Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Ivan the Terrible

Episode Date: September 12, 2026

In the 16th century, one ruler transformed a growing principality into a powerful empire, crowned himself with a new title, conquered vast territories, and reshaped the political order of Eastern Europe.  Yet, history doesn’t necessarily remember him as a great leader, as his reign also became notorious for paranoia, executions, brutal repression, and acts of violence that blurred the line between statecraft and terror. Learn more about Ivan the Terrible, one of the most feared and consequential rulers in Russian history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. ⁠Shop the store at ⁠⁠Shop.Everything-Everywhere.com⁠ Sponsors Hexclad Get 10% off your order at ⁠hexclad.com/DAILY⁠ Mint Mobile Save 50% on Unlimited premium wireless plans starting at $15/month at ⁠MintMobile.com/EED⁠ Quince Go to ⁠quince.com/daily⁠ for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! DripDrop Go to ⁠dripdrop.com⁠ and use promo code EVERYTHING for 20% off your first order! Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at ⁠square.com/go/daily⁠ Babbel Go to ⁠babbel.com/daily⁠ for up to 60% off Subscribe to the podcast!  ⁠https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/⁠ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere⁠ Discord Server: ⁠https://discord.gg/Ds7Rx7jvPJ⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/⁠ Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/everywheretrip⁠ Website: ⁠https://everything-everywhere.com/⁠  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 16th century, one ruler transformed a growing principality into a powerful empire, crowned himself with a new title, conquered vast territories, and reshape the political order of Eastern Europe. Yet, history doesn't necessarily remember him as a great leader, as his reign also became notorious for paranoia, executions, brutal repression, and acts of violence that blurred the line between statecraft and terror. Learn more about Ivan the Terrible, one of the most feared and consequential rulers in Russian history. On this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive.

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an... operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Do you wish you could just hit skip on the worst parts of your life? You know, the same way you can skip an ad? I get it. I'm Siaia and I live in Ice Cove. I've made some questionable decisions that didn't end up the way I planned. And today, I'm still figuring it out.

Somehow things usually get worse before they get better. Apparently, that's how I roll. So bundle up and come along for the bumpy ride. stream a new episode of North of North Tuesdays on CBC Gem. The man history knows as Ivan the Terrible was born Ivan Vasselavitch on August 25, 1530. His father was Vassili the 3rd, and his mother was Elena Glyanskaya. Both of his parents had noble roots, and Ivan's grandmother was a Byzantine princess, and Ivan's mother was a Serbian princess.

Vassili the 3rd himself was an important figure in Russian history. He served as Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1505 to 1533, and his rule helped consolidate Russian leadership. To legitimize his rule, Vassili used the Russian Orthodox Church and suppressed any opposition through executions and exile. The name Ivan was chosen because it's the Russian form of John in honor of St. John the Baptist. When he was just three years old, his father died from a leg wound that became infected and later developed into blood poisoning. Because his father ruled Moscow, someone needed to take the throne, raising the question of succession. There were a few other options for the throne, including Vasili's younger brothers.

However, Vasili wished for his son Ivan to take his place, which led to him being declared grand prince. Since a three-year-old cannot be expected to rule Russia, his mother was appointed as acting regent. But her regency was short-lived, because she died in 1538 when Ivan was just eight years old, and many people suspect that she was poisoned. Her death began a period of intense competition amongst powerful aristocratic families. Various Boyer factions, that being the Russian term for nobility, struggled for control of the government and access to the young ruler. Ivan later described his childhood as one of neglect, humiliation, and fear. He claimed that the powerful boyers treated him harshly while fighting amongst themselves for power. When Ivan turned 16, he was crowned

at the Cathedral of the Dormition inside the Kremlin in Moscow. But the title he adopted was enormously significant. Rather than simply being crowned grand prince, Ivan was crowned Tsar of all Rus. The word czar is derived from Caesar. It carried imperial implications and linked Ivan's monarchy to Roman and Byzantine imperial traditions. The elaborate coronation emphasized the idea that his authority came directly from God. Moscow's rulers had increasingly claimed to be the heirs of Byzantium following the fall of Constantinople in 1453. And Ivan's coronation made this much more explicit.

