CHAPTER IV

FROM IVAN THE GREAT TO IVAN THE TERRIBLE (1462-1584 A.D.) 166

Accession of Ivan (III) Vasilievitch, 166. Character and aims of Ivan, 168. Ivan Vasilievitch marries the Greek princess Sophia, 170. The growth of autocracy, 171. Subjugation of the republics, 172. The final overthrow of the Tatars, 176. Affairs of Lithuania, 179. Last years of Ivan; inheritance left to his sons, 181. Appreciations of Ivan Vasilievitch, 181. Accession of Vasili Ivanovitch, 184. Wars with Lithuania, 184. Wars with the Tatars, 188. The growing power of Russia, 189. Maxine the Greek, 190. Private life of Vasili Ivanovitch; his death, 192. A forecast of the reign of Ivan (IV) the Terrible, 192. The minority of Ivan IV, 194. Ivan assumes the reins of government, 196. The discovery of Siberia, 197. The restraining influences of Anastasia, 198. Ivan’s atrocities, 199. The Polish invasion, 200. The reign of terror, 202. The march against Novgorod, 203. Carnage in Moscow, 205. The struggle for Livonia, 207. Projects of alliance with England, 208. Death of Ivan the Terrible, 208. Karamzin’s estimate of Ivan, 209. Ivan the Terrible compared with Peter the Great, 212.

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