Page 89 - 100 Events That Made History

A “terrible” family murder
In 1581, Russian Tsar Ivan IV (also known as Ivan
the Terrible) killed his son and heir in a fit of
rage. This placed his youngest, rather sickly, son
FEODOR next in line to the throne. Feodor had no
interest in running Russia, but when his father died
in 1584, he had no choice. He was a weak leader
and left the business of ruling to his wife’s brother,
a boyar (Russian prince) named Boris Godunov.

In all, there were two
Ivan struck his
more False Dmitris
son with his sceptre.
after the first one.
False Dmitri
When Tsar Feodor died in 1598 without an
By the way…
heir, Godunov seized the throne, and
I burst into tears when Russia’s Time of Troubles began. A terrible
I was asked to be tsar!
famine from 1601–03 killed a third of the
But I was smiling by the
population. In 1603, Polish forces entered
time I was crowned in
Russia, supporting FALSE DMITRI’s claim
February 1613.
to the throne. He said he was Feodor’s half
brother Dmitri (who had actually died in
1591). When Godunov died in 1605, False
Dmitri was made tsar—but he was
murdered a year later.

The Time

of Troubles

15 years of chaos in Russia before young

Mikhail ROMANOV becomes tsar

Romanov Russia
A Russian prince named Vasily
Shuisky tried his hand at being How it changed
tsar next. He was replaced by The Romanovs
the Polish king, Wladyslaw IV reigned for 300 years.
Vasa, in 1610. Determined to The Time of Troubles led
drive out the Poles, Russian to the most stable period
forces finally tasted victory in in Russia’s history.
August 1612. Russia’s nobles
elected a 16-year-old relative the world
of Ivan the Terrible,
MIKHAIL ROMANOV
(left), to be tsar.
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