1552 Kazan, which had freed itself during his father’s reign, is annexed.
1553 Chancellor arrives at Archangel and proceeds to Moscow. The English secure great trading privileges and establish factories in the country.
1556 Astrakhan is annexed. The power of the Mongols is now almost completely broken.
1558 Treaty with Elizabeth of England. A Russian army invades Livonia and takes several towns. The Teutonic Order thereupon makes an alliance with Poland.
1564 Ivan, with a few personal friends, retires to Alexandrovskoe, near Moscow, and does not return until after repeated supplications by his nobles. A printing press established at Moscow.
1571 The Mongols of Crimea invade Russia, burn Moscow, drag 100,000 Russians into slavery. Next year they make another raid, but are defeated.
1580 Conquest of Siberia by the Cossack Iermak as far as the Irtish river.
1581 Ivan kills his eldest son in a fit of fury.
1582 Peace of Sapolye. Ivan is forced to surrender to Stephen Bathori (Battori) king of Poland all his conquests in Livonia. The attempt to open for Russia a passage in the Baltic fails for the present.
1584 Death of Ivan. Feodor, his weak-minded son, succeeds Ivan. Boris Godunov, Feodor’s brother-in-law, is the real ruler.