The Battle of Kulikovo (1380)

After Khan Berdi Beg was murdered in 1359, the Golden Horde fell into the succession struggles known as the Great Troubles. The beglerbeg Mamai, though not of the khan's line, ruled the western part of the Horde in the name of khans he set up himself. Meanwhile the principality of Moscow was growing stronger, and Prince Dmitry was holding back tribute.

In 1380 Mamai raised a large army to punish Moscow, including infantry from the Genoese colonies in Crimea, and allied with Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, whose army did not arrive in time. On 8 September 1380, on Kulikovo Field near the Don, there was heavy fighting all day; towards evening a Russian detachment held in ambush attacked and drove Mamai's army back.

After the battle Prince Dmitry earned the name Donskoy, "of the Don". Mamai was soon defeated by Tokhtamysh, the lawful khan of the Golden Horde, and died in Crimea. Kulikovo did not end the Horde's rule over Rus; two years later Tokhtamysh took Moscow. But Russian historiography regards the battle as the start of Moscow's rise.