WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.560 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take a figure 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:05.320 from history so monumental that their name has 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:10.080 become this simple, really misleading summary 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:12.820 of their life. We are talking about a monarch 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:16.219 who created a colossal empire, who transitioned 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:19.780 his state from a regional principality to a world 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.260 power. And at the same time, dismantled his own 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:25.039 stability through sheer unchecked paranoia and 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:28.640 terror. Today, we are wrestling with Ivan Vasilievich. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.579 For five whole decades, he ruled Muscovy. And 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:33.659 yet for centuries, the only thing the West has 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:36.119 really called him is the terrible. Our mission 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:38.320 today is to cut through that simple, you know, 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:41.240 that damning label and explore the staggering 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.619 contradictions. We've looked through a massive 00:00:43.619 --> 00:00:45.799 stack of sources. Everything. Everything from 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:48.780 early governmental decrees and complex siege 00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:52.049 tactics. to forensic analyses of his actual remains. 00:00:52.329 --> 00:00:55.030 Our goal for you, the learner, is to synthesize 00:00:55.030 --> 00:00:57.750 these competing narratives. The brilliant architect 00:00:57.750 --> 00:01:00.670 of the centralized Russian state versus the unstable, 00:01:00.869 --> 00:01:03.549 murderous despot who killed his own heir. We 00:01:03.549 --> 00:01:05.750 need to follow the path he took from a promising 00:01:05.750 --> 00:01:09.409 young reformer to the ultimate symbol of Russian 00:01:09.409 --> 00:01:11.530 autocracy. And we have to start where all the 00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:14.549 confusion and, frankly, the historical bias begins. 00:01:15.370 --> 00:01:18.170 that name, let's analyze what the original Russian 00:01:18.170 --> 00:01:20.590 word for his epithet truly reveals about his 00:01:20.590 --> 00:01:22.989 historical role. Let's begin at the dictionary 00:01:22.989 --> 00:01:26.349 then. When we say Ivan the Terrible, we're using 00:01:26.349 --> 00:01:28.730 an English word that has evolved to mean, you 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:31.890 know, defective, evil, or just plain bad. Right. 00:01:31.989 --> 00:01:35.170 But we know that's a severely archaic and, at 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:36.909 the end of the day, a misleading translation 00:01:36.909 --> 00:01:40.659 of the Russian Grozny. That nuance is the absolute 00:01:40.659 --> 00:01:43.319 starting point for any analysis of Ivan IV. I 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:45.180 mean, if you walk away with just one key insight, 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:47.640 let it be this one. The translation is where 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:49.640 the Western narrative, which was often rooted 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:51.359 in political opposition, just went completely 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.180 off the rails. When the epithet was applied to 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:56.920 Ivan in the 16th century, it did not carry the 00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.920 modern negative connotation at all. So if it 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.939 wasn't a condemnation, what was it? Give us the 00:02:02.939 --> 00:02:05.680 precise meaning that a 16th century Muscovite 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.370 subject would have understood. It was an affirmation 00:02:08.370 --> 00:02:12.969 of supreme power and capability. It meant inspiring 00:02:12.969 --> 00:02:17.270 fear or terror, but in a highly positive, formidable 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:20.789 sense. Formidable. Exactly. Dangerous, powerful, 00:02:20.889 --> 00:02:23.550 or probably most accurately, awe -inspiring. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.439 It's a word meant to suggest a sovereign capable 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:29.259 of immense strength who keeps order through a 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:31.680 healthy dose of fear. OK. We know that Vladimir 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.439 Dahl in his famous dictionary, he defined the 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:37.979 archaic usage specifically for czars as courageous, 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.659 magnificent, magisterial and keeping enemies 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:44.819 in fear, but people in obedience. That shifts 00:02:44.819 --> 00:02:47.120 the entire dynamic. It's not about moral failing. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.199 It's about political capability. Exactly. But 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.590 if he was merely. awe -inspiring, why did the 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:54.189 Western powers, especially during a hostile conflict 00:02:54.189 --> 00:02:56.849 like the Livonian War, immediately seize on this 00:02:56.849 --> 00:02:59.930 narrative of a sadistic despot? Wasn't this rooted 00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:01.889 in some truth about its temperament, or was it 00:03:01.889 --> 00:03:04.090 purely political spin? Well, it was a blend, 00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:06.129 but the political element is just undeniable. 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:08.050 The sources confirm that the negative image gained 00:03:08.050 --> 00:03:10.330 significant traction because of politicized Western 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:12.889 travel literature of the time. Right, the propaganda 00:03:12.889 --> 00:03:15.419 machine. Anti -Russian propaganda during the 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:18.139 Livonian War seized on the ambiguity of the name 00:03:18.139 --> 00:03:20.840 to portray him as this unpredictable, almost 00:03:20.840 --> 00:03:24.819 oriental tyrant. They took Grozny and translated 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:27.460 it to the most negative term available to justify 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:29.719 their own foreign intervention and containment. 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:32.610 So the translation was a weapon. It was an intentional 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:35.909 tool of foreign policy, not some neutral descriptor 00:03:35.909 --> 00:03:38.389 of his personality. That sets the stage perfectly 00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:40.610 for understanding his traumatic origin story. 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:44.729 He succeeded his father, Vasily III, in 1533 00:03:44.729 --> 00:03:46.810 when he was just three years old. And he was 00:03:46.810 --> 00:03:50.090 effectively an orphan by age eight. In 1538, 00:03:50.289 --> 00:03:53.180 his mother, Elena Glenskaya, died, and it was 00:03:53.180 --> 00:03:55.400 very likely she was poisoned by rival factions. 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:58.300 Wow. This left a vacuum, and the most powerful 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:01.000 noble families, the Boyars, immediately rushed 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.219 in to seize control of the regency. This period 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:05.460 of the Boyar feuds is crucial, isn't it? Because 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:08.219 it seems to lay the psychological groundwork 00:04:08.219 --> 00:04:10.840 for his later deep -seated paranoia against the 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.280 aristocracy. Absolutely. The feuding families, 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:16.600 particularly the Shuski and Belski clans, fought 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:19.120 ruthlessly for control of the court and the state, 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.110 and the sources confirm that during this critical 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:25.069 formative time Ivan and his younger brother Yuri 00:04:25.069 --> 00:04:28.870 were subjected to just profound neglect. He wasn't 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:30.930 just neglected from what I read he felt utterly 00:04:30.930 --> 00:04:34.139 unprotected and humiliated. His own words in 00:04:34.139 --> 00:04:36.920 his famous and famously debated letters to the 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.399 defected boyar Andrei Kerbsky are probably the 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.160 most visceral evidence of this trauma. Right. 