I'm going to go. He's a sures, yes,

a ras, it yes shawras.

We're hush a hush. Welcome to the first anniversary edition of the Russian rulers

podcast part two. Last, we began our review of the first year of Russian rulers podcast from the time of

Rurik until the appearance of Grand Prince Dimitry Danskoi, a period of about 500 years.

By now the Mongols had a firm grip on Russia and had settled in, and were now called the

Golden Horde or the Tatars.

Dimitri Ivanovich Danskoy was to be one of the early heroes of Russian history

as he not only doubled the size of the territory controlled by Moscow,

defeated the Lithuanian invaders, and he began building the Kremlin in Moscow,

but he was the first Grand Prince to defeat the Tatars in battle.

The seminal moment was known as the Battle of Kulikova.

The Horde had been undergoing an internal struggle for power with a series of civil wars, weakening them, which is the moment that Tanskoy seized.

He had gathered the other Grand Princes and convinced them that this was the time to fight the Tatars and end the repression of the Russian people.

While the battle was a rousing success, it did not succeed in throwing off the Mongol yoke, but it showed future generations

that the end was in sight.

Dimitri Danskoy died at a young age of 39, no doubt due to the tremendous strains of governing and war.

He handed his title of Grand Prince of Moscow to his son Vassili. Vassili I, also known in some texts as Basil, was a brilliant but cautious leader.

He continued his father's policy of acquiring land from Moscow. During his long stable reign from 1389 to 1425

he was almost always in conflict with Lithuania and at times with the Golden Horde.

Moscow at this time developed an ideology which they believed was a prophecy which

revolved around their religion.

...