Moscow, along with many other Russian lands,…

Moscow, along with many other Russian lands, had been conquered in the thirteenth century by the armies of Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, and been made a tribute payer to the Blue Horde, from which Russian leaders have long sought independence.

Under Dmitri, son of Ivan II Krasnyi and Grand Prince from 1359, also Grand Duke of Vladimir from 1363, Moscow has become the most powerful Russian state.

In 1375, Dmitri manages to settle his conflict with Tver in his favor.

Other princes of Northern Russia also acknowledge his authority and contribute their troops to his impending struggle against the Horde, now severely weakened by civil war and dynastic rivalries.

Dmitri, who holds the Khan's patent to collect taxes for all of Russia.

will soon take advantage of this lapse in Mongol authority to openly challenge the Tatars.

By the end of his thirty-year reign, which sees the beginning of the end for Mongol domination of parts of what is now Russia, he will have more than doubled the territory of his Moscow principality.