Ivan Vasilyevich IV was born August 25, of 1530, in Kolomenskoye, Russia. Ivans father was Vasily Ivanovic, who died when Ivan was only an infant. At the age of three Ivan was named the Grand Duke of Muscovy due to his fathers' death. Ivans mother Elana Glinskaya ruled as regent until …show more content…
Not everything about Ivans reign was "terrible." The code of sudebnik equalized the power balance between peasants and nobles. The code also allowed the people to elect officials to determine the fate of trials. This concept will be part of the foundation of American justice. America has jurors decide the fate of the accused. The idea of jurors was derived from the sudebnik code. Ivan is also credited with the greatest expansion Russia has ever known. While he had little to no success in the west everywhere else his expansion was unstoppable. During these conquest Ivan established trade ways and roads to increase Russian wealth. a result of Ivans conquests was a diversity of ethnicity and religion. The increase in diversity offered a richer culture to Russians and increased the size and diversity of the Russians arts movements. While Ivan had great success he also had numerous follies. His greatest weakness was his anger and lust for death and torture. Ivan killed of much of the noble class. While the peasants may have seen this as a positive thing it was the nobles that ran much of the trading and economy under the tsar. While Ivan expanded the country, he ran his nation dry. Towards the end of his reign he had many troubles recruiting men for the army. He also almost bankrupted his nation with all the wars and conquest he sought. Ivan also had many issues with his reputation among the people. He was knowing to kill for minor offenses and slaughter thousands due to his own paranoia. Perhaps Ivans greatest folly was killing his rightful heir Ivan. In killing Ivan, he allowed his mentally incompetent son to rule the empire after his death bringing upon Russia a dark