Russia certainly hasn't been the easiest place to live down the years, and under Tsar Ivan the Terrible's rule that was no different as he sent the Oprichniki out to terrify his citizens and keep them under control. Between 1565 and 1572, this secret police force ran around the Russian countryside terrifying peasants in their monk-like robes that displayed an emblem of a severed dog's head with a broom. Straightaway you can already see that these people were not to be messed with. Torture and execution of potential and convicted rebels was essentially the remit for the Oprichniki - with their speciality including boiling citizens whole, or roasting them over an open fire on a spit. Interestingly, tags would also be left on the corpses of those executed highlighting the crimes that had been committed against the state. In one particular masscacre at Novgorod, the Oprichniki murdered up to 30,000 Russian citizens - effectively destroying the city in one fell swoop. More than 50,000 Russians are believed to have been killed during the seven years this secret police force operated. In fact, so brutal had the Oprichniki become in such a short space of time that Ivan the Terrible liquidated his secret police in 1572 and outlawed the name from ever being spoken again.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.