What was Ivan IV (the Terrible) known for?
1 Answer
He was the first Tsar of all the Russias
Explanation:
Russia had never been a single monolithic kingdom. Before the Mongol conquests, it was a handful of squabbling principalities, and under two centuries of Mongol rule, it wasn't even that. Ivan IV took the throne of Moscow at the end of Europe's Middle Ages, united the principalities, and added Kazan Astrakhan and Siberia to the nation's land holdings. He was scary and unstable, but that was actually an attractive quality: "If he's like this to his own subjects, just IMAGINE what he'd do to out enemies!"
He commissioned St. Basil's Cathedral, among the most beautiful and exotic buildings in the world. He had the architect's eyes blinded to assure that he would not go and build an even more beautiful cathedral elsewhere.
In a fit of rage, he killed his chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, who would have continued the Rurik dynasty. Ivan's death left a power vacuum which a series of unsuitable heirs vying for control (including Tatar prince Boris Godunov), after nearly thirty years, a new dynasty, the Romanovs, assumed the throne.
