Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Let’s all have fun being nerds.

This week’s topic: How does history shape your worldview? Can’t remember if we did this topic before (probably something like it), but worth considering. How does your study of, or interest in history effect how you see the world today?

Today’s picture: On this day in 1547, Ivan IV of Russia became the first true Russian tsar. This gentleman would become renowned in history as Ivan the Terrible, under whose watch Russia expanded from a second-rate power to something like the modern empire we know today (though Peter the Great arguably did even more). He was an extremely complex figure, brilliant and foresighted, but also mentally unstable and prone to fits of needless violence, whether in murdering his son or massacring political opponents. Still, Russia and the world wouldn’t be the same without him.