Donald Trump's Ivan The Terrible

At this moment in time, most of our nation and possibly the world despise our poster boy. Donald Trump is said to be the end of America. He will bring about an apoplectic world in which nuclear warfare will have been the cause due to our President’s insipid anger issues. But here’s a question; Why is everyone so intent on jumping to conclusion on who this man is? Our society often tends to make the mistake of turning people into cartoonishly evil characters. Yes there are verifiable facts about the awful things that Trump has done but has anyone stopped to ask why he did those things? Is he a truly appalling man or is there a reason to the way he acts? Those are the questions we must ask ourselves about a similar ruler in history by the name
He wasn’t great in ruling though as we find out just from his name. Ivan had a sad life full of spite and anger that led to bouts of uncontrollable rage. Because of these fits, Ivan became known as Grozny which translates to “invoking terror or fear”. Funnily enough, Ivan the Terrible descended from his grandfather who was known as Ivan the Great. It makes one wonder what happened to make two apples who fell from the same tree behave so differently. Well as we explore Ivan IV, we are bound to find out what happened to make him who he was but the question is, was he terrible? Ivan the Terrible was “terrible” but that was not all he was; he was also a troubled man with anger issues and a sorrowful life that started in his childhood, continued into his family life, and was expressed in his rule as
Like most things in Ivan’s life, his death was eventful. In 1548, his health started to fail and he became obsessed with his mortality. In 1553 he had a near fatal illness that left him desperate for a way to preserve himself. He called on the supernatural to heal him maybe proving that he did indeed have an illness of the mind as well as the body. He tried witches and soothsayers to sustain him but none of his remedies worked. Nearing the end, he was more unpredictable and irritable than ever before. Ivan the Terrible died on March 18, 1584 of a stroke leaving the kingdom in a state of jubilance. Later, a 1960’s examination revealed high levels of mercury in his body leading historians to believe Ivan had been poisoned. But, despite that unsurprising fact, Russia was free from terror. But it was not yet free of despair. Ivan IV had left his kingdom to his remaining son Feodor who led Russia into the Times of Trouble that ultimately put Russia in the Romanov Dynasty. Ivan did horrific things but he was not a complete blight on Russia. In fact, he was an important character in its development. In his thirty seven years on the throne, Ivan gave the Russian monarchy power and authority. He set down foundation for a new Russian state that had not only gained new land but was influenced by it.