Ivan the Terrible (Video)
On Saturday, September 12, Dr. Elena Osokina presented “Ivan the Terrible: Russia’s Bloodthirsty Reformer “ as a part of the Russian History Museum’s Second Saturday online lecture series.
Was Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) a ruthless despot, a transformative reforme, or a far more complicated figure than either label suggests? Dr. Osokina explored the life and legacy of this tsar, one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. From his troubled childhood and rise to power to the reforms, political upheavals, and violence of his reign, she examined Ivan not only as a ruler, but also as a person shaped by the turbulent world around him.
About the Speaker
Dr. Elena Osokina is Professor of Russian History at the University of South Carolina. She was born and raised in the Soviet Union and received her Ph.D. from the Department of History at Moscow University.
Leaving behind the studies of Imperial Russia, which was the subject of her first dissertation (defended in Moscow in 1987), she began, with the opening of the Soviet archives, a scholarly journey into the social and economic history of the Stalin era. Her research of the Soviet trade and the black market under Stalin resulted in a defense of a second dissertation (Moscow, 1998), and the production of several books and articles published in Russia, USA, Canada, China, Germany, France, and Italy.
In 2011, she was granted the USC Russell Award for Excellence in Research. She taught Russian history internationally—from the genesis of the East Slavs and the creation of the Russian state to the present.