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:45.779 The authenticity is debated, but the narrative 00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:47.759 is what matters here. Whether they're entirely 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:50.060 authentic or highly stylized, this narrative 00:04:50.060 --> 00:04:53.300 dominated his consciousness. He claims, my brother 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:55.439 eerie of blessed memory and me, they brought 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.459 up like vagrants and children of the poorest. 00:04:57.540 --> 00:05:00.139 What have I suffered for want of garments and 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:03.139 food? That experience of being the rightful heir, 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:05.779 yet being treated with contempt by these self 00:05:05.779 --> 00:05:07.560 -serving nobles who were supposed to serve him, 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:10.040 that must have fostered an unshakable belief 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:12.220 in the treachery of the hereditary aristocracy. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.319 Correct. That foundational trauma was the crucible. 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:18.980 It led to his absolute conviction that state 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:21.740 stability required absolute centralized authority, 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:25.480 answerable only to God, and certainly not to 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:28.060 squabbling nobles. That changes definitively 00:05:28.060 --> 00:05:31.769 in 1547. Not only did he assume control, but 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:34.029 he changed the game by changing his title. At 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:36.589 16, he was crowned at the Cathedral of the Dormition, 00:05:36.610 --> 00:05:39.490 and he took the title Tsar and Grand Prince of 00:05:39.490 --> 00:05:43.310 all Russia. Why was dropping Grand Prince for 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:46.149 Tsar such a powerful, even revolutionary political 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:48.500 statement? it was a declaration of theological 00:05:48.500 --> 00:05:52.000 and jew political supremacy the old title grand 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.480 prince it just implied a regional leader or maybe 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.939 a subordinate among equals right the titles are 00:05:56.939 --> 00:05:59.319 derived from the roman caesar immediately connected 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.519 him to the great imperial traditions of byzantium 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:04.230 and rome And critically, it was also the term 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:06.709 used in Russian sources for the Tatar Khan. So 00:06:06.709 --> 00:06:08.829 he was equating himself with the most formidable 00:06:08.829 --> 00:06:11.470 rulers of both East and West, simultaneously 00:06:11.470 --> 00:06:14.029 declaring Muscovy the successor to Byzantium 00:06:14.029 --> 00:06:16.589 and the Golden Horde. Exactly. The political 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:19.250 effect, as historian Janet Martin notes, was 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:22.110 to elevate Ivan's position far beyond that of 00:06:22.110 --> 00:06:23.689 a mere king. And the religious implications. 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:26.610 Oh, they were profound. By linking himself to 00:06:26.610 --> 00:06:28.990 the heavenly czar, which is Christ, and to Old 00:06:28.990 --> 00:06:31.769 Testament kings, he cemented his role as a... 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.980 divinely appointed leader. This concept of divine 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:38.540 absolute autocracy benefited every single Russian 00:06:38.540 --> 00:06:40.660 ruler who came after him. And this relentless 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:43.439 search for ultimate legitimacy led to the fabrication 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.589 of a grand mythological family history right 00:06:46.589 --> 00:06:49.170 like so many other european monarchs of the era 00:06:49.170 --> 00:06:51.649 ivan commissioned and promoted these mythological 00:06:51.649 --> 00:06:54.829 genealogies notably the tale of the princes of 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:57.889 vladimir this tale traced the rurikid lineage 00:06:57.889 --> 00:07:00.129 all the way back to a fictional connection with 00:07:00.129 --> 00:07:03.050 the roman emperor augustus via an alleged brother 00:07:03.050 --> 00:07:05.850 named pruss these were deliberate intentional 00:07:05.850 --> 00:07:08.089 efforts to solidify the status of the russian 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:10.370 monarch as comparable to any ruler in europe 00:07:10.370 --> 00:07:12.730 countering that notion that muscovy was some 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:15.819 peripheral barbaric It is deeply ironic that 00:07:15.819 --> 00:07:18.800 this newly crowned, divinely authorized and deeply 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.560 traumatized czar begins his reign not with retribution, 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:25.439 but with bureaucracy, law and modernization. 00:07:25.860 --> 00:07:29.360 The early years, the chosen council era, are 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.399 marked by systematic state building. Let's unpack 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.699 the initial structural changes Ivan implemented 00:07:34.699 --> 00:07:37.500 to create the modern Russian state. The genius 00:07:37.500 --> 00:07:40.350 of Ivan IV is found right here. The man who later 00:07:40.350 --> 00:07:43.089 destroyed the state began by laying its solid 00:07:43.089 --> 00:07:46.050 legal and administrative foundations. His first 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.329 major legislative act was the revision of the 00:07:48.329 --> 00:07:50.730 legal code, which led to the issuance of the 00:07:50.730 --> 00:07:53.769 Sudebnik of 1550. Okay, what was the real political 00:07:53.769 --> 00:07:55.990 function of the Sudebnik? It was all about national 00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:58.490 standardization and centralization. The previous 00:07:58.490 --> 00:08:00.990 legal code was fragmented, often subject to the 00:08:00.990 --> 00:08:04.009 arbitrary will of local feudal lords. The Sudebnik 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:07.279 of 1550. aimed to establish a unified system 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.160 of justice and administration across the rapidly 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:13.480 expanding realm. And crucially, it limited the 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:16.300 judicial power of the local nobles and strengthened 00:08:16.300 --> 00:08:18.699 the role of central appointed crown officials 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:21.740 in judicial matters. It guaranteed that the czar's 00:08:21.740 --> 00:08:24.139 will via his functionaries was enacted universally. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.279 So he was building up royal power while simultaneously 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:29.860 introducing what looked like consultative structures. 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:32.470 It's a bit of a contradiction. Precisely. He 00:08:32.470 --> 00:08:35.370 established the Zemsky Sobor, often seen as the 00:08:35.370 --> 00:08:38.049 first Russian parliament of feudal estates. It 00:08:38.049 --> 00:08:40.269 was a consultative assembly that drew representatives 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:43.370 from various classes, nobility, clergy, townsmen. 