A monument to Ivan the Terrible has been installed in the center of Vologda. Governor Filimonov called it a “symbol of the Russian world.” I completely agree with the elected official. Indeed — a symbol.
He sought to seize the Baltics and waged a brutal, bloody war for 25 years. The country had long been exhausted; everyone understood that the Livonian War was lost, but he continued — continued to send his soldiers into the meat grinder. As a result, Russia’s economy was completely destroyed, and all conquered lands had to be given back — along with some of its own.
To preserve his power, he established the harshest system of oppression — the oprichnina. It was the tsar’s personal guard. Its symbols: a dog’s head (to tear apart enemies) and a broom (to sweep away treason). The oprichniki wore black and swore allegiance only to the tsar, sparing no one. They loved to seize other people’s property — land, money, goods. They carried out mass killings and plundering in Tver, Klin, and Torzhok.
Torture under Ivan the Terrible was routine. People were boiled alive, roasted on red-hot pans, cut into pieces with knives, impaled, or alternately doused with boiling and icy water to prolong their agony. Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky was roasted on a pan. Ivan Viskovatov, head of the Diplomatic Office, was tied to a post, and his arms and legs were cut off piece by piece while he was still alive. People were tortured not to extract confessions, but to instill fear — confessions often didn’t matter.
Ivan was paranoid and suspected everyone of treason. For example, he ordered one of his top oprichniki, Alexei Basmanov, to be killed by his own son. When the son refused, both were executed. Often, entire families of those suspected of disloyalty were wiped out to eliminate any avengers.
Novgorod, suspected of treason, was surrounded so no one could escape — Ivan ordered that the townspeople be doused with incendiary mixtures and, burned and still alive, thrown into the Volkhov River. People were beaten to death with clubs and roasted in burning flour. A Novgorod chronicler wrote that there were days when the number of those killed reached 1,500; days when “only” 500–600 were slain were considered “fortunate.”
As for Ivan’s lust and his eight wives — I won’t even go into that. I’ll only mention that as a child, little Vanya enjoyed killing cats and birds. He would throw dogs off the Kremlin walls and watch them smash to death.
Under Ivan the Terrible, a demographic catastrophe began — the country lost up to a quarter of its population, and entire regions were depopulated. Agriculture collapsed, trade was undermined, and the treasury was empty. After Ivan came the Time of Troubles.
A very fitting monument.
And most importantly — you do understand perfectly well why the monument to Ivan was put up today. We will break all of your knees, no one will dare make a peep, the oprichnina is already in place, you will fight to the last, we don’t give a damn how many people die, we’ll wipe out all dissenters to the root. We will get into heaven, and they will just drop dead.
And the results will be the same — after Putin, Russia will get its own Time of Troubles. Don’t forget to lay flowers at the monument, lovers of the strong hand.
