This book is dedicated to the Grand Duke of Moscow, “Sovereign of All Rus'” Ivan III (1462–1505). Already his contemporaries called him Ivan the Great. His political achievements are undeniable: he united the disunited Russian lands into the powerful Moscow state, saved the country from the oppressive power of the Horde, and brought it out of a historical impasse. However, to this day the complex and tragic personality of Ivan III, whose biography vividly reflected all the drama of that turning point, remains essentially undisclosed and incomprehensible. An in-depth reading of surviving historical sources allowed the author of the book to discern behind the familiar monumental mask of the “Sovereign of All Rus'” the true face of one of the main figures of Russian history.