33. When You’re Known as “The Terrible”…
Tsar Ivan IV, better known to history as Ivan the Terrible (1530 – 1584), was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547. In 1547, he declared himself “Tsar of all the Russias”, which became the title of Russian monarch from then on.
Ivan created a centralized government, and was a grand conqueror who finally overthrew the last remnants of Mongol domination beneath which Russia had groaned for centuries. He subjugated the neighboring nomadic Khanates, and greatly expanded Russia’s borders. On the other hand, Ivan was an insanely cruel despot, who subjected his people to a decades-long reign of terror.