The Cruelty Of Lack Of Love, Or The Story Of “Ivan The Terrible “

“Some people, carried away by their ardent desire to build a world into which no external threat could penetrate, excessively increase their defenses against the outside, thus impoverishing their interior”
Paul Coelho

What can lead one person to burn another alive, or to cut them into pieces? What can lead someone to show such cruelty, to remain impassive in the face of their own atrocities, or even to take a liking to them? This is the story of Ivan the Terrible.

What we experience during our childhood marks us for life.

Our first experiences, the relationships we have with our loved ones as well as the role models they instill in us and the lessons they give us, all of this accompanies us for the rest of our life… for better and for worse.

This is why love is so important. It is not for nothing if we say that love moves the world.

Love and hate, its opposite, are the engines of the greatest successes, as well as the greatest atrocities that may have been committed throughout history.

In the rest of this article, you will therefore discover the story of Ivan the Terrible, which shows how childhood can mark  a person quite terribly.

If Ivan the Terrible has passed into the collective imagination, it is precisely because of his nickname, “the Terrible”, being nothing but a bad translation from Russian, “the strict”.

However, although poorly translated, this nickname illustrates the atrocities that this man may have committed.

It all started in his childhood… At 3 years old, he lost his father, and then became “Grand Prince of Moscow”, even if, because of his young age, the power was held by his mother. But the latter died 5 years later, probably poisoned by the boyar clans who were fighting for power.

Ivan was therefore educated by the boyars, who humiliated him in a thousand and one ways throughout his childhood. They mistreated him, humiliated him, beat him, or locked him in the Kremlin palace. So he lived almost like a beggar.

Everything Ivan went through as a child is reflected in his first act of cruelty. At 13, he had one of his enemies cut up by throwing a pack of dogs at his heels …

His helplessness therefore ended up turning into anger and a counterattack … Ivan then began to be respected.

Little by little, his character took shape. His terrible childhood, the sadness to see his brother, whom he would hold dear throughout his life, suffering from a mental illness, and the death of Anastasia, his beloved wife, all continued to make Ivan suffer. in adulthood… and to carve out his character.

Ivan lost his wife and destroyed Novgorod

Even though Ivan the Terrible married 7 times, only Anastasia, his first wife, was the one he truly loved.

She fell ill and soon after died. Ivan said that she had been poisoned, but at that time no one believed him.

However, time and subsequent studies have ended up proving him right. Analysis of Anastasia’s bones revealed that she was administered a dose of mercury, which ultimately killed her.

Following the death of his wife, Ivan’s character became even more “terrible”, and his distrust of the world and others grew steadily. ..

His wife was the only person he had ever truly trusted, and life took her away from him.

As we all know, “our head directs our actions”. But, despite his desire to conquer the Baltic region, Ivan could never make this dream come true.

Ivan lacked everything his rival had, and he had sights on the city of Novgorod, known throughout the region for the education and role models of its inhabitants.

The city enjoyed a flourishing trade. The merchants built churches in order to ask with love God to help them so that their business is prosperous …

But, conquest by force was hardly achievable, and so Ivan met with failure and helplessness.

So he reproduced what he had always seen, loved, and experienced: resorting to cruelty.

Ivan therefore attacked again. He devastated the city and tortured, beheaded and impaled many inhabitants. According to studies carried out on this subject, 2,000 to 3,000 people were then killed.

Ivan killed his own son

His last terrifying act was the assassination of his son. One day Ivan saw his daughter-in-law dressed, according to him, inappropriately, as a result of which his son got angry with him.

Ivan, then overcome by the anger which characterized him, struck him until killing him.

Experts claim that only fury, aggression and hatred taking control of a person at some point in their life can lead them to commit such atrocities, and here, in this case, to kill their own. son.

200 years later, Peter the Great succeeded wherever Ivan failed because of his madness and his recurring use of force: he modernized and built St. Petersburg.

And if all this was possible, it is only thanks to love … The moral of this story is there!