Shortly after his coronation, Ivan selected Anastasia Romanova as his wife. Their marriage was politically important because Anastasia belonged to the family that would eventually become the Romanoff dynasty. Her great nephew, Michael Romanoff, was to become Tsar in. in 1613. So being crowned the Tsar of Russia sent a message to Russia and the rest of the world that he would be the country's supreme leader and not just one of many princes. Ivan also, at least indirectly, promoted the idea of Moscow becoming the third Rome. The idea of Moscow as the third Rome held that after the fall of Rome and then Constantinople in 1453, Moscow became the last great center and protector of Orthodox Christianity. Russian rulers increasingly saw

themselves as heirs to the Byzantine emperors, a belief that helped justify the Tsar's sacred and imperial authority. And like other European monarchs, Ivan also created a genealogical connection back to ancient Rome. He traced his lineage back to Warwick, the first prince of Novograd in northern Russia. By tracing this ancestry, Ivan, at least in theory, connected himself to Augustus, allowing him to claim an imperial bloodline. Just a few months after his coronation, disaster struck. The Great Moscow Fire of 1547 destroyed massive sections of the city, killed thousands of people, and displaced thousands more.

An angry mob killed Ivan's uncle, Yuri Galinsky, and threatened other relatives. Beyond that disaster, Ivan passed a series of reforms and worked to modernize the country. These reforms included revising the legal code, establishing a standing army, strengthening the role of state judicial bodies, and giving elected representatives of local communities a role in governance. During this time, Ivan also established the Council of the Chosen. This served as a group of advisors whom Ivan selected from the nobility and clergy. Ivan also focused on religious reforms. He worked to strengthen the Russian Orthodox Church's authority in the state by standardizing rituals and laws. All of these changes occurred during the first five years of Ivan's leadership.

But in year six, something else happened. In 1553, Ivan almost succumbed to an illness, and many believed that he would not recover. While on his deathbed, he asked the nobility to swear an oath of allegiance to his eldest son, despite his son just being an infant. Many nobles expected the Tsar to die anyway, so they didn't take the oath. Ivan, however, recovered and became deeply distrustful of the nobility. After he recovered, Ivan responded with brutality. He punished or killed many of those who had refused to take the oath.

This included the Metropolitan of Moscow, who was the head of the Russian Orthodox Church at the time, as well as a prince. Despite that setback, Ivan returned to his plans to reform and modernize Russia. In 1553, he established the Moscow printyard, Russia's first printing press. And between the 1550s and 1560s, numerous religious books were printed. He also began the Livonian War in 1558, and Russian armies initially made major gains in Livonia, although those Western conquests would later be reversed. In 1660, his wife Anastasia died under suspicious circumstances. It's believed that the death may have been caused by poisoning, and this made her death

deeply personal and worsened Ivan's mental state and temperament. Executions and political persecution increased. Ivan went on to have six wives, each of which, other than the last one, died, most of them under suspicious circumstances. Ivan's suspicions were intensified by the defection in 1564 of Prince Andrei Kierbsky, a prominent commander who fled to Lithuania. Ivan and Kierbsky later exchanged a famous series of hostile letters debating monarchy, loyalty, religion, and political authority. Things radically changed in 1564 when Ivan abruptly decided to leave Moscow.

He took his family, the treasury, religious objects, and selected followers with him, and settled at Alexandrovskaya Silbollah northeast of Moscow. From there, he sent messages announcing that he was abandoning the throne. Ivan accused boyers, clergy, and officials of corruption, treason, and disobedience. however he declared that he bore no grievance against the Russian people. The boyers who remained at court feared that Moscow citizens would revolt in Ivan's absence. As a result, a group of them departed for the town to beg Ivan to return to power. And this proved fruitful as Ivan agreed to return to the throne, but only if he received absolute power.

And as part of this absolute power, he would have the right to condemn and execute any traitors as well as confiscate their wealth without any interference from the church or the legal system. In 1565, Ivan divided the country into two administrative spheres. One part was called the Zempsichchchina and continued to be governed through normal institutions. The other part became the Oprachnina, Ivan's personal domain. Ivan selected strategically and economically valuable territories for the Opertchenina. Here he could expel landowners from their estate, and resettle them elsewhere.

