Economical Influence

Ivan became very upset and angry because of the death of his wife, Anastasia. Ivan, thinking it was because of murder, went insane. He took revenge on the Russian nobles by torturing families. Ivan thought: if God is so cruel as to take away my wife, than I should be cruel as well. Peasant girls were raped and used for target practice by the Oprichniks. Ivan was ruthless towards opposition. He murdered thousands of nobles and had the head of the Russian church murdered. Ivan practically had the whole city of Novgorod destroyed. Over 15,000 people were tortured. He held massive executions at the red square, which killed over 300 government and military officials all within the same day.