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 the turbulent period of external and internal political upheavals. In the middle of the XVI century, the country needed large-scale transformations. At the same time, the oprichnina is not the first global political measure of Ivan IV on the throne. It was preceded by a no less crucial era for the country of the activity of the Elected Rada.
Reforms of the Chosen Rada
This name was given to the meeting of a number of nobles, representatives of the clergy and government officials, who from 1547 to 1560 were the de facto informal government in the state. In fact, all the reforms of this government were aimed at creating a sufficiently strong bureaucratic apparatus in the country, state bodies, judicial and administrative orders, and so on. Strictly speaking, such centralization of power required time itself. Indeed, the absolutization of monarchies in the same period took place throughout Europe and was at that time a progressive phenomenon.
Background of the oprichnina
However, the activities and the very existence of the Elected Rada over time began to contradict for a number of reasons the aspirations of Ivan the Terrible. The final gap between the sovereign and his associates occurred around 1560, resulting 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 Elected Rada. Over time, it began to seem to him that the boyars deliberately delayed the centralization of power in order to preserve vestiges of feudal fragmentation, and with them their power in the regions. So, in 1560, he accused two members of their own government body of intending to concentrate all state power in their hands. The last spark that finally inflamed the king’s hatred for the boyar aristocracy was the transition 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 this was precisely the discontent and disagreement with the fact that the king was violating the age-old rights and liberties of the boyars. Ivan the Terrible, in turn, saw this as evidence of the treacherous nature of the boyars. It was after this moment that the oprichnina was unleashed. This happened in 1565. The ruler personally formed an obedient fighting corps, which now had to force to establish order in the state.
Reforms of the oprichnina
Since the mid-1560s, a tough course was launched in the Moscow kingdom towards large-scale terror against the aristocracy. Oprichnina is essentially a literal physical destruction of the boyar stratum. For these purposes, the country was divided 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 Zemstvo and was governed by the boyar duma. The limits of the personal destiny of Ivan IV were constantly expanding and occupied all large territories in the country. At the same time, the tsar achieved the unquestionable right for himself and the boyar’s consent that he could arbitrarily execute and disgrace anyone whom he considered a traitor. Is it worth saying once again that after the demarche of Andrei Kurbsky, the tsar saw traitors and conspirators everywhere among the highest aristocracy.
Results of the oprichnina
For several years, hundreds of families of the boyars were evicted from estates. Terror reached its zenith in 1570, when the last unitary prince in Russia, Vladimir Staritsky, was killed. Thus, feudal survivals were overcome along with terror, which allowed Moscow to finally collect the Russian lands under its rule, create an effective bureaucratic apparatus, administrative and military systems, and lay the foundations of the future Russian empire.