00:08:43.529 --> 00:08:46.110 He also governed closely through the chosen council, 00:08:46.309 --> 00:08:49.389 a body of trusted advisors. This suggests that 00:08:49.389 --> 00:08:51.690 the early Ivan, at least, recognized the pragmatic 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:54.250 value of seeking counsel and consent rather than 00:08:54.250 --> 00:08:57.070 just ruling by decree. And militarily, he created 00:08:57.070 --> 00:08:59.230 the institutional backbone of the future Russian 00:08:59.230 --> 00:09:01.610 army, the Streltsy. The Streltsy represented 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:05.110 a massive institutional step forward. It was 00:09:05.110 --> 00:09:07.409 the creation of the first Russian standing army. 00:09:07.830 --> 00:09:10.710 These troops were professionalized, equipped 00:09:10.710 --> 00:09:13.370 with modern firearms. A game changer. A total 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:15.789 game changer. It guaranteed Ivan a permanent 00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:18.590 military force ready to wage war and consolidate 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.809 control at a moment's notice without having to 00:09:21.809 --> 00:09:24.710 rely on those volatile feudal levies. And the 00:09:24.710 --> 00:09:27.600 church. On the ecclesiastical front, he strengthened 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:30.440 the Russian Orthodox Church's internal cohesion 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:32.320 through the Council of the Hundred Chapters, 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:36.519 the Staglovy Sobor of 1551, which standardized 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:39.379 rituals and ecclesiastical law across the vast 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:41.740 realm. These reforms weren't just about the center 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:44.519 of power in Moscow. They extended to how local 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:47.059 villages were managed, right? Yeah. To improve 00:09:47.059 --> 00:09:50.000 local administration and critically tax collection, 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:52.759 he introduced forms of local self -government 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:55.480 in rural areas, especially those populated by 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:58.139 state peasants. What did that look like? He replaced 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:01.159 the old, often corrupt system of local governors, 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:04.659 the Kormlunschiki, with local officials who were 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:07.600 actually elected by the peasantry. It was a pragmatic 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:10.000 move, really, designed to create an efficient 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:12.379 bureaucracy that could support the expanding 00:10:12.379 --> 00:10:15.370 state financially. That focus on modernization 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:18.129 extended into cultural life, but not without 00:10:18.129 --> 00:10:21.000 some pretty dramatic resistance. His attempt 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:23.659 to import the first printing press seems like 00:10:23.659 --> 00:10:26.500 a clear clash between the forces of progress 00:10:26.500 --> 00:10:29.419 and entrenched interests. Oh, it's a fantastic 00:10:29.419 --> 00:10:31.919 anecdote. It really demonstrates the difficulty 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:35.659 of centralized change. In 1553, Ivan ordered 00:10:35.659 --> 00:10:38.039 the establishment of the Moscow print yard and 00:10:38.039 --> 00:10:40.879 imported the first movable type printing press. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:43.440 With the idea of standardizing religious texts. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:45.759 Right, and advancing education. The job security 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.559 concerns of the 16th century were fierce. They 00:10:48.559 --> 00:11:12.039 were existential for the... So even the Tsar 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:14.179 couldn't just force it through. It shows that 00:11:14.179 --> 00:11:17.059 even a powerful czar could not overcome entrenched 00:11:17.059 --> 00:11:20.080 technological resistance immediately. Printing 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:23.399 only resumed much later, in 1568. Speaking of 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:25.960 entrenched interests and Ivan's legacy, we have 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.799 to discuss one of the most famous myths surrounding 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.740 him, the blinding of the architect of St. Basil's 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:33.919 Cathedral. Right. St. Basil's was commissioned 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.350 to commemorate the seizure of Kazan. And the 00:11:36.350 --> 00:11:39.169 legend states that Ivan had the architect, Postnik 00:11:39.169 --> 00:11:41.889 Yakovlev, blinded so he could never design anything 00:11:41.889 --> 00:11:44.470 as beautiful again. It perfectly captures that 00:11:44.470 --> 00:11:47.330 image of the unpredictable, jealous tyrant. But 00:11:47.330 --> 00:11:50.129 the sources debunk it entirely. They do. It's 00:11:50.129 --> 00:11:52.570 a powerful narrative for sure, but historically 00:11:52.570 --> 00:11:55.230 it's untrue. We know for a fact that Yakovlev 00:11:55.230 --> 00:11:57.549 went on to design more churches for Ivan and 00:11:57.549 --> 00:11:59.669 was responsible for designing the walls of the 00:11:59.669 --> 00:12:02.929 Kazan Kremlin in the early 1560s. The facts just 00:12:02.929 --> 00:12:05.610 don't support the myth. But the myth persists. 00:12:06.090 --> 00:12:07.850 Because it aligns with that preferred Western 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:10.730 narrative of Ivan the Terrible. Exactly. But 00:12:10.730 --> 00:12:13.070 the seeds of that monstrous transformation were 00:12:13.070 --> 00:12:15.830 planted early, right in the middle of this constructive 00:12:15.830 --> 00:12:19.289 period. The sources point to a single, critical 00:12:19.289 --> 00:12:21.850 moment that seems to have forever poisoned his 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:24.429 soul against the nobility. That moment occurred 00:12:24.429 --> 00:12:29.379 in 1553. Ivan suffered a serious, near -fatal 00:12:29.379 --> 00:12:32.480 illness, and assuming he was dying, he requested 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.179 that the Boyars swear immediate allegiance to 00:12:35.179 --> 00:12:38.240 his infant son, Dmitry. And they refused, or 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:40.159 at least many of the most powerful families refused. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.100 Many refused. They saw his health as hopeless, 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:44.860 and they were already positioning themselves 00:12:44.860 --> 00:12:47.700 for the inevitable regency battle. They feared 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:49.840 the power vacuum that would be filled by Dmitry's 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.340 maternal relatives, the Romanovs. They were playing 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:54.960 political games at his deathbed. Strategic political 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.529 games, yes. Ivan recovered, and this incident 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:01.029 must have confirmed every insult, every moment 00:13:01.029 --> 00:13:03.549 of neglect, and every fear of betrayal he had 00:13:03.549 --> 00:13:05.830 harbored since his childhood. It was the ultimate 00:13:05.830 --> 00:13:08.830 personal and political wound. It confirmed his 00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:11.950 profound distrust of the boyars, proving to him 00:13:11.950 --> 00:13:14.250 that the aristocracy placed their own power above 00:13:14.250 --> 00:13:16.350 the stability of the state and the life of the 00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:19.669 Tsar. And this event. This event provided the 00:13:19.669 --> 00:13:22.529 immediate psychological justification for all 00:13:22.529 --> 00:13:25.750 the later brutal reprisals, the institutionalized 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:28.509 terror, and the systematic elimination of perceived 00:13:28.509 --> 00:13:31.870 internal opposition, including the eventual killing 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:34.129 of Metropolitan Philip for daring to challenge 00:13:34.129 --> 00:13:37.669 his authority. The 1560s are when the pivot accelerates 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:41.090 from paranoia to outright terror, driven by external 00:13:41.090 --> 00:13:43.809 crises and personal heartbreak. What were the 00:13:43.809 --> 00:13:46.110 compounding factors, the perfect storm, really? 00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:49.059 that allowed Ivan's personal pathology to override 00:13:49.059 --> 00:13:52.460 his commitment to stable rule. Muscovy was buckling 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:54.620 under immense strain. We had a crushing drought 00:13:54.620 --> 00:13:56.860 and widespread famine. Military defeats in the 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.120 Livonian War were piling up. There were constant 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.960 draining Hotar invasions, and the economy was 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.120 suffering from a suffocating naval blockade. 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:06.759 So the state itself was volatile. Highly volatile. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:09.559 And then the ultimate personal blow that stripped 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:12.179 him of what many saw as his moral anchor. The 00:14:12.179 --> 00:14:14.700 death of his first wife, Anastasia Romanovna, 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:17.840 in 1560. She was a member of the Romanov family 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:20.399 and widely regarded as his tempering influence. 