Orphaned in his childhood and treated abusively by higher-ranking Boyars, Tzar Ivan was a mercurial ruler, comparable to Hitler and other villains of history, who committed his first murder at the age of 13 and was feared for his random acts of violence. He paved the way for dynastic Romanov rulers that followed, including Peter I, or Peter the Great, and Ekaterina II, or Catherine the Great.

Orphaned in his childhood and treated abusively by higher-ranking Boyars, Tzar Ivan was a mercurial ruler, comparable to Hitler and other villains of history, who committed his first murder at the age of 13 and was feared for his random acts of violence. He paved the way for dynastic Romanov rulers that followed, including Peter I, or Peter the Great, and Ekaterina II, or Catherine the Great.