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His uncle Yuri challenged Ivan's rights to the throne, was arrested and imprisoned in a dungeon. There he was left to starve
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after his dad died he took the thrown at just 3 years old
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Ivan's mother was killed when Ivan was only 8 years old. This event deeply saddened the young Czar-to-be and this left him in the care of the boyars who constantly starved and sometimes beat the young child, leading to his anti-boyar mentality in later years, as shown by his policies against the boyars. (Encyclopedia of World Biography)
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Ivan roamed the Moscow streets with a gang of young scoundrels, drinking, knocking down old people and raping women. He often disposed of rape victims by having them hanged, strangled, buried alive or thrown to the bears
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Ivan crouned himself the first czar
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After his wife died he lost it and was convinced the land owners were the ones who killed her
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In 1564 Ivan unexpectedly left his post in Moscow and retreated to his hunting lodge northeast of Moscow. After being begged to come back he did on the condition of Absolute power and the right to punish whoever he wanted as he saw fit. This was the beginning of when Ivan started going off the deep end in terms of his reasonable ruling was concerned. This time period constituted his infamous nickname "The terrible" (Oprichinia)
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He founded Russia’s first secret police, sometimes called the oprichniki, to strengthen his grip on power by terrorizing the populace. The dog-and-broom insignia's on the secret police’s uniforms symbolized the sniffing out and sweeping out of Ivan's enemies.
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During the later years of his reign, Russia was ravaged by war, terror, and famine. Ivan became increasingly unstable and violent and in 1581 flew into a rage because his pregnant daughter-in-law was not properly dressed. He beat her and she miscarried
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Ivan died of a heart attack that is thought to be caused by mercury poisoning
