Editing History of Russia (section)

===Ivan IV, the Terrible===
[[File:Ivan IV the Terrible portrait by Weigel 1882.jpg|thumb|[[Ivan IV]] was the [[Grand Prince of Moscow]] from 1533 to 1547, then "Tsar of All the Russias" until his death in 1584.]]

The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan IV]] (1547–1584), known as "Ivan the Terrible".<ref>{{cite book | first=Tim | last=McDaniel | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yIABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 | title=Autocracy, Modernization, and Revolution in Russia and Iran | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=1991 | isbn=0-691-03147-9 | page=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Kevin | last=O'Connor | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&pg=PA23 | title=The History of the Baltic States | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030013948/https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&pg=PA23& | archive-date=30 October 2022 | publisher=Greenwood Press | date=2003 | isbn=0-313-32355-0 | page=23}}</ref> He strengthened the position of the monarch to an unprecedented degree, as he ruthlessly subordinated the nobles to his will, exiling or executing many on the slightest provocation.<ref name=Curtis2/> Nevertheless, Ivan is often seen as a farsighted statesman who reformed Russia as he promulgated a new code of laws ([[Sudebnik of 1550]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivantheterrible.html|title=Ivan the Terrible|access-date=23 July 2007|work=Minnesota State University Mankato|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718145812/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivantheterrible.html|archive-date=18 July 2007}}</ref> established the first Russian feudal representative body ([[Zemsky Sobor]]), curbed the influence of the clergy,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zenkovsky |first=Serge A. |author-link=Serge Aleksandr Zenkovsky |date=October 1957  |title=The Russian Church Schism: Its Background and Repercussions|journal=Russian Review |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=37–58 |doi=10.2307/125748 |jstor=125748 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref> and introduced local self-management in rural regions.<ref>Skrynnikov R., "Ivan Grosny", p. 58, M., AST, 2001</ref> Tsar also created the first regular army in Russia: [[Streltsy]].

His long [[Livonian War]] (1558–1583) for control of the Baltic coast and access to the sea trade ultimately proved a costly failure.<ref>{{cite web | work=Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences | title=The Origin of the Livonian War, 1558 | access-date=16 July 2023 | first=William | last=Urban | date=Fall 1983 | url=http://www.lituanus.org/1983_3/83_3_02.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020530071736/http://www.lituanus.org/1983_3/83_3_02.htm | archive-date=30 May 2002}}</ref> Ivan managed to annex the [[Khanate of Kazan|Khanates of Kazan]], [[Khanate of Astrakhan|Astrakhan]], and [[Siberia Khanate|Siberia]].{{sfn|Martin|2004|p=395}} These conquests complicated the migration of aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe via the Volga and [[Urals]]. Through these conquests, Russia acquired a significant Muslim Tatar population and emerged as a [[multiethnic]] and [[wikt:multiconfessional|multiconfessional]] state. Also around this period, the mercantile [[Stroganov]] family established a firm foothold in the Urals and recruited Russian [[Cossacks]] to colonise Siberia.<ref>[[Siberian Chronicles]], Строгановская Сибирская Летопись. изд. Спаским, СПб, 1821</ref>

In the later part of his reign, Ivan divided his realm in two. In the zone known as the ''[[oprichnina]]'', Ivan's followers carried out a series of bloody purges of the feudal aristocracy (whom he suspected of treachery after prince [[Andrey Kurbsky]]'s betrayal), culminating in the [[Massacre of Novgorod]] in 1570. This combined with the military losses, epidemics, and poor harvests so weakened Russia that the [[Crimean Tatars]] were able to sack central Russian regions and [[Russo–Crimean War (1571)|burn down Moscow in 1571]].<ref>Skrynnikov R. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp. 142–173</ref> However, in 1572 the Russians defeated the Crimean Tatar army at the [[Battle of Molodi]] and Ivan abandoned the ''oprichnina''.<ref>[[Robert I. Frost]] ''The Northern Wars: 1558–1721'' (Longman, 2000) pp. 26–27</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW | title=Moscow – Historical background | work=The Economist: City Guide | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011214606/http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW | archive-date=11 October 2007}}</ref>

At the end of Ivan IV's reign the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish armies carried out a powerful intervention in Russia, devastating its northern and northwest regions.<ref>Skrynnikov. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp. 222–223</ref>