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:23.559 Now, whether or not she was truly poisoned, Ivan 00:14:23.559 --> 00:14:25.620 certainly believed the boyars were responsible. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:27.919 Which would have just poured fuel on the fire. 00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:31.259 It profoundly exacerbated his volatile temperament 00:14:31.259 --> 00:14:33.539 and drove him into a spiral of suspicion and 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:36.580 grief. If Anastasia's death fueled the grief, 00:14:36.759 --> 00:14:39.139 the defection of his closest military advisor, 00:14:39.379 --> 00:14:41.899 Andrei Kervsky, was the trigger for the opening. 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.580 Kerbsky was Ivan's confidant, and in 1564, he 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.480 defects to Lithuania. And he doesn't just defect, 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.960 he actively commands enemy forces and leads raids 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:54.919 against Russian territory. Wow. For Ivan, this 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:56.940 wasn't just treason, it was the ultimate personal 00:14:56.940 --> 00:14:59.860 confirmation that the nobility could never, ever 00:14:59.860 --> 00:15:02.899 be trusted. The only possible response, in his 00:15:02.899 --> 00:15:05.220 mind, was to destroy them institutionally. The 00:15:05.220 --> 00:15:07.759 creation of the Oprotnina began with this. This 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.259 theatrical display of political cunning, essentially 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.820 forcing the people to beg for his absolute rule. 00:15:13.059 --> 00:15:16.120 It was masterful political manipulation. In December 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.740 1564, Ivan stages a dramatic exit. He leaves 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.659 Moscow for Alexandrova Sloboda and announces 00:15:23.659 --> 00:15:26.659 his abdication, citing alleged embezzlement and 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:29.340 treason by the aristocracy and clergy. And the 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:32.100 boyars panicked. They immediately panicked, fearing 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:35.019 instability and public revolt. They sent envoys 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:38.139 begging him to return. And Ivan used this leverage 00:15:38.139 --> 00:15:42.059 to demand absolute power. Precisely. He agreed 00:15:42.059 --> 00:15:44.320 to return only on the condition that he be granted 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.000 the right to condemn and execute traitors and 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:49.740 confiscate their estates without any interference 00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:52.460 from the church or the boyar council. And that's 00:15:52.460 --> 00:15:54.559 when he decreed the creation of the opryknina. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.860 That was the moment. Let's define this institution. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.919 What exactly was the opryknina as a political 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:02.460 and geographical structure? It was a state within 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.480 a state. Oprignina means separate estate. Ivan 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.259 carved out a vast, separate territory, often 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:10.259 encompassing the wealthiest lands, especially 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:12.879 in the former Novgorod Republic, over which he 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:15.639 held exclusive, personal, and unchecked control. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.580 And the rest of the country? The rest of the 00:16:17.580 --> 00:16:19.919 country was called the Zemshina, and it was ruled 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.720 nominally by the Boyar Council. And the Oprishniki 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.039 were the instruments of this institutionalized 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.759 terror? They were Ivan's personal guard and security 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:30.879 police, originally a thousand strong, headed 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:34.379 by Malyuta Skuratov. They were instantly recognizable 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:37.980 in black attire, carrying dog heads and brooms 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:40.080 on their saddles. To symbolize their mission. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.899 To symbolize their role in sniffing out and sweeping 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:46.480 away treason. They were above the law, enjoying 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.860 extreme privileges, and dedicated to the systematic 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:53.299 purging of the old princely clans through execution, 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:56.379 exile, and forced tonsure. Which was basically 00:16:56.379 --> 00:16:58.779 political death. It permanently stripped a noble 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:01.279 of their power and status by forcing them into 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:04.029 monastic life. The sources detail not just the 00:17:04.029 --> 00:17:07.089 human cost, but the devastating economic consequences 00:17:07.089 --> 00:17:10.130 of this unbridled oppression. The economic disaster 00:17:10.130 --> 00:17:12.819 was comprehensive. Because the Oprichniki lacked 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:15.380 any accountability, their seizures were just 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:18.339 catastrophic for the rural economy. Contemporary 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:20.559 accounts highlight the level of unsustainable 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:23.519 extraction. They note that the Oprichniki forced 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:26.259 peasants to pay in one year as much as they used 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:28.859 to pay in 10. That level of immediate extraction 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:31.039 destroys the productive capacity of the land. 00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:34.119 It leads directly to famine. It guarantees ruin. 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:37.660 The oppression, compounded by the 1570 plague 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:40.740 epidemic and the ongoing war expenses, caused 00:17:41.069 --> 00:17:44.069 agricultural production to just plummet. The 00:17:44.069 --> 00:17:45.849 sources indicate that this economic collapse 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:48.109 led to the price of grain increasing roughly 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:50.769 tenfold across Muscovy. Laying the groundwork 00:17:50.769 --> 00:17:52.769 for the time of troubles. The absolute foundation 00:17:52.769 --> 00:17:55.349 for it. Yeah. The darkest moment of the Oprah 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:57.910 -Nina era, and the one that really cemented Ivan's 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:00.430 reputation as the terrible czar, was the sack 00:18:00.430 --> 00:18:04.069 of Novgorod in 1570. Ivan grew convinced, likely 00:18:04.069 --> 00:18:06.009 based on his paranoia, that there was a noble 00:18:06.009 --> 00:18:08.829 plot in Novgorod, a city with a history of democratic 00:18:08.829 --> 00:18:11.829 independence and wealth to defect to Lithuania. 00:18:12.029 --> 00:18:14.950 A plot that probably didn't exist. Modern historians 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:17.509 strongly doubt this plot ever existed. But the 00:18:17.509 --> 00:18:20.490 resulting massacre was horrifyingly real. For 00:18:20.490 --> 00:18:23.329 five weeks, the Oprichniki raided, tortured, 00:18:23.589 --> 00:18:25.990 and pillaged the city and the surrounding villages. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.579 Accounts describe men, women, and children being 00:18:29.579 --> 00:18:31.839 tied to sleighs and pushed into the freezing 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.500 Bolkhov River to drown. The casualty figures 00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:37.140 are famously disputed, which really speaks to 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:39.579 the difficulty of documenting state terror, doesn't 00:18:39.579 --> 00:18:42.019 it? Well, it does. The first Scoff Chronicle 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.339 provided a sensational estimate of 60 ,000 victims. 