Massacre of Novgorod

The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack launched by Tsar Ivan IV (The Terrible)'s oprichniki on the city of Novgorod, Russia in 1570. The sheer number of casualties combined with the extreme level of violent cruelty makes this campaign possibly the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina.

The late 1560s under Ivan the Terrible were rife with conspiracies and violence. Ivan’s mental state was continually deteriorating and was exacerbated by his wars with Sweden, Lithuania, and Poland. Ivan’s deep distrust of the boyars, a sentiment held from childhood, coupled with his paranoia and need for control, led him to create the oprichnina in 1565.

The oprichniki were essentially a private army under Ivan’s personal control with the power to "pronounce official disgrace upon, execute and confiscate the property of disobedient boyars without the advice of the [boyar] council." Ivan proceeded to exercise this right liberally, as he attempted to purge all those whom he deemed a threat.

One year before the carnage, in 1569, the Tsar evicted several thousands from Novgorod and the neighboring town of Pskov in an attempt to avoid a betrayal like the one in Izborsk. He also began to execute anyone he deemed a threat; for example, in 1568, over 150 boyar council members and noblemen (along with their households in some cases) in Moscow were killed in response to real or imagined conspiracies, as well as anyone who protested against the oprichnina.

The suspicious circumstances surrounding the loss of Izborsk (despite the fact that Ivan managed to recover the town), along with growing unrest among the aristocrats in Moscow, convinced Ivan that treason was widespread and expanding, prompting him to take murderous action against the things he viewed as the largest threats, his cousin, Prince Vladimir Andreyevich, and the city of Novgorod.

Shortly after the executions of Prince Vladimir and most of his family, Ivan launched an attack on Novgorod claiming treason and treachery. It is probably not a coincidence that Novgorod still housed a number of the late Vladimir’s supporters and retainers.

...
Wikipedia