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ing the growth of Muscovite territory, continued fighting with Tver and Lithua-
nia (with Muscovite victories), victories over Ryazan and the Bulgars. But
Dmitrii's claim to fame is his victorious war with the Golden Horde itself. There
were a series of preliminary clashes, with a victory for Moscow in 1378, after
which point the Mongols decided they had to deal with Moscow firmly. They
made an alliance with Lithuania and took 200,000 troops to the Don River area,
meeting the Lithuanians for a joint invasion.
Dmitrii took the initiative, crossing the Don with about 150,000 soldiers to
take on the Mongols before the Lithuanians arrived. They fought on Septem-
ber 8, 1380, in an area with lots of streams, so that the Mongol cavalry could-
n't fight as usual. Known as the Battle of Kulikovo field, the Mongols were
completely routed by the Muscovite-led armies. Hearing of the Mongol defeat,
their Lithuanian allies decided to turn back. After more than a century of
uncontested Mongol military supremacy, Dmitrii Donskoi's army had broken
the image of Mongol invincibility. The prince of Moscow was seen as the cham-
pion of the Russians. Although not all the Russian princes supported Dmitrii,
and some even tried to support Mongols against him, the Battle of Kulikovo
was a turning point. It did not, however, mean the end of Mongol rule. Two
years later the Mongols sacked Moscow and Dmitrii had to spend years rebuild-
ing. Dmitrii's son Vasili (Basil) became grand prince without any challenge.
Vasili I (r. 1389-1425) continued adding to Muscovy's territory by purchase and
war. He continued the struggle against the Lithuanians and maintained fairly
good relations with the Horde (often sending gifts), while Mongol troops
attacked the Moscow region in 1408 but could not take the city itself.
Vasili's death in 1425 brought the only war of succession in Moscow. Fought
between Vasili's son Vasili II and Vasili II's uncle Prince Iurii and later his sons,
this war represented a reaction against the growing power of the princes of
Moscow. Finally Vasili II prevailed in 1448. After Vasili and his rival were blinded,
the former became known as Vasili the Blind and ruled until 1462. During this
reign the Mongol state began to fragment, leading to the establishment of three
separate khanates in Crimea (1430), Kazan (1436), and Astrakhan (1466).
These years also coincided with the final push of Ottoman Turkish power in
the region, primarily directed against the Byzantine Empire but also against
other neighboring powers. As Byzantium itself was threatened, Byzantine lead-
ers turned to Europe for help against the Turks, and as part of the deal, in 1439
the Byzantine clergy had to sign an agreement recognizing the supremacy of
the pope in Rome. The Russian metropolitan had been at these talks in Flo-
rence, and when he returned to Moscow, he read a prayer for the pope. He was
then arrested, imprisoned, and later escaped. The Moscow bishops elected a
new metropolitan. When the Turks captured Byzantium itself 1453, this left a
vacuum in the Orthodox world. The people of Muscovy saw themselves as the
new leaders of Orthodoxy, and in these years the ideology of Moscow as the
Third Rome, after Rome and Constantinople, gained currency in the Muscovite
world.
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