00:18:45.859 --> 00:18:48.460 However, modern historical research gives us 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:50.880 a much lower, though still horrific, estimate 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.920 of around 2 ,000 to 3 ,000 victims. And why the 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.150 lower number? It's based on demographic analysis, 00:18:56.589 --> 00:18:59.289 noting that the population of Novgorod was already 00:18:59.289 --> 00:19:02.210 severely depleted by prior crises, famine, and 00:19:02.210 --> 00:19:04.170 plague. But the takeaway is the same. The key 00:19:04.170 --> 00:19:06.430 takeaway is that whether it was 3 ,000 or 60 00:19:06.430 --> 00:19:09.130 ,000, it was an act of brutal, targeted political 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:11.609 terror that permanently destroyed Novgorod's 00:19:11.609 --> 00:19:13.849 economic and political importance. Given all 00:19:13.849 --> 00:19:16.809 this destruction, why did Ivan abolish the Oprugnina 00:19:16.809 --> 00:19:20.150 in 1572? Was it a pang of conscience, or did 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:22.710 the system simply stop working? While Ivan did 00:19:22.710 --> 00:19:25.049 show signs of spiritual remorse later on, he 00:19:25.049 --> 00:19:27.690 compiled lists of victims and sent them to monasteries 00:19:27.690 --> 00:19:30.349 for prayers. The primary motivation for abolition 00:19:30.349 --> 00:19:34.309 was pragmatic. Which was? Stark military failure. 00:19:35.309 --> 00:19:38.009 The Crimean Tatars exposed the fatal flaw in 00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:40.769 his design. Exactly. During the Russo -Crimean 00:19:40.769 --> 00:19:45.630 campaigns of 1571 and 1572, the Opachinki proved 00:19:45.630 --> 00:19:48.349 militarily inept against the regular forces of 00:19:48.349 --> 00:19:51.430 the Crimean Tatars and Ottomans. Their poor performance 00:19:51.430 --> 00:19:53.750 and their focus on internal purges at the expense 00:19:53.750 --> 00:19:56.670 of military coordination highlighted the system's 00:19:56.670 --> 00:19:59.490 failure to defend the empire's borders. So he 00:19:59.490 --> 00:20:01.950 realized the political system he created to purge 00:20:01.950 --> 00:20:04.470 his enemies couldn't actually save the state. 00:20:04.589 --> 00:20:06.809 from external destruction. Before we move on, 00:20:06.829 --> 00:20:09.829 we have to mention the brief but bizarre detour 00:20:09.829 --> 00:20:13.250 of Simeon Bikbultovich. Ah, yes. This incident 00:20:13.250 --> 00:20:16.869 in 1575 demonstrates Ivan's capacity for political 00:20:16.869 --> 00:20:19.430 manipulation even when the country was crumbling 00:20:19.430 --> 00:20:21.880 around him. So what did he do? Ivan proclaimed 00:20:21.880 --> 00:20:24.619 Simeon Begrulatovich, a Tatar statesman, as the 00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:26.859 grand prince of all Russia, while Ivan himself 00:20:26.859 --> 00:20:29.319 pretended to be a subordinate. He referred to 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:31.759 himself as Ivanets Vasilev, Prince of Moscow. 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:34.980 Why stage this elaborate shell game? The English 00:20:34.980 --> 00:20:37.579 envoy Giles Fletcher suggested it was a political 00:20:37.579 --> 00:20:40.059 maneuver designed to confiscate the massive wealth 00:20:40.059 --> 00:20:43.240 of the church. Simeon, acting as a nominal ruler, 00:20:43.420 --> 00:20:46.359 confiscated vast lands belonging to monasteries. 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:49.180 And then Ivan steps back in. When Ivan formally 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:51.099 restored himself to the throne the next year, 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:54.160 he publicly claimed to oppose the seizure and 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:57.680 return some estates, but retained a massive portion 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:59.980 for the crown. So he could grab the land without 00:20:59.980 --> 00:21:02.380 technically committing sacrilege himself. Exactly. 00:21:02.380 --> 00:21:05.160 A brilliant, cynical move. The contrast between 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:07.480 the internal destruction wrought by the Oprotnina 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:10.099 and the external consolidation of the empire 00:21:10.099 --> 00:21:13.500 is what defines Ivan's reign. He was a brilliant 00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:16.250 strategic conqueror. Let's start with his single 00:21:16.250 --> 00:21:19.130 greatest strategic success, consolidating the 00:21:19.130 --> 00:21:22.529 entire Volga River system. The Volga conquests 00:21:22.529 --> 00:21:25.369 were absolutely transformative and primarily 00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:27.950 motivated by security. The Kazan -Kanadi forces 00:21:27.950 --> 00:21:30.609 were a constant threat. They raided northeastern 00:21:30.609 --> 00:21:33.630 Russia 40 times in the early 16th century alone. 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:37.119 Including that catastrophic raid of 1521. Right, 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:41.200 which captured over 150 ,000 slaves. Muscovites 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.920 simply could not be secure or develop economically 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:46.599 while these powerful successor states of the 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:49.140 Golden Horde controlled the vital river trade 00:21:49.140 --> 00:21:53.579 routes. The conquest of Kazan in 1552 was a colossal 00:21:53.579 --> 00:21:56.000 military undertaking. I mean, the preparation 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.339 alone sounds like a modern logistical marvel. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:01.119 It was years in the making. Ivan secured diplomatic 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.940 neutrality from the powerful Nogai horde first, 00:22:04.140 --> 00:22:06.539 but the true engineering feat was the construction 00:22:06.539 --> 00:22:10.099 of the wooden fortress of Sviatsk. A prefabricated 00:22:10.099 --> 00:22:12.900 city, essentially. Exactly. The entire wooden 00:22:12.900 --> 00:22:15.599 fortress was constructed far away, disassembled 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:17.839 into sections, floated hundreds of miles down 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.460 the Volga, and then rapidly reassembled near 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:24.039 Kazan in 1551. Incredible. This provided an immediate 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:26.700 secure staging area for the final siege. And 00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:29.200 the siege tactics were highly sophisticated for 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.740 the - time. They employed advanced European techniques, 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.180 heavily utilizing foreign military engineers. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.440 They used massive battering rams, built a towering 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.500 siege tower and executed sophisticated undermining 00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:43.019 strategies to breach the thick walls. And artillery. 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:46.599 A formidable artillery train of around 150 cannons 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:50.200 provided sustained bombardment. Kazan fell on 00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:54.970 October 2, 1552. And Ivan insured The victory 00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:57.349 had profound religious and imperial symbolism. 00:22:57.549 --> 00:23:00.369 Oh, yes. He ordered the crescent, the traditional 00:23:00.369 --> 00:23:02.730 symbol of Islam, to be placed underneath the 00:23:02.730 --> 00:23:06.029 Christian cross on Orthodox church domes, symbolizing 00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:08.569 the victory of Christianity over the Muslim successor 00:23:08.569 --> 00:23:11.410 states. So it was a clear message. A very clear 00:23:11.410 --> 00:23:13.950 message. This conquest, followed by Astrakhan 00:23:13.950 --> 00:23:17.450 in 1556, transformed Muscovy into an empire, 00:23:17.690 --> 00:23:20.410 giving it control of the entire Volga and radically 00:23:20.410 --> 00:23:22.670 altering the balance of power on the Eurasian 00:23:22.670 --> 00:23:25.619 steppe. With the east secured, Ivan turned west, 00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:28.400 initiating the Livonian War to secure access 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.140 to the lucrative Baltic Sea trade routes. This 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.420 proved to be his great strategic failure. The 00:23:33.420 --> 00:23:36.599 war was a catastrophic drain. It lasted 24 years, 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:39.279 involving Sweden, Denmark, and the Polish -Lithuanian 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:42.099 Commonwealth. Ivan just underestimated the resources 00:23:42.099 --> 00:23:44.400 required and the determination of his opponents. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:46.480 And compounding the war with the Oprichnina. 