Russian History: Ivan the Terrible: Was he simply a tyrant gone mad or was there method in his madness.

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV of Russia has been know throughout the West as Ivan the Terrible. In Russia he is called Ivan Grozny, which would be better translated as Ivan the Awesome, but that is not what he is known as in the West. So the question arises, was Ivan truly the terrible murdered ruling his people with the sword and an iron fist, or was there more to his rule than violence? Ivan …

…remain in Russia and even Peter the Great, who was said to have westernized Russia would fall back on this system. So was Ivan a mad man who deserved to be called terrible. Perhaps he was mad, but the changes he made to Russian society would remain. The atrocities he committed would be seen again under Stalin and in smaller portions along the way. So was he mad? Perhaps, but no madder than the rest.