Piotr Nater
speaker
792 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 8 Aug
Piotr Nater’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Read by Piotr Nater.
At the close of the Middle Ages, Ivan III had inaugurated a new epoch for the Russian Empire.
This remarkable man, with his cool, refined cruelty, without a single sympathetic trait in his character, was the creator of modern Russia.
He put an end forever to Tartar rule and brought to a close the destructive wars against the small, half independent princes, thus securing the independence and unity of Russia.
But he did more.
He asserted his claim to all lands that had once been Russian, a claim that was to lead to the destruction of the Lithuanian kingdom, and he declared himself the protector of the Greek Orthodox Church in foreign lands, a step that forced Russia to assume an aggressive policy against Turkey and Poland.
This same prince built up a strong absolutism within his dominions, secured quiet and order to his subjects, framed laws, and founded a standing army.
He was a Peter the Great at the close of the fifteenth century.
He was succeeded by Vasily IV Ivanovich, fifteen oh five to fifteen thirty three.
As his father had put an end to the independence that the great Novgorod had enjoyed for several hundred years, Vasily deprived Pskov of its liberty and at the same time of its prosperity.
He conquered Smolensk, then a city of Polish Lithuania.
His father had entertained close relations with the German Empire, Vasily kept up this friendship, and Maximilian I sent as envoy to Moscow the Baron of Herbertstein, author of the extremely interesting Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentary.
Vasily's son, Ivan IV, surnamed the Terrible, fifteen thirty three to fifteen eighty five, was a prince of far greater ability and power than his father.
To understand and appreciate justly his reign, we must take into consideration the state of affairs in Russia after Vasili's death.
Grand Prince Ivan was only three years of age when he nominally succeeded to the throne.
His near relatives perished in the struggle for the regency, and the Boyars, the nobility of office in Russia, seized control of the government and treated the young prince with insolence.
They were unable, however, to establish their rule firmly.
Disorder, intrigue, murder, and all sorts of violence prevailed all over the land.
There were even risings among the common people, long suffering and submissive.
as are the Russians of the lower classes.
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