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.180 It proved economically suicidal. The war was 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:51.660 essentially a slow, grinding failure that crippled 00:23:51.660 --> 00:23:54.279 the state. It led to economic exhaustion and 00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.880 military reversals. By the late 1570s, he was 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:00.400 facing the military genius of Stephen Bathory, 00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:02.720 the Polish -Lithuanian monarch. Who was highly 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.380 effective. Bathory launched highly successful 00:24:05.380 --> 00:24:08.400 major offensives, recapturing key cities like 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:10.920 Polotsk and Velikiye Luki and initiating the 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:15.180 massive siege of Skov in 1581. Sweden, too, recaptured 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:17.980 critical territories like Narva. And the final 00:24:17.980 --> 00:24:20.359 treaties stripped Muscovy of any potential gains. 00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:23.130 The war concluded. With the truce of Yoms Opolsky 00:24:23.130 --> 00:24:25.910 and the truce of Plessa, Muscovy was denied direct 00:24:25.910 --> 00:24:29.170 access to the Baltic Sea. The economic devastation 00:24:29.170 --> 00:24:31.190 and military defeat in the West cemented the 00:24:31.190 --> 00:24:33.349 preconditions for the time of troubles that followed 00:24:33.349 --> 00:24:35.910 his death. Let's pivot back to the South, where 00:24:35.910 --> 00:24:38.210 the fatal flaw in the Opryknyna design was exposed, 00:24:38.490 --> 00:24:41.089 the Crimean raids. The most devastating example 00:24:41.089 --> 00:24:44.069 was the fire of Moscow in 1571. The southern 00:24:44.069 --> 00:24:47.180 border was chronically vulnerable. Devlet Adegre 00:24:47.180 --> 00:24:50.279 led a massive 40 ,000 -strong Crimean Ottoman 00:24:50.279 --> 00:24:53.200 army into Mussovy. And Moscow's defenses were 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.160 thin. Because Ivan had his best forces tied up 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.859 in the pointless Livonian campaign, and his remaining 00:24:58.859 --> 00:25:01.960 Oprichniki were focused on internal purges, Moscow 00:25:01.960 --> 00:25:05.079 was defended by a mere 6 ,000 troops. And the 00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:07.619 city was essentially incinerated. The Crimean 00:25:07.619 --> 00:25:10.359 force entered virtually unopposed and set the 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:13.039 suburbs on fire, which spread quickly and burned 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:15.720 most of the city down. Casualty estimates are 00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:19.240 huge, ranging up to 80 ,000 dead or captured. 00:25:19.539 --> 00:25:22.660 This was an immense national humiliation that 00:25:22.660 --> 00:25:25.039 demonstrated the state's weakness. But the very 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:28.460 next year, 1572, they rallied for the great defensive 00:25:28.460 --> 00:25:31.240 victory at Malota. What tactical shift made the 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:33.700 difference? The key was unified command under 00:25:33.700 --> 00:25:36.559 Prince Mikhail Vorotinsky, utilizing forces that 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:39.039 were no longer divided into the feuding Oprachnina 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:41.339 and Zemshina armies. And they used better tech. 00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:43.960 They leveraged superior technology, specifically 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:46.740 firearms and field fortifications called guliei 00:25:46.740 --> 00:25:49.380 garrads. Walking cities. Literally walking cities. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:51.920 Movable, fortified wagon structures that provided 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.339 defensive cover against the highly mobile Tatar 00:25:54.339 --> 00:25:56.759 cavalry. This defensive strategy worked perfectly. 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.420 After the Tatars broke the initial defensive 00:25:59.420 --> 00:26:03.160 line, Vorotinsky's main army flanked them, leading 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:05.980 to a decisive battle near Melodi where the Tatars 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.299 were completely defeated. A monumental victory. 00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:11.160 It saved the southern frontier and forced the 00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:13.900 Tatars to curtail their large -scale raids. But 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:17.119 the tragic and utterly characteristic postscript 00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:21.259 to that victory is pure Ivan the Terrible. Despite 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:24.700 saving the realm, Ivan, sitting far away in Novgorod, 00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:27.140 grew suspicious of his brilliant and popular 00:26:27.140 --> 00:26:29.880 commander. Vorotinsky was subsequently arrested, 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:33.099 tortured, and killed. Unbelievable. It demonstrates 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:36.319 Ivan's incurable paranoia. He would rather kill 00:26:36.319 --> 00:26:38.480 a man who saved his empire than risk the possibility 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:40.900 of a successful, popular commander challenging 00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:43.420 his divine authority. Finally, let's look briefly 00:26:43.420 --> 00:26:45.839 east, the beginning of the Russian expansion 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:48.640 into Siberia. This expansion was unique because 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:50.660 it began during Ivan's reign but as a private 00:26:50.660 --> 00:26:54.299 venture. In 1558, Ivan granted the wealthy Stroganoff 00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:56.380 merchant family permission to colonize lands 00:26:56.380 --> 00:26:59.339 along the Kama and later the Tura and Tobol rivers. 00:26:59.539 --> 00:27:02.180 They acted as private imperial contractors. They 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:05.690 did. Facing raids from Khankuchum of Sibir, The 00:27:05.690 --> 00:27:08.470 Stroganovs hired the famous Cossack leader Yermak 00:27:08.470 --> 00:27:11.690 Timofeevich around 1577. And his campaign was 00:27:11.690 --> 00:27:14.950 a huge success. Spectrally successful. He defeated 00:27:14.950 --> 00:27:17.970 the Siberian army and claimed the massive territory 00:27:17.970 --> 00:27:20.509 for Russia. Yet even this success highlights 00:27:20.509 --> 00:27:23.769 Ivan's late reign failures. Yermak claimed Siberia 00:27:23.769 --> 00:27:26.950 and sent word for reinforcements. But Ivan, crippled 00:27:26.950 --> 00:27:29.309 by debt and war exhaustion, sent a detachment 00:27:29.309 --> 00:27:32.099 of Streltsy. They were so poorly supplied they 00:27:32.099 --> 00:27:33.980 died of starvation before they could offer any 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:36.400 benefit. So Yermak was left on his own. He was. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.839 Yermak himself was later defeated and died. Russia 00:27:39.839 --> 00:27:42.400 gained a permanent fortified foothold only after 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.680 Ivan's death in 1586 with the founding of Timon. 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:48.740 His grand vision was established, but his administrative 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:51.140 chaos prevented him from fully realizing the 00:27:51.140 --> 00:27:53.619 immense gain. Moving from geopolitics to the 00:27:53.619 --> 00:27:56.059 private sphere, Ivan's personal life was defined 00:27:56.059 --> 00:27:58.660 by the chaos of his numerous marriages, which 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:00.619 brought him into direct conflict with the very 00:28:00.619 --> 00:28:03.339 church that legitimized his rule. Ivan had at 00:28:03.339 --> 00:28:06.460 least six, possibly eight wives, though the church 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:09.859 only recognized four. He repeatedly violated 00:28:09.859 --> 00:28:12.440 the absolute prohibition against even a fourth 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:15.579 marriage. This willingness to trample on church 00:28:15.579 --> 00:28:18.640 law led to extreme internal conflict and was 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.460 another reason he chose to depose and kill Metropolitan 00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:24.279 Philip, who dared to challenge his personal and 00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:26.940 political authority. His first wife, Anastasia 00:28:26.940 --> 00:28:29.700 Romanovna, was the key to succession. burying 00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:32.519 him two surviving