This article is about the specific polity Grand Duchy of Moscow (Mongol Empire) and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
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Was a Russian Principality of the Late Middle Ages centered on Moscow and a predecessor of Russia. The polity originated in 1263 from an hereditary division of the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal, a vassal of the Golden Horde at the time. Moscow gained full sovereignty by 1480, when the overlordship of the Golden Horde officially ended after its defeat in the Great Stand on the Ugra River.
Summary
After the decline of Kievan Rus, the principality of Moscow emerged as one the successor states, gradually growing in power and territory. The Mongols imposed a system of tribute and exploitation on the Russian principalities, but Moscow was able to convince the Mongol khan to grant its prince the title of Grand Prince.
Ivan I of Moscow, known as "Moneybags," used his position to consolidate power and expand the territory of Muscovy. Ivan III (the Great) further strengthened central control, ended Mongol domination, and regained territories lost to the Polish-Lithuanian Empire.
Ivan IV (the Terrible) instituted a reign of terror to eliminate opposition, but also carried out some administrative reforms. His legacy was a more centralized and autocratic Russian state.
The extinction of the Rurik dynasty led to a period of dynastic struggle and foreign intervention known as the Time of Troubles, until the Romanov dynasty was established in 1613.
Establishment
January 1264: The Moscow principality was allocated in 1226 3 as an inheritance to the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Expansion during the rule of Algirdas in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
January 1356: Expansion of Lithuania by 1355.
Were a series of wars between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow (later the Tsardom of Russia).
2.1.Lithuanian-Muscovite War (1368-1372)
Were a series of military invasions of the the Grand Duchy of Moscow by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
2.1.1.Invasion of Russia by Algirdas
Was a military campaign launched by Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas in Russia.
November 1368: The Lithuanians defeated the Russian defense forces on the Trosna River.
December 1368: The Lithuanians surrounded the Kremlin of Moscow, burned and looted it.
January 1369: In 1368, Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania gathered a large army, which included his brother Kęstutis and forces from Tver and Smolensk. The army was assembled in secret and marched quietly so that not to give an advance warning to the Russians. After crossing the Lithuania-Russia border, Lithuanians began pillaging and burning various villages.
June 1372: Prince of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy marched with his army to meet the invading Lithuanian army, which was stopped near Lyubutsk.
2.1.2.Russian counterattack against Algirdas
Was the Russian counterattack to the Lithuanian invasion started in 1368.
December 1368: The Lithuanian army retreated from all Russian territories without a serious attempt at taking the Moscow Kremlin.
November 1370: On November 26, the Lithuanian army besieged Volokolamsk. The battle continued for two days. Lithuanians killed Prince Vasily Ivanovich Berezuysky, commander of the city's defenses, but did not succeed in capturing the city.
December 1370: The Lithuanian army led by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, besieged Moscow on December 6. Algirdas' forces burned and pillaged, but did not succeed in taking the city's Kremlin where the Prince of Moscow, Dmitry Donskoy, had retreated.
December 1370: A truce between Russia and Lithuania was concluded. Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas retreated from the occupied territories.
2.1.3.Kęstutis' raid
Was a military campaign launched by Kęstutis, the brother of Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas, in Russia.
June 1372: Mikhail II prince of Tver (allied with Lirhuania) attacked the city of Dmitrov.
June 1372: In spring 1372, Lithuanians raided Russian lands again. This time Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, did not participate. The Lithuanian Army was commanded by Kęstutis (Algirdas' brother) and his son Vytautas and Algirdas' son Andrei of Polotsk. They attacked Pereslavl-Zalessky, burned the posad and churches, looted and extracted a ransom.
June 1372: The armies of Lithuania and Tver attacked Kashin and its duke acknowledged Tver's suzerainty.
2.1.4.Truce - Lithuanian-Muscovite War (1368-1372)
Was a treaty that ended the Lithuanian-Muscovite War (1368-72).
September 1372: The Treaty of Lyubutsk was a peace treaty signed in summer of 1372 between Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Dmitri Donskoi, Prince of Moscow. The treaty ended the Lithuanian-Muscovite War (1368-72) and resulted in a seven-year peace period. Lithuanian forces left the occupied territories.
2.2.Lithuanian annexion of Smolensk
Was a war between Moscow and Lithuania that included figths on the Ugra river and the Lithuanian annexion of Smolensk.
January 1403: Vasily hesitated until Vytautas advanced on Pskov. Alarmed by Lithuania's continuing expansion, Vasily sent an army to aid the Pskovians against his father-in-law. The Russian and Lithuanian armies met near the Ugra River.
February 1403: The commander didn't ventured to commit his troops to battle. A peace ensued, whereby Vytautas kept Smolensk.
Was a series of wars fought between the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Khanate of Kazan from 1439, until Kazan was finally conquered by the Tsardom of Russia under Ivan the Terrible in 1552.
3.1.Wars of Vasily II
Russian military campaign against the Khanate of Kazan by Vasily II.
