History buffs, brace yourselves: Ivan the Terrible, the Russian tsar remembered for brutality and tyranny, may not have been all that terrible. New GNN research suggests we have been confusing him with other Ivans.
Take the infamous incident in which Ivan supposedly killed his own son in a fit of rage. We may be thinking of Ivan Drago, the Soviet boxer from "Rocky IV." Drago delivered some devastating blows in the ring, but blaming a fictional heavyweight for the death of a Russian prince is a stretch, and in any case the prince was nowhere near Las Vegas.
Then there's the oprichnina, a period of state terror marked by executions and seized estates. Some historians now argue that we have mixed up Ivan the Terrible with Ivan Lendl, the Czech tennis player known for an aggressive baseline game. Lendl was intimidating on the court. A reign of terror is outside his skill set, though nobody has ever asked him.
And Ivan's reputation as a ruthless expansionist? Wrong Ivan tree again. That may be Ivan the Great, his grandfather, who really did expand the Muscovite state. Who can blame us? They all sound alike.
So it's time to rewrite the history books, or at least add footnotes saying which Ivan is meant. Until then, cut the man some slack. Maybe he just liked long walks on the frozen tundra and the occasional game of chess. Or maybe he threw his political opponents to the bears. Either way, there are plenty of Ivans out there, and they can't all be bad.
