46.3 Ivan the Terrible and the Oprichnina

Ivan the Terrible, convinced of treachery all around him, orders the execution of anyone he suspects of disloyalty. He then creates the Oprichnina, a state within a state in Muscovy, and subjects his people to successive waves of terror, including the massacre of Novogord 1569. Moscow comes under threat in 1571 from an immense army of Crimean Tatars leading to the Battle of Molodi. Meanwhile Denmark and Sweden fight the Seven Years War.