January 1440: Tatars devastated the outskirts of Moscow for 10 days and on their way back to Kazan burned Kolomna. They also took many captives.
January 1440: In 1439, a year after the khanate's foundation, the very first khan of Kazan, Ulugh Muhammad, advanced on Moscow with a large army. Vasily II of Moscow fled from his capital across the Volga River.
January 1446: Khan Maxmut took the strategic fortress of Nizhny Novgorod and invaded Muscovy.
January 1446: Vasily II of Moscow mustered an army and defeated the Tatars near Murom and Gorokhovets.
3.2.Wars of Ivan III
Russian military campaign against the Khanate of Kazan by Ivan III.
January 1468: In 1467, the campaign led by Ivan III of Russia against the Khanate of Kazan fell apart due to the lack of unity and military capability among the Russian forces.
January 1468: When frosty winter came, the Russian generals launched an invasion of the northern Vyatka Region.
January 1470: In 1469, under the terms of the peace settlement, the Khanate of Kazan set free all the ethnic Christian Russians they had enslaved in the forty previous years. The Russian and Kazan forces left the territories they had occupied during the war.
November 1480: The Great Stand on the Ugra River was a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in 1480 on the banks of the Ugra River, which ended when the Tatars departed without conflict. It is seen in Russian historiography as the end of Tatar/Mongol rule over Moscow.
January 1281: The Dmitrov Principality was an independent state entity between 1280 and 1334.
January 1301: Expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow by 1300.
January 1301: Volosts, from Ryazan , located on the river of the same name.
January 1302: Annexation of Kolomna to the Moscow principality in 1301 .
January 1303: In 1302, the last Pereyaslavl-Zalessky prince Ivan Dmitrievich died, with no direct heirs, and the principality, according to his will, passed to his uncle, Daniel Alexandrovich, the first prince of Moscow.
January 1304: In 1303, the Mozhaisk Principality was captured by the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich.
January 1321: After the death of prince Boris, Kostroma passed under the control of the Moscow princes.
January 1332: The Moscovites absorbed the Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal by the 1320s.
January 1340: Separated from the Belozersk principality during the period of feudal fragmentation in Russia, the territory of Sugorye - along the Kema and Soga rivers - went to the Sugorsk Principality in 1339. This transfer of land was a result of the political and territorial divisions that occurred during this period in Russian history.
January 1341: Expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow by 1340.
January 1341: In 1340, the territory of Volost, located on the banks of the Berega River, was purchased from the principality of Novosilsky by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was under the rule of Ivan Kalita at the time. This acquisition helped expand Moscow's territory and influence in the region.
January 1341: Around 1340 the Yurievsky principality was annexed to the Moscow principality.
January 1341: Acquisition of Volosts from the Ryazan principality in the middle reaches of the Protva river.
November 1341: The Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality was formed in October 1341, when the Khan of the Golden Horde, Uzbek Khan, divided the Vladimir Grand Duchy, transferring Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets to the Suzdal Prince Konstantin Vasilyevich.
January 1351: In the 50s of the XIV century, the Tarusa Principality fell into dependence on the Moscow prince.
January 1351: Establishment of the Koninskoe Principality.
January 1351: Establishment of the Mosalsk Principality.
January 1354: In 1353, Lopasnya was incorporated into the Principality of Ryazan, which was under the rule of the Golden Horde at the time. This transfer of territory was a result of political and military agreements between the rulers of Ryazan and the Golden Horde.
January 1361: The Moscovites purchase the Galich-Mer principality.
January 1361: In 1360, Meshchovsk became part of the Principality of Mezets.
January 1361: The Dmitrov Principality is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow (Mongol Empire).
February 1361: In 1360 the Galich-Mer Principality was recreated by decision of the Horde.
January 1364: The Starodub principality is acquired by Moscow.
January 1364: The Galich-Mer Principality is annexed to the Moscow domain.
January 1365: Uglitsky principality (1216-1605).
January 1365: The Ustyug principality was created in 1364.
January 1378: Conquest of Lithuanian territories by the Grand Duchy of Moscow (based on maps).
January 1381: Establishment of the Przemysl Principality.
January 1382: In 1381, the territory of Meshchera (Мещёрская) was purchased by the Grand Duchy of Moscow from local princes.
January 1382: Tula (Тула, Russia) was conquered by Ryazan from the Mongols but at some point reconquered back by the Mosvoites.
January 1386: Beloselsky was a principality (c. 1385-1470) located in Beloe Selo in Poshekhonsky district.
January 1390: In 1389, the Principality of Beloozero was subjugated by Muscovy.
January 1393: The Grand Duchy of Moscow purchases the principalities of Murom and of Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod from the khan of the Golden Horde.
January 1398: The Vologda principality was taken by Moscow from Novgorod by military force.
January 1401: The Zaozersk Principality emerged from an inheritance division of the Yaroslavl Principality.
January 1401: The Romanov Principality fell to the Moscovites at the beginning of the 15th century.
January 1404: Expansion of Poland-Lithuania in 1403 (based on maps).
