Ivan IV of Russia

Ivan IV, known as the Terrible (1530–1584), was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 and in 1547 became the first Tsar of all Russia. His father died when he was three and his regent mother in 1538, leaving him to feuding boyar families. With his Chosen Council he revised the law code and created the streltsy, Russia's first standing army.

Kazan fell in 1552, and he marked the victory with St Basil's Cathedral on Red Square; further campaigns took Astrakhan, giving Russia the whole Volga. He dismissed the council and launched the Livonian War (1558–1583), which failed to win Livonia.

His oprichniki, Russia's first political police, purged the nobility and massacred Novgorod's people. He is believed to have killed his heir, Ivan Ivanovich, in anger. His son Feodor succeeded him in 1584; Feodor's childless death in 1598 ended the Rurik dynasty and led into the Time of Troubles.