Ivan III 'the Great'

Hello! My name is Ivan, and I want to tell you my story. I was born a long, long time ago, on January 22nd, 1440, in a busy city called Moscow. My father, Vasily II, was the ruler, the Grand Prince. That meant that one day, I would become the ruler, too. Growing up in a palace was exciting, but it also meant I had a very important job to prepare for. I learned all about how to lead our people and protect our lands.

When I was 22 years old, in the year 1462, my father passed away, and I became the new Grand Prince of Moscow. At that time, our country wasn't one big piece. It was made up of many smaller parts, like a puzzle. Each piece was ruled by a different prince. My biggest dream was to bring all those pieces together to make one big, strong, and united country. I knew it would be a huge task, but I believed we would be much stronger together, like a big family.

I spent many years working on my dream. I called it 'gathering the Russian lands.' Sometimes I would talk to other princes and they would agree to join me. One of the biggest and wealthiest cities was called Novgorod. In 1478, they agreed to become part of our growing state. It was a very important step! Little by little, I added more and more lands to our territory. It was like carefully putting each piece of the puzzle into its right place until a beautiful picture started to form.

For hundreds of years, the princes of Russia had to pay money to powerful rulers from far away called the Golden Horde. I didn't think this was right. We were strong enough to be on our own. So, in the year 1480, when their army came to collect the money, I gathered my army and we met them at a place called the Ugra River. We just stood there, facing each other for a long time, but we didn't fight. Finally, their army turned around and went home. After that day, we were truly free.

Now that our country was big and free, I wanted our capital city, Moscow, to look grand and beautiful. My clever wife, Sophia, helped me. We invited amazing builders and artists all the way from Italy to help us. They rebuilt the walls of our fortress, the Kremlin, with strong red bricks. They also built magnificent churches with golden domes that sparkled in the sun. Moscow became a capital that everyone could be proud of.

I ruled for a very long time, and I saw my dream come true. I had gathered the lands together to create one strong Russian state. Because of this, people later called me 'Ivan the Great.' I lived to be 65 years old. The work I did helped lay the foundation for the country of Russia that exists today.