January 1404: Semyon Dmitrievich dies in 1401 and Vasily Kirdyapa in 1403. After their death, Vasily I annexed the Vyatka land to the Moscow principality.
January 1405: In 1404, the Verkhovskoe principality in Kozelsk was seized by the Grand Duchy of Moscow from the Mongol Empire, possibly as a strategic move against Lithuania. This event marked a shift in power dynamics in the region.
January 1407: In 1406 Kozelsk was conquered by Lithuania.
January 1409: The Kozelsk Principality was acquired by the Moscow prince Vasily I Dmitrievich.
January 1411: At the end of the 15th century, the Sheleshpalsky princes were already vassal princes of the Grand Duke of Moscow.
January 1411: Establishment of the Romodanovskoe Principality in village of Romodanovo , located east of Starodub.
January 1411: Establishment of the Vadbolsk Principality.
January 1425: The Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal Grand Duchy was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1426: Expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow by 1425.
January 1426: At the beginning of the 15th century, the Shumorovskoe principality became part of the Moscow principality.
January 1426: The Ustyug Principality is annexed by Moscow.
January 1426: Around 1425 the Bohtyug Principality was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1431: The Principality of Andozh is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1431: The Kemsky Principality is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1431: Kargolom principality (c. 1375-1430).
January 1435: Modern-day Penza region and Republic of Mordovia are annexed by Russia.
January 1441: The Romodanovskoe Principality was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1441: The Ryapolovskoe Principality was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow under the rule of Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow.
January 1446: The Lithuanians again took possession of Kozelsk and annexed it to their possessions.
January 1446: In 1445, Ulugh Muhammad, the ruler of the Golden Horde, was murdered by his son, Mäxmüd of Kazan. Mäxmüd fled to the middle Volga region and established the Khanate of Kazan. This event marked the beginning of the Khanate of Kazan's independence from the Golden Horde.
January 1448: Before 1447, the Zaozersk principality was annexed to Moscow.
January 1449: End of the independent Shuisky principality, which is nnexed by Moscow.
January 1451: The Ukhtomsk Principality is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1451: The Principality of Molozh is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1451: Vadbolsk principality (c. 1410-50).
January 1451: The territory of the Koninskoe Principality was included in the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1451: The exact time of foundation of the Ruza Principality is unknown, but it is mentioned in the chronicle for the first time in the 15th century.
January 1453: Ulugh Muhammad was a prominent ruler of the Golden Horde. His son, Qasim Khan, sought refuge in Moscow and was granted land by Vasily II, establishing the Qasim Khanate in 1452. This territory was located in the modern-day Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.
January 1456: Kurbsk principality (c. 1425-1455).
January 1461: The Prozorov Principality is acquired by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1461: In 1460, the territory of Tutaev was bought by Maria of Borovsk, the wife of Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow. This acquisition was part of the expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow under the rule of the Mongol Empire.
January 1461: Sitsky principality (c. 1408-1460).
January 1463: Expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow by 1462.
January 1464: Yaroslavl prince Alexander was forced to sell the rights to the principality to the next Grand Duke of Moscow, Ivan III, and a governor from Moscow was appointed to rule.
January 1471: The Principality of Novlenskoe was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1471: Beloselsky was a principality (c. 1385-1470) located in Beloe Selo in Poshekhonsky district.
January 1471: Palekh principality conquered by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
January 1471: Around 1470, the Volkonskoe principality was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and ceased to exist.
January 1472: Varzuzhskaya Volost was seized in the XIV-XV centuries from Novgorod and Rostov by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which was under the rule of Ivan III at the time. This marked a significant expansion of Moscow's territory and influence in the region.
January 1473: Expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow by 1473.
January 1473: Great Perm principality.
January 1475: In 1474, the Grand Duke Ivan III, bought the remaining half of the Rostov principality from the last Rostov princes.
January 1478: The Grand Duchy of Moscow annexed the Novgorod Republic in 1477.
Disestablishment
November 1480: The Great Stand on the Ugra River was a standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in 1480 on the banks of the Ugra River, which ended when the Tatars departed without conflict. It is seen in Russian historiography as the end of Tatar/Mongol rule over Moscow.
Selected Sources
Batūra, R. (2013): Algirdo žygiai į Maskvą 1368 1370, 1372in Zikaras, K.: Žymiausi Lietuvos mūšiai ir karinės operacijos (2nd ed.). Vilnius (Lithuania), pp. 46-49
Robert, A. / Obolensky, D. (1981): A Companion to Russian Studies: An Introduction to Russian History, Cambridge (UK), p. 86
VKL-1462-ru. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 7 April 2024 on https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB:VKL-1462-ru.png
Атлас. 6 класс. История России с древнейших времен до XVI века (Atlas. 6th grade. History of Russia from ancient times to the 16th century.) , Дрофа Publisher (2015), Moscow (Russia), p. 23
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Grand Duchy of Moscow (Mongol Empire)
