It was only at the beginning of the 16th century that Russia finally broke away from Mongol rule and established a unified state centered on the Principality of Moscow. In 1547, Ivan IV became the first Russian tsar to be officially crowned. During his reign, he used foreign troops for many years, which expanded the territory of Russia, which was originally a remote corner of Eastern Europe. For the first time, the Volga became an inland river in Russia, and most of siberia was encroached upon. Ivan IV had a violent and cruel personality and was known as "Ivan the Terrible" (or ivan the terrible).
When Ivan was three years old, his father died, so he inherited the grand dukedom of Moscow and all of Russia at the age of three, known as Ivan IV. He is fierce and suspicious, arbitrary and cruel. This has an important bearing on ivan IV's early life. Before he was 17 years old, he could be said to have lived in darkness.
Ivan IV's mother, Yelena, fought with several of his uncles to maintain Ivan's throne, and as a result, Yelena was poisoned when Ivan IV was 8 years old. Poor Ivan was suddenly orphaned again, and the great nobles were even more unscrupulous. In order to be able to sway the young princes and control the wealth and power of the imperial court, the nobles engaged in fierce open and secret struggles. Ivan grew up in such a sinister environment.
As a young man, he witnessed the darkness and ugliness of court life prematurely, and he often used cruel actions to vent his dissatisfaction. He would kill the birds one by one with a knife, or stand on a high wall and throw the puppies to death. When he was 13 years old, he released his vicious dog and bit the imperial uncle Iski, who was in charge of the government, alive.
After Ivan IV first ascended to the throne, in order to strengthen the imperial power, he implemented a policy of terror throughout the country, and inevitably killed many innocent civilians. Tens of thousands of people were executed by torture such as spikes, cannon burns, live digging, cramps and caesarean sections, thus earning the title of "Ivan the Terrible".
It is said that once, the suspicious Ivan IV, suspecting that a prince was going to poison himself, took the prince, his wife and two sons, forced the family to take turns drinking the poison juice, and then witnessed them fall to the ground convulsing and dying. When a few palace maids next to him cried out in fright, Ivan ordered someone to strip the women of their clothes and execute them.
On another occasion, Ivan IV suddenly suspected that his imperial physician might be equipped with poison, so he ordered that the imperial doctor be burned. He ordered the doctor to be tied to a wooden pole, put it in the fire and roasted, roasted the back and then roasted the front chest. Ivan moved a chair and sat down, sniffing the smell and listening to the screams, admiring with great interest the whole process of the imperial doctor's transformation from living person to coke.
One day, Ivan IV wanted to appreciate the whole process of black bears eating live people, so he put a few priests who were disrespectful to him in a courtyard with four walls, and then drove a few black bears into the courtyard. The black bears pounced on the priests, tore their black robes to shreds, pulled out their internal organs, threw them aside and did not eat them, and then twisted the priests' heads off, threw them aside and did not eat, and then ate the limbs and trunks of the priests.
On the morning of March 18, 1584, Ivan the Terrible, as usual, sent one of his cronies to the witch to see the astrological omens, and was subsequently rewarded with the auspicious omens of today's horoscopes. Ivan the Terrible was very happy to hear this, and went out to entertain for half a day, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Ivan the Terrible went to take a bath. Ivan the Terrible's singing was constantly heard in the bathhouse, and his mood was very good.
At about seven o'clock, Ivan the Terrible came out of the bath with a radiant look, sat down on the bed, and summoned his men to bring chess and play chess. While he was concentrating on playing chess, an accident occurred, and his hand holding the chess piece suddenly trembled, and then fell on his back, quickly stopping breathing. The news of Ivan the Terrible's violent death soon spread throughout the country, causing all kinds of suspicion and discussion.
In 1963, during the restoration of the Arkhangelsk Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, some of the mausoleums of Ivan the Terrible and others were opened, and a chemical analysis of Ivan's remains was carried out, which showed that there were a large number of mercury molecules in the remains, thus confirming that Ivan IV was poisoned.
Although Ivan IV was tyrannical and cruel, and his wrists were iron-blooded, Ivan IV was a very highly educated and idealistic person. During the reign of Ivan IV, in addition to cracking down on the power of the nobility and abolishing the privileges of the nobility, he also vigorously promoted culture and art, and made great contributions to the development of Russia's cultural undertakings. He achieved many extraordinary achievements in his lifetime, and finally led Russia to the ranks of European powers.