Word: oprichniki
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Czar, i.e., Caesar, and Sovereign of all the Russias. He began to build a strong brick wall around the Kremlin: it still stands today.† Then Moscow was ruled by Ivan IV, called the Terrible, who decisively defeated the Tartars and gave Moscow its first secret police-the blackclad Oprichniki ("extras"), who were mounted on black horses and carried a broom and a dog's head at their saddle, "to sweep and gnaw away treason." When much of Moscow was destroyed by the huge fire of 1547, Ivan retired to the Sparrow Hills...
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