The years of the oprichnina had a significant impact on the formation and development of the Russian state. Tsar Ivan the Terrible took his place on the throne in 1547, during a turbulent period of external and internal political upheavals. In the middle of the 16th century, the country needed large-scale transformations. At the same time, the oprichnina is by no means the first global political measure of Ivan IV on the throne. It was preceded by the era of the Chosen Rada, no less fateful for the country.
Reforms of the Elected Rada
This is the name given to the meeting of a number of nobles, representatives of the clergy and government officials, who from 1547 to 1560 were the actual informal government in the state. In essence, all the reforms of this government were aimed at creating a sufficiently strong bureaucracy in the country, state bodies, judicial and administrative procedures, and so on. Strictly speaking, the time itself demanded such a centralization of power. After all, the absolutization of monarchies in the same period took place throughout Europe and was at that time a progressive phenomenon.
Oprichnina background
However, the activities and the very existence of the Chosen Rada eventually began to contradict the wholea number of reasons for the aspirations of Ivan the Terrible. The final break between the sovereign and his associates occurred around 1560, which resulted in the oprichnina. This happened mainly for the following reason. The tsar was simply not satisfied with the unhurried, progressive nature of the reforms of the Chosen Rada. Over time, it began to seem to him that the boyars were deliberately delaying the centralization of power in order to preserve the remnants of feudal fragmentation, and with them their power in the regions. So, in 1560, he accused two members of his own government body of intending to concentrate all state power in their hands. The last spark that finally inflamed the tsar's hatred of the boyar aristocracy was the transfer of one of the former members of the government, Andrei Kurbsky, to the camp of the Poles during the Livonian War. The reason that prompted the boyar to do this was just discontent and disagreement with the fact that the tsar tramples on the age-old rights and liberties of the boyars. Ivan the Terrible, in turn, saw this as proof of the treacherous nature of the boyars. It was after this moment that the oprichnina was unleashed. This happened in 1565. The ruler formed a personally obedient fighting corps, which now had to establish order in the state by force.
Oprichnina reforms
From the mid-1560s in the Muscovite kingdom, a tough policy of large-scale terror against the aristocracy was launched. Oprichnina is essentially the literal physical destruction of the boyar stratum. For these purposes, the countrydivided into two administrative districts, and one of these parts became the personal lot of the ruler and was called the oprichnina. The second part was called the zemshchina and was ruled by the boyar duma. The limits of the personal lot of Ivan IV constantly expanded and occupied more and more territories in the country. At the same time, the tsar achieved an unquestioning right for himself and the boyars' consent to the fact that he could arbitrarily execute and disgrace anyone he considered a traitor. Needless to say, after Andrei Kurbsky's demarche, the tsar saw traitors and conspirators everywhere among the highest aristocracy.
Results of the Oprichnina
Within a few years, hundreds of boyar families were evicted from the patrimonial lands. The terror reached its peak in 1570, when the last appanage prince in Russia, Vladimir Staritsky, was killed. Thus, along with terror, feudal remnants were also overcome, which allowed Moscow to finally gather Russian lands under its rule, create an effective bureaucracy, administrative and military systems, and also lay the foundations of the future Russian Empire.
