Russia's most brutal leader who 'fed rival to dogs' makes Putin look like a pussycat
dailystar.co.ukChechnya, Crimea and now Ukraine in a bid to restore the historical Russian empire. Russia, and its successor state the USSR, has had more than its fair share of unscrupulous and often brutal leaders.
From the reign of “Ice Queen” Anna Ivanovna, who exacted horrifying punishments on people suspected of “political crimes” to the rule of feared “Red Czar” Josef Stalin, Russians have lived in fear for centuries.But the most fearsome of them all was Ivan IV Vasilyevich – known to history as Ivan The Terrible.His parents both died when he was very young, and while Ivan was technically Czar the early years of his reign were dominated by the rule of a "Chosen Council" of advisers.
Ivan’s cruelty was limited to catching and torturing small animals when he was a child, but at the age of 13 Ivan asserted his power in no uncertain terms.
In 1543 Ivan had Andrei Shuisky, who was effectively ruling Russia in his name, arrested and put to death. Rumours persist that he had Andrei’s body dismembered and fed to his dogs.He went on to launch the bloody Livonian War, which failed in its bid to expand Russia’s rule into Livonia – now the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia – but the conflict increased Ivan’s power in his own country.But the early years of Ivan’s reign were marked by positive reforms and modernisation.
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