Read Online THE WORLD'S MOST EVIL PEOPLE (True Crime) by Rodney Castleden - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rodney Castleden
Ads: Link
added his own personal qualities, among which was the ability to identify talented generals, admirals and viziers and exploit their abilities to the full. Suleiman was able to take the Ottoman Empire to the zenith of its power, but it goes almost without saying that this was achieved by unscrupulousness, bloodthirstiness and carnage on a huge scale. Some historians have fallen for the glitz of his military glory and praised Suleiman for his ‘achievements’. He has even been praised for his justice, wisdom and courtesy. To later Turks he was ‘The Lawgiver’, because of his organization of the learned class; he set the mufti of Constantinople at the head of this body.
In 1526, he invaded and annexed part of Hungary – some of Hungary was already in his domain – and he organized a massacre of 200,000 Hungarians. Two thousand of these were killed for his pleasure, as he watched from a throne. He also took 100,000 slaves back with him to Constantinople.
Three years later, in 1529, when he laid siege to Vienna and that city refused to surrender, he ransacked the surrounding countryside for good-looking young women to stock the Turkish harems. Then he piled hundreds of Austrian peasants that he did not want onto a huge bonfire, close to the city so that the citizens of Vienna could see what was happening. This display of military strength is not only evil but insane by any modern standards, but it was not exceptional – except in scale – in the sixteenth century. Cruelty, and cruelty towards the innocent and powerless, was a normal way of demonstrating political strength.
Suleiman the Magnificent died in September 1566 at the age of 72, while engaged in yet more mayhem, the siege of Szigetvar. He was buried in Constantinople in the precincts of the mosque that bears his name.
Ivan The Terrible
(1530–1584)
Ivan was born in 1530, the son of Vasily, Grand Duke of Moscow. He was orphaned at an early age; his father died when he was only three and his mother, then acting as Regent, was poisoned by political enemies when he was eight. After that, Ivan claimed he had ‘no human care from any quarter’.
Naturally, in the power vacuum that followed his father’s death, a struggle for power went on among the leading Muscovite families, and Ivan was a pawn in the midst of this struggle. One of Ivan’s uncles was seized and murdered by a Moscow mob during an uprising.
Ivan quickly learnt by example how to survive in this environment. He was 13 when he organized his own first political murder. He threw his victim’s body, a troublesome prince, to his dogs. In 1547, Ivan proclaimed himself Tsar and at a specially arranged beauty contest he selected himself a bride, a 15-year-old girl called Anastasia. She gave birth to six children, though four had died by the time she herself died in 1560. It is possible that the loss of the children followed by the loss of his wife, who had been a steadying influence on him, caused him to topple over into bloodthirsty megalomania after that date.
In his grief, he accused his chaplain, Father Silvestr, and another close adviser, Alexei Adashev, of plotting to kill Anastasia, and banished them both. Then he went into retreat, leaving Moscow in order to go into seclusion in the provinces. He was begged by every level of Moscow society to return, for fear of another power vacuum in his absence, something they must later have regretted. Ivan agreed, but on one terrible condition – that he would be free to govern without hindrance. He was in effect assuming dictatorial powers, and he used them. He re-organized the country into huge administrative units; he would be absolute ruler in one, while the others were governed on his behalf by teams of bureaucrats.
This is when the terror began. He created a force of oprichniki, black-cloaked assassins riding black horses. In their saddles they each carried their emblems of office, a broom and a dog’s head. The black riders descended
In 1526, he invaded and annexed part of Hungary – some of Hungary was already in his domain – and he organized a massacre of 200,000 Hungarians. Two thousand of these were killed for his pleasure, as he watched from a throne. He also took 100,000 slaves back with him to Constantinople.
Three years later, in 1529, when he laid siege to Vienna and that city refused to surrender, he ransacked the surrounding countryside for good-looking young women to stock the Turkish harems. Then he piled hundreds of Austrian peasants that he did not want onto a huge bonfire, close to the city so that the citizens of Vienna could see what was happening. This display of military strength is not only evil but insane by any modern standards, but it was not exceptional – except in scale – in the sixteenth century. Cruelty, and cruelty towards the innocent and powerless, was a normal way of demonstrating political strength.
Suleiman the Magnificent died in September 1566 at the age of 72, while engaged in yet more mayhem, the siege of Szigetvar. He was buried in Constantinople in the precincts of the mosque that bears his name.
Ivan The Terrible
(1530–1584)
Ivan was born in 1530, the son of Vasily, Grand Duke of Moscow. He was orphaned at an early age; his father died when he was only three and his mother, then acting as Regent, was poisoned by political enemies when he was eight. After that, Ivan claimed he had ‘no human care from any quarter’.
Naturally, in the power vacuum that followed his father’s death, a struggle for power went on among the leading Muscovite families, and Ivan was a pawn in the midst of this struggle. One of Ivan’s uncles was seized and murdered by a Moscow mob during an uprising.
Ivan quickly learnt by example how to survive in this environment. He was 13 when he organized his own first political murder. He threw his victim’s body, a troublesome prince, to his dogs. In 1547, Ivan proclaimed himself Tsar and at a specially arranged beauty contest he selected himself a bride, a 15-year-old girl called Anastasia. She gave birth to six children, though four had died by the time she herself died in 1560. It is possible that the loss of the children followed by the loss of his wife, who had been a steadying influence on him, caused him to topple over into bloodthirsty megalomania after that date.
In his grief, he accused his chaplain, Father Silvestr, and another close adviser, Alexei Adashev, of plotting to kill Anastasia, and banished them both. Then he went into retreat, leaving Moscow in order to go into seclusion in the provinces. He was begged by every level of Moscow society to return, for fear of another power vacuum in his absence, something they must later have regretted. Ivan agreed, but on one terrible condition – that he would be free to govern without hindrance. He was in effect assuming dictatorial powers, and he used them. He re-organized the country into huge administrative units; he would be absolute ruler in one, while the others were governed on his behalf by teams of bureaucrats.
This is when the terror began. He created a force of oprichniki, black-cloaked assassins riding black horses. In their saddles they each carried their emblems of office, a broom and a dog’s head. The black riders descended
Similar Books
