Welcome to Russian history

Russian history re-told.

Episode number 201 Ivan Grozny, the first

the Tsar of Russia.

Last time, I looked back at my 10-plus years

as a Russian history podcaster. Today I resume our march back in time,

reviewing the rulers of Russia who molded the country that would be my and many of my

listeners original homeland. Our topic is one of the most

notorious and misunderstood of all of the Russian rulers, the first czar of Russia, the

man the West calls Ivan the Terrible, who more accurately

should be called Ivan Grozny.

I begin my look back at the life in times of Ivan IV, and I started this back in episode

number 14, ending it in episode 21, almost 10 years ago.

It was an extensive review of the material I had at the time.

Since then, I've uncovered many new ways of looking at Ivan, especially trying to understand

the man within the context of his times.

Starting with this episode, I will begin to share my sources of information that help me present the evidence to you.

I'm using works from my library, the first being

Medieval Russia 980 by Janet Martin. Next is Ivan the Terrible by Robert Payne and Nikita Romanov followed by the Domestroy rules for Russian households in the time of Ivan the terrible edited and translated by Carolyn Johnson, Pouncy and finally, Russians, the people

behind the power by Gregory Fyfer. Before I dive into my review of Ivan, I'd like to pose some words of

caution about Russian history from this point backwards. They say that history

is written by the victors and while that is true there is more to the so-called history or story than that.

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