ivan the Relatively Decent. • Married Anastasia Romanova, which displeased the boyars • Significant reforms • Established a representative system to seek advice and input • Developed a legal code designed to eliminate corruption • Reorganized the military (reduced importance of social standing and replaced it with system based on rank, merit, and service) • The Council of Hundred Chapters (designed to regulate the Orthodox Church)

  4. Ivan the Terrible

  5. Ivan the Terrible at War • Launched expansionist attacks against neighbors • Dramatically expanded territory in the East • Failures in Expansion – Let’s go to the map • Livonia (modern-day Estonia and Latvia) • Conflict with the Crimean Tatars • Failures led to defection • Ivan gets paranoid (btw, historians think he might have been mentally ill) • Are the boyars plotting against him because he limited their power?! • Why won’t they swear allegiance to his son, Dmitrii?! • Why were the circumstances of his wife’s death so mysterious?!

  6. The Oprichnina (1565-1572) • Ivan (now he’s Terrible) fled Moscow in 1564 and threw a tantrum • Abdicated power • Denounced boyars • Stole money from the treasury • Broke with the Orthodox church • Said he’d only come back if they let him create an Oprichnina (separate government structure that he alone would control) • In 1565, he gets his own kindgom • Comprised initially of Moscow • Later more land is added

  7. The Oprichniki • Army of political police • Absolute allegiance to Ivan • Are you ready for the coolest detail? • Cloaked entirely in black and rode only black steeds • What did they do? • Destroyed enemies • Carried out Ivan’s political will • Purged his kingdom of treasonous nobles

  8. Ivan the Terrible: The Aftermath • Tortured, exiled, and executed tens of thousands of Russians • Ravaged Russia’s social structure • Devastated its economy • Created a power vacuum (killed or exiled so many powerful families) • Extensive property damage • Looting and random land confiscation discouraged agriculture • Famine • Distrust of the tsar

  9. Aftermath Continued • What happened to Ivan V? • Ivan the Terrible died in 1584 • His second son, Theodore took the throne • The problem with Theodore? • “Feeble in both intellect and body.”

  10. Tsar Theodore (1557-1598) • Ruled from 1584-1598. • He was weak and obsessed with religious ceremony.

  11. Boris Gudunov • 1551 – 1605 • Ruled as regent from1598 – 1605 • His sister married the tsar • Eliminated his enemies in royal council of advisors

  12. Boris Gudunov, Continued • Secured Russia’s prominence in the Orthodox Church • Got permission from the Patriarch of Constantinople to create a separate Patriarch of Moscow • Nice way to kiss up to the pious Theodore • Prince Dmitrii killed – foul play suspected. Why? • He was nine and his throat was slit. • But it meant that Theodore had no heirs • Gudunov kindly volunteered to step in and take care of the throne for a while

  13. The Time of Troubles (1598 – 1613) • What made them so troubling? • Famine (killed off 1/3 of Russian population) • Economic crisis • “Peasant flight” (side note: this could’ve been better phrased) • A succession crisis • No living biological heir to the throne • Numerous challenges to Gudunov’s rule • The Series of Faux Dmitriis • Poland found itself a faux Dmitrii and tried to install him as a puppet Tsar under its control • Faux Polish Dmitrii was in power briefly when Gudunov died but was put to death by PrinchVasiliShuisky

  14. The End of the Troubles • Polish and Swedish forces expelled in the winter of 1612 • ZemskiiSobor (early form of parliament) • Formed to establish a legitimate government • Elected Michael Romanov (and where did he come from?)

  15. Imperial Russia

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