As part of the arrangement, I even also recruited a group that was loyal to him personally. This group was known as the Operichnicki. Later accounts famously described them wearing black and carrying symbols representing dogs, heads and brooms, representing their supposed duty to sniff out treason and sweep it away. As part of the Oprychniki, they were granted large estates, but unlike prior landowners, they were not held accountable for their actions. They could seize everything their peasants possessed without any consequence. Not surprisingly, peasant burdens grew substantially triggering widespread social distress and a sharp

downturned agricultural output that ultimately caused severe food shortages throughout Ivan's rule. After creating the operatianna, Ivan began a wave of political persecution. These primarily targeted Russia's princely class. As part of this, Ivan executed, exiled, and punished. prominent members of the Boyar class on accusations of conspiracy, regardless of the credibility of the claims. The conditions under the Operchnina worsened in 1570. An epidemic killed thousands of people across Russia, and as it continued, Ivan grew paranoid that nobles in the city of Novograd might defect. This caused Ivan to send the Oprychniki into the city where they pillage the city

and its surrounding villages. The massacre apparently lasted for five weeks, and the casualties included men, women, and children. There's no confirmed number of casualties, but tens of thousands likely died, and many were tortured to death. Following the massacre at Novograd, the Opritschnicki were seldom used again. Later campaigns, they proved less effective and became a symbol of the system's administrative weaknesses.

Ivan eventually dissolved the operatici altogether. One of Ivan's most important legacies was his conquest of new territory, in the expansion of Russia. The first of these territorial expansions was in Kazan, about 725 kilometers or 450 miles due east of Moscow. Although Kazan was technically part of Russia, its leadership wanted to reassert control over the region. This led to Kazan rulers to launch military campaigns against Moscow, which ultimately failed when Ivan conquered the territory in 1552. In 1556, he annexed the Khanate of Astrakhan near the Caspian Sea. giving Russia control over nearly the entire Volga River and opening new trade routes

towards Central Asia and Persia. The next important conflict was the Livonian War, which centered on Russia's desire for access to the Baltic Sea and the trade routes it would open. The Livonian War began in 1558 and lasted 24 years, resulting in a Russian defeat. The war drew in regional powers like Sweden, Lithuania, Poland, and Livonia, which was located in what is today, modern-day Latvia and Estonia. The conflict severely strained the Russian economy, drained its resources, and triggered widespread internal political instability and social turmoil. Ultimately, the lingering war of attrition left the nation thoroughly exhausted.

And ironically, while Ivan's internal security apparatus was terrorizing his own people, it proved ineffective against an actual external enemy. In 1771, Crime, Tartars invaded Russia. The Tartars reached Moscow and burned much of the city. Tens of thousands of people were killed or were carried away in slavery. One of the reasons these raids were so effective was that most Russian troops were occupied in the Livonian War. Moscow could only fight back after the army was no longer divided. Finally, it was Ivan who began the Russian conquest and colonization of Siberia. beginning in 1581, the conquest took nearly 60 years to complete. And although Ivan was dead for most of that, his authorization helps at the stage for the country's eastward expansion.

Ivan the Terrible died on March 28, 1584, while playing chess. After he died, Ivan left the Russian throne to his son, Fyodor, who was a weak leader. In just a few short years, he too would die in a period known as the time of troubles would occur. I'll close by addressing Ivan's famous nickname, Ivan the Terrible. It actually began being used in the second half of the 16th century, according to contemporary Russian sources. Terrible is the traditional English word, but it's not a very precise modern translation of Ivan's Russian epitat, Grozny.

In the 16th century Russian, Groszny meant something closer to fearsome, formidable, or threatening, especially in the sense of a ruler who inspires dread and commands respect. It did not primarily mean terrible, as in incompetent, awful, or morally bad. So Ivan the fearsome or Ivan the formidable would arguably convey the original meaning much better. Ivan the Terrible became entrenched in English because older English used Terrible more often in the sense of causing terror, which was closer to the original Russian meaning than the word is today. Ivan the Terrible was one of the most consequential rulers in Russian history. He expanded Moscow's power, conquered Kazan and Astrakhan, strengthened the Tsar's authority,

and helped set Russia on the path towards becoming a vast Eurasian empire. Yet his reign was also marked by paranoia, political terror, and the Oprachinina, which devastated parts of the country. His legacy is deeply contradictory. then helped build a stronger Russian state, but he also showed how dangerous that state could become when enormous power was concentrated in the hands of just one ruler. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ash. My big thanks go to everyone who supports a show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this

podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show.