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Born Ivan Chetvyorty Vasilyevich in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, Russia, to members of the Rurik dynasty.
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His father, Basil III, dies when Ivan is 3 years old from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning.
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Ivan is proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow under his father's request. His mother rules as a regent because Ivan is only three years old.
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His mother Elena Glinskaya dies of what many believe to be assassination by poison when Ivan was only eight years old. During this time, chaos broke as the regency alternated between several feuding boyar families fighting for control. Ivan is now a royal foster child whose ruthless and suspicious nature is molded by the court intrigue, and neglection and scorning nobility members who looked after him.
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Ivan is first to be crowned tsar of all Russia at the Cathedral of the Dormition.
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Ivan marries his first wife Anastasia Romanovna, a member of the Romanov family. She was chosen as the best bride from a large selection of possible mates. It is believed that she was a good influence on Ivan's volatile personality.
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In the early part of Ivan's reign, he appointed a council of advisers, a consensus-building assembly who helped institute his reforms. He revised the law code by creating the Sudebnik, founded a standing army called the streltsy, established the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type, and reformed tax collection, rural regions by introducing self-government, and the church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters
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Ivan led a 150,000-strong Russian army towards Kazan who repeatedly raided Northeast Russia when Ivan was still a child. Muscovy was eventually invaded in Dec.1540. Under the supervision of Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky, the Russians had the advantage of using technology created by efficient military engineers. Kazan finally fell on 2 October, much of the population massacred while 60,000–100,000 Russian prisoners and slaves were released.
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He instituted regulations on the obligations of the boyar class in service of the crown.
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Ivan's one of many goals was to gain access to the Baltic Sea and its major trade routes. With this goal, he launched the Livonian War which proved to be unsuccessful over the 24 years it stretched out as it nearly destroyed the economy and left Ivan's realm overpowered.
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Anastasia Romanovna dies from a suspected poisoning. Upon the death of his wife, Ivan IV went into a deep depression and his behavior became more erratic. His suspicion that she had been murdered by the boyars only deepened his paranoia and strengthened his hatred towards them. Because of this, he had many boyars tortured and executed.
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Ivan had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to celebrate the victory over Kazan. There is a false legend that he was so impressed with the structure that he blinded the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. In reality, Yakovlev continued to design more churches for Ivan in the early 1560s.
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He left Moscow suddenly and announced his abdication. Unable to rule, Muscovites pleaded for his return to which he agreed if he was granted absolute power, which allows him to execute and confiscate the estates of traitors punish traitors and law breakers with execution and confiscation of property without interference.
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Ivan established an organization called the Oprichniki, an official secret Russian police force in who he ordered the displacement, destruction and execution of many boyar families on accusations of conspiracy that arose due to Ivan’s paranoia and mental instability.
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Ivan caused the miscarriage of his pregnant daughter-in-law by beating her for wearing immodest clothing. Upon knowing this, his second son engaged in a heated argument with Ivan, causing him to bash his son in the head with his pointed staff, killing him.
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Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess with Bogdan Belsky on 28 March 1584. The Russian throne was then left to his unsuitable middle son Feodor.
