Ivan the Terrible's reign represents the end of princely power and the beginning of the autocracy that Russia is famous for. But in the beginning, he was really an innovative leader. As a young king, he worked with a group of advisors called the Chosen Council, which certainly sounds like a good thing. He also called the very first meeting of the Zemsky Sabor a grand council of representatives similar to the Estates General that would become so important in France 200 years later. And he reformed the army, emphasizing the new technology of muskets. But in the second part of his reign, Ivan earned his nickname the Terrible, which can mean either bad or just awe-inspiring, depending on your perspective. Psychological historians will point out that things started to go terribly wrong with Ivan after the death of his beloved wife, Anastasia Romanov, or they might point to the fact that he enjoyed torturing animals when he was a kid.