heirs, Ivan Ivanovich and Fyodor 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:34.759 I. But the question of succession was violently 00:28:34.759 --> 00:28:38.279 resolved in 1581. Given his increasing paranoia 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:40.420 and violent temper, what do the sources tell 00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:42.640 us about the final confrontation with his eldest 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:45.519 son, the heir? How did this argument escalate 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.619 so fatally? The incident began simply. In November 00:28:48.619 --> 00:28:51.220 1581, Ivan Chast dies his daughter -in -law, 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.640 Yelena Sheremetyeva, who was pregnant, for what 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:56.599 he deemed unsuitably dressed. He allegedly struck 00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:58.930 her. Okay. This led to a fierce altercation with 00:28:58.930 --> 00:29:00.690 his eldest son, Ivan Ivanovich, who was defending 00:29:00.690 --> 00:29:03.029 his wife. So this is a son challenging the absolute 00:29:03.029 --> 00:29:05.470 authority of the Tsar. It was an intolerable 00:29:05.470 --> 00:29:07.950 offense to Ivan, whose paranoia was already at 00:29:07.950 --> 00:29:10.789 its zenith. Historians overwhelmingly agree that 00:29:10.789 --> 00:29:13.690 in a fit of uncontrollable rage, Ivan struck 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:16.289 his son in the head with his pointed staff, dealing 00:29:16.289 --> 00:29:19.109 a fatal blow. The consequences were immediate 00:29:19.109 --> 00:29:21.650 and catastrophic for the dynasty. Helena suffered 00:29:21.650 --> 00:29:24.210 a miscarriage hours later. The heir was dead. 00:29:24.859 --> 00:29:27.259 This single act of violence left the throne to 00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:29.720 the politically weak middle son, Theodore I, 00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:32.940 whose childless death just 17 years later ended 00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:35.859 the centuries -old Rurik dynasty and initiated 00:29:35.859 --> 00:29:38.440 the devastating political crisis known as the 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:41.099 Time of Troubles. The iconic image we carry of 00:29:41.099 --> 00:29:43.160 this event, that moment of immediate horror and 00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:46.359 regret, is often influenced by the famous Ilya 00:29:46.359 --> 00:29:49.599 Repin painting. The 1885 Repin painting, Ivan 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.319 the Terrible and His Son Ivan, powerfully captured 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:54.740 that moment of remorse, showing the Tsar cradling 00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:57.480 his dying son. It cemented the image of the paranoid 00:29:57.480 --> 00:29:59.859 murderer driven to immediate regret, showing 00:29:59.859 --> 00:30:02.240 a depth of human feeling that complicates the 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:05.359 purely cruel, despot narrative. Despite the terror, 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.200 we have to address the sheer contradiction. The 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:10.539 man was also known as a talented poet and a serious 00:30:10.539 --> 00:30:13.359 intellectual. He was a considerable talent. His 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:16.180 liturgical hymn, Sticker on No. 1 in honor of 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:18.960 St. Peter, was deemed high quality enough to 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:22.140 be set to music in the 20th century. And D .S. 00:30:22.140 --> 00:30:25.720 Mirsky called Ivan a pamphleteer of genius, primarily 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:28.519 based on his controversial correspondence. And 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:30.640 that correspondence with the defected Kurbsky 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:33.779 is still a battleground for historians. Let's 00:30:33.779 --> 00:30:36.200 explore the debate about its authenticity. These 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:38.539 letters are key to our psychological understanding 00:30:38.539 --> 00:30:41.099 of Ivan. They reveal his passionate defense of 00:30:41.099 --> 00:30:43.559 autocracy and his justifications for terror. 00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:45.700 But there's a major challenge to them. Right. 00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:47.799 The famous challenge came from Harvard professor 00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:51.539 Edward L. Keenan in 1971, who argued the letters 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:54.359 were 17th century forgeries created to serve 00:30:54.359 --> 00:30:56.259 political agendas during the time of troubles. 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:58.799 If Keenan is right, then much of what we believe 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:01.359 we know about Ivan's internal thoughts is based 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.940 on sophisticated historical fiction. That would 00:31:03.940 --> 00:31:06.440 necessitate a radical reevaluation of his entire 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:09.740 personality. However, his contention is not widely 00:31:09.740 --> 00:31:12.900 accepted. Scholars like John Fennell and Ruslan 00:31:12.900 --> 00:31:15.579 Skrinikov have strongly argued for the authenticity 00:31:15.579 --> 00:31:18.559 of the letters, citing contextual and philological 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:21.420 evidence pointing to a composition date closer 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:24.660 to Ivan's lifetime. So the debate goes on. The 00:31:24.660 --> 00:31:27.059 debate persists, which just reveals how difficult 00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:29.779 it is to get to the core of this historical personality. 00:31:30.180 --> 00:31:31.740 What about his physical appearance and health? 00:31:32.299 --> 00:31:35.160 We rely heavily on post -mortem forensic analysis 00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:38.519 to understand his final years. We have very few 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:41.519 reliable lifetime portraits. Contemporary accounts, 00:31:41.619 --> 00:31:44.000 like one from Ambassador Daniel Prince von Buschau 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:47.660 in 1567, described him as very tall, around 5 00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:50.940 '10 strong, thick -bodied, with large, observant 00:31:50.940 --> 00:31:53.599 eyes. But by the end of his life, he was significantly 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:57.420 incapacitated by illness. The 1963 Soviet forensic 00:31:57.420 --> 00:32:00.410 analysis of his remains provided the key insight 00:32:00.410 --> 00:32:03.309 into his medical status. That excavation disproved 00:32:03.309 --> 00:32:05.609 earlier theories of deliberate arsenic poisoning 00:32:05.609 --> 00:32:08.430 or syphilis. Instead, researchers found an extremely 00:32:08.430 --> 00:32:10.670 high concentration of mercury in his system. 00:32:10.710 --> 00:32:13.289 And that was the critical medical finding. And 00:32:13.289 --> 00:32:15.730 the consensus is that the mercury came from ointments, 00:32:15.730 --> 00:32:19.210 not poison. Yes. The high mercury content was 00:32:19.210 --> 00:32:21.369 attributed to ointments used to treat chronic, 00:32:21.430 --> 00:32:23.769 debilitating bone diseases in his later years. 00:32:24.210 --> 00:32:26.950 The analysis confirmed that while he was athletically 00:32:26.950 --> 00:32:29.630 built in his youth, he suffered profoundly in 00:32:29.630 --> 00:32:31.750 his final years and could barely move by the 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:34.509 time of his death. This physical suffering and 00:32:34.509 --> 00:32:36.990 the resulting neurotoxic load of mercury are 00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:39.730 critical links back to his behavior, the increasing 00:32:39.730 --> 00:32:43.390 paranoia and the fits of rage. Absolutely. Chronic 00:32:43.390 --> 00:32:45.529 pain, combined with the psychological effects 00:32:45.529 --> 00:32:47.789 of neurotoxins, could have played a profound 00:32:47.789 --> 00:32:50.329 role in exacerbating his existing psychological 00:32:50.329 --> 00:32:53.369 malignancy and political paranoia. It adds a 00:32:53.369 --> 00:32:55.789 medical layer to the story of the tyrant. Ivan 00:32:55.789 --> 00:32:59.069 died from a stroke on March 28, 1584, while playing 00:32:59.069 --> 00:33:01.849 chess with Bogdan Belsky. he was succeeded by 00:33:01.849 --> 00:33:05.049 the weak feodor i whose title none the less reflected 00:33:05.049 --> 00:33:07.940 the vast imperial vision ivan had achieved His 00:33:07.940 --> 00:33:10.359 elaborate grand title at the end was meant to 00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:13.299 convey his massive achievements. The great sovereign, 00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:16.359 czar and grand prince Ivan Veselovich of all 00:33:16.359 --> 00:33:19.660 Russia, czar of Kazan, Astrakhan, dominator of 00:33:19.660 --> 00:33:22.240 all the Siberian lands, lord of the land of Livonia, 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:25.900 and many, many more. It was a monument to expansion, 00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:28.519 despite the internal cost. So we've established 00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:31.079 that Ivan was both an architect and a destroyer. 