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What if, instead of being whatever he was in a real life, Ivan IV "The Terrible" (actually, this nickname, as some other cases, is not quite adequate translation of his Russian nickname but let it be) was actually a reasonably normal person with a general level of sadism and paranoia not exceeding the contemporary standards?

1st. Probably, this would improve internal situation in the Tsardom, as a minimum preventing a catastrophic destruction of the agriculture (English ambassador at his court reported that Tsardom is looking for a major disaster within few years), huge loss of a population and generally negative impact on country's economy .

2nd. Probably, this would allow to prevent serious destruction of the existing military system: "purges" had been quite heavy on the top leadership and even if its quality was in many cases dubious, demoralizing effect was great.

3rd. Not sure if it would prevent defeats in the Livonian War: Russian military system already started lagging behind the Western models but a more sensible person would probably start doing what the early Romanovs (and even Godunov) had been doing: start inviting the foreign mercenaries and begin modernizing his army. To be fair, he created "streltsy" seemingly following Janissary model: infantry with the firearms. But there were too few of them, their quality was not high enough and without the pikes they were helpless in the field battles. However, absence of the excessive cruelties may make his initial conquest in Livonia more attractive to the natives with a resulting support against the later competitors (Poland and Sweden).

4th. This is a rather rhetorical question: would his better reputation make a serious difference in his candidacy as a Duke of Lithuania?
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