Russian Oprichnina

Timeline

1. 1565–1569Moscow · MoscowIn 1565 Ivan IV divided the country into the Oprichnina and the zemshchina; the Oprichnina was under the tsar's direct control, with oprichniki raised to confiscate boyar lands and build a parallel administrative and military system, forming a terror organization alongside the old boyar Duma.
2. 1569–1570Veliky Novgorod · Novgorod OblastIn 1569-1570 the oprichniki carried out a large-scale purge of Novgorod, confiscating church and merchant property; Oprichnina terror and exactions at the local level reached their peak, further weakening the old nobility and the tradition of local self-government.
3. 1571–1572Moscow · MoscowAfter Crimean Tatars burned and sacked Moscow in 1571, Ivan IV formally abolished the Oprichnina in 1572, disbanding the oprichniki and redistributing confiscated lands; the Oprichnina as an independent administrative-military organization ended, but the tsar's personal autocracy and the trend of land concentration continued into the 1580s.
4. 1572–1584Moscow · MoscowAfter the Oprichnina's abolition, Russia in the 1570s-1580s remained under Ivan IV's late reign; the effects of land redistribution and the suppression of the nobility persisted, leaving a deep mark on the political turmoil on the eve of the Romanov dynasty and the reorganization of the service nobility.