00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:33.880 What is the enduring structural and political 00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:36.730 legacy of his five decades of rule? Well, Ivan 00:33:36.730 --> 00:33:38.750 completely altered Russia's governmental structure. 00:33:38.950 --> 00:33:41.269 He cemented the character of modern Russian political 00:33:41.269 --> 00:33:44.650 organization. The core legacy is the firm establishment 00:33:44.650 --> 00:33:47.970 of czarist autocracy and despotism, a system 00:33:47.970 --> 00:33:50.289 that faced few serious challenges until the 19th 00:33:50.289 --> 00:33:53.150 century. His internal terror, the oprykuna, achieved 00:33:53.150 --> 00:33:56.210 a key structural goal by curbing the power of 00:33:56.210 --> 00:33:58.430 the traditional nobility. It did. The terror 00:33:58.430 --> 00:34:00.809 was a political tool to afford him personal protection 00:34:00.809 --> 00:34:03.589 and, more importantly, to curtail the traditional 00:34:03.589 --> 00:34:06.759 hereditary power and rights. of the boyars, particularly 00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:10.260 the Mesnisha -Stvo system. By eliminating the 00:34:10.260 --> 00:34:12.239 five major families who could challenge his authority, 00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:14.920 he cemented the czar's authority as absolute 00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:17.300 and unquestioned. And, of course, the expansion. 00:34:17.699 --> 00:34:19.820 And by the time of his death, the empire stretched 00:34:19.820 --> 00:34:22.760 from the Caspian to western Siberia, providing 00:34:22.760 --> 00:34:24.780 the foundation for future massive expansion. 00:34:25.199 --> 00:34:27.840 But the internal cost, particularly his management 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.300 of the domestic economy, was nothing short of 00:34:30.300 --> 00:34:33.320 disastrous. The sources are clear. His management 00:34:33.320 --> 00:34:37.070 was catastrophic. The long, expensive wars, the 00:34:37.070 --> 00:34:39.809 systematic seizures by the Oprychnina, and the 00:34:39.809 --> 00:34:42.670 resulting raids led to extreme resource depletion 00:34:42.670 --> 00:34:46.090 and widespread poverty. The historian Janet Martin 00:34:46.090 --> 00:34:49.070 explicitly states that Ivan's reign was a disaster 00:34:49.070 --> 00:34:51.949 for Muscovy and left the realm on the brink of 00:34:51.949 --> 00:34:54.750 ruin. He also planted the insidious legal roots 00:34:54.750 --> 00:34:57.269 of serfdom that would plague Russia for centuries. 00:34:57.769 --> 00:34:59.789 His reign introduced the first comprehensive 00:34:59.789 --> 00:35:02.670 laws restricting peasant mobility. This was the 00:35:02.670 --> 00:35:05.489 crucial opening step in a long process that culminated 00:35:05.489 --> 00:35:07.489 in the establishment of full serfdom under Boris 00:35:07.489 --> 00:35:10.190 Gurdonov and succeeding rulers. His internal 00:35:10.190 --> 00:35:12.769 policies systematically destabilized the peasantry 00:35:12.769 --> 00:35:15.230 and aristocracy alike, ensuring a fragile state. 00:35:15.469 --> 00:35:17.650 The way political regimes have treated Aydin 00:35:17.650 --> 00:35:19.570 since his death is almost a reflection of their 00:35:19.570 --> 00:35:22.429 own internal needs. His posthumous reputation 00:35:22.429 --> 00:35:25.690 is constantly shifting. It serves as a political 00:35:25.690 --> 00:35:28.900 barometer. Early historians like Nikolai Karamzin, 00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:32.300 writing before 1917, described him as a monstrous 00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:35.920 tormentor after 1560. But under the Soviet regime, 00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:39.420 particularly Joseph Stalin, Ivan was forcefully 00:35:39.420 --> 00:35:41.980 rehabilitated. This is where we see history used 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:45.559 as a direct propaganda tool. Exactly. Under Stalin, 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:48.360 Soviet historians were directed to praise strong, 00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:51.800 centralizing leaders like Ivan, Alexander Nevsky, 00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:54.219 and Peter the Great, anyone who expanded the 00:35:54.219 --> 00:35:57.099 power of the state. The historian Robert Whipper 00:35:57.099 --> 00:36:00.719 in 1922 reassessed Ivan as a monarch who loved 00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:02.860 the ordinary people and praised his reforms, 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:05.900 effectively whitewashing the terror. And this 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:08.440 led directly to Sergei Eisenstein's famous film, 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:11.059 Ivan the Terrible. The film was personally supervised 00:36:11.059 --> 00:36:13.800 by Stalin. He praised part one, which celebrated 00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:16.400 Ivan as a resolute consolidator, but he suppressed 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:19.079 part two until 1958 because it portrayed Ivan 00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:21.599 suffering pangs of conscience, which Stalin found 00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:24.360 unacceptable. And Stalin's quote about him. It's 00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:27.139 chillingly utilitarian. One of Ivan the Terrible's 00:36:27.139 --> 00:36:29.039 mistakes was that he didn't finish off the five 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:31.820 major families. He viewed Ivan as a blueprint 00:36:31.820 --> 00:36:34.760 for necessary mass political purging. And even 00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:37.500 today, Ivan's legacy is a political flashpoint. 00:36:37.659 --> 00:36:40.780 It remains contentious. A campaign to grant him 00:36:40.780 --> 00:36:42.639 sainthood was opposed by the Russian Orthodox 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:45.719 Church. More recently, the official unveiling 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.099 of the first statue of Ivan the Terrible in Orwell, 00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:51.340 Russia in 2016 led to international controversy, 00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:53.719 with critics equating his rehabilitation with 00:36:53.719 --> 00:36:56.579 a modern embrace of unchecked autocracy and strongman 00:36:56.579 --> 00:37:00.130 rule. So we return to the duality. The successful 00:37:00.130 --> 00:37:02.670 conqueror who secured the entire Volga and established 00:37:02.670 --> 00:37:05.969 the core of Russian autocracy versus the paranoid 00:37:05.969 --> 00:37:08.530 ruler whose internal policies nearly destroy 00:37:08.530 --> 00:37:11.150 the state and whose fatal temper ended his dynasty. 00:37:11.349 --> 00:37:13.429 The legacy is that inescapable contradiction. 00:37:13.690 --> 00:37:16.230 He created a vast new empire while simultaneously 00:37:16.230 --> 00:37:18.670 paving the way for its near collapse just a decade 00:37:18.670 --> 00:37:21.280 after his death. His reign demonstrates how successful 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.320 expansionism, when divorced from stable, rational 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:26.960 internal administration, becomes self -defeating. 00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:29.800 As we wrap up this deep dive, you, the learner, 00:37:29.980 --> 00:37:32.360 are left with the full picture, including that 00:37:32.360 --> 00:37:35.739 critical forensic detail from 1963. The excessive 00:37:35.739 --> 00:37:38.500 mercury content in his body, attributed to the 00:37:38.500 --> 00:37:40.480 ointments used to treat his severe bone diseases 00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:43.019 in his final years. Which leads to our final 00:37:43.019 --> 00:37:46.090 provocative thought. If Ivan's increasing paranoia, 00:37:46.170 --> 00:37:48.250 his infamous temper and his devastating fits 00:37:48.250 --> 00:37:50.969 of rage in his later years were in part chemically 00:37:50.969 --> 00:37:53.170 or physically driven by chronic, debilitating 00:37:53.170 --> 00:37:55.550 pain and neurotoxic mercury poisoning, a medical 00:37:55.550 --> 00:37:58.090 issue, does that fundamentally change our evaluation 00:37:58.090 --> 00:38:01.090 of him as a terrible czar? What is the role of 00:38:01.090 --> 00:38:02.989 physical suffering and sickness in the actions 00:38:02.989 --> 00:38:05.510 of the awe -inspiring ruler? And can we ever 00:38:05.510 --> 00:38:07.769 fully separate a leader's body from their governmental 00:38:07.769 --> 00:38:08.230 policy?