Ivan III is the first Muscovite ruler…

Ivan III is the first Muscovite ruler to use the titles of tsar and "Ruler of all Rus'."

Ivan competes with his powerful north-western rival Lithuania for control over some of the semi-independent former principalities of Kievan Rus' in the upper Dnepr and Donets river basins.

Through the defections of some princes, border skirmishes, and a long, inconclusive war with Lithuania that ends only in 1503, Ivan III is able to push westward, and Muscovy triples in size under his rule.

Internal consolidation accompanies outward expansion of the state.

By the fifteenth century, the rulers of Muscovy considers the entire Russian territory their collective property.

Various semi-independent princes still claim specific territories, but Ivan III forces the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Muscovy and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs.