Why was Ivan the Terrible famous?

Answer 1

Ivan the Terrible is important for many reasons, but most significant is that he was the first Czar of Russia. First, one must understand that his nickname in Russian, grozny, does not have a negative connotation and a better translation would likely be Ivan the Fearsome or Ivan the Formidable. This was not only because of his paranoia driving him to kill his heir Ivan Ivanovich and treat the nobles and others so brutally after a near-fatal illness and the death of his favorite wife. It was also because he conquered significant portions of modern day Russia, essentially encompassing the European Portions of Modern day Russia and started the settlement of Serbia from his original base as the Grand Principality of Moscow.