Massacre of Novgorod  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump
to: navigation, search  The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack
launched by Tsar Ivan IV’s oprichniki on the city of Novgorod,
Russia in 1570. The sheer number of casualties combined with the
extreme level of violent cruelty makes this campaign possibly
the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina.
Apollinary Vasnetsov's 1911 painting "The street in the town" :
people fleeing at the arrival of the Oprichniki (inspired by the
opera The Oprichnik by Tchaikovsky)  Origins and rationale[edit]
Paranoia, power, and the oprichnina[edit]  The late 1560s under
Ivan the Terrible were ripe with conspiracies and violence.
Ivan’s mental state was continually deteriorating and was
exacerbated by his wars with Sweden, Lithuania, and Poland.
Ivan’s deep distrust of the boyars, a sentiment held from
childhood, coupled with his paranoia and need for control, led
him to create the oprichnina in 1565.  The oprichniki were
essentially a private army unde