Ivan was succeeded by his son, Vassilli III, who came to the throne in 1305. His mother was Sophia, and he was not the true heir, being the son of a second marriage. His brother, however, who should have received the scepter, was thrown into prison for four years, at the end of which time he was put to death. He ruled twenty-eight years, and through wars with the Tartars and with Lithuania greatly extended his dominions. He acquired Smolensk, and, although his reign was somewhat tame between that of the two Ivans, yet during his time Russia moved towards unity and the authority of the Autocracy did not diminish.
At his death his empire, enlarged and extended, was left to his infant son, Ivan, Helena, his wife, being appointed Regent. This woman, it is sad to state, appears to have been of utterly depraved character. After six years of crime and misrule she died unregretted and no coroner's inquest was held over the remains -- poison was hinted at.
Ivan, "The Great," had first assumed the title of "Tsar" and we now come to his successor, who really deserved the title and began a period where the rule of czars, as autocrats, upon a large scale and with unlimited power, may be said in reality to have started. The man who thus filled the bill was Ivan, "The Terrible," whom we have dignified as "The First Czar" with the above explanation, though in fact the title was first assumed by his predecessors. We have given him this honor, because of his peculiar and surpassing fitness for the title and his exercise of supreme tyranny, so obnoxious to modern nations indeed that except in the case of Russia, absolute personal despotism has been abolished throughout the world among the white races.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
