Russia

=== Grand Duchy of Moscow ===
{{Main|Grand Duchy of Moscow}}
[[File:Lissner TroiceSergievaLavr.jpg|thumb|[[Sergius of Radonezh]] blessing [[Dmitry Donskoy]] in [[Trinity Sergius Lavra]], before the [[Battle of Kulikovo]], depicted in a painting by [[Ernst Lissner]]]]
The destruction of Kievan Rus' saw the eventual rise of the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]], initially a part of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glenn E. |first=Curtis |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/97007563 |title=Russia: A Country Study |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |year=1998 |isbn=0-8444-0866-2 |location=Washington DC |chapter=Muscovy |oclc=36351361 |access-date=24 August 2022 |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824200530/https://www.loc.gov/item/97007563 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Rp|pages=11–20}} While still under the domain of the [[Mongol]]-[[Tatars]] and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century,<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Brian L. |title=Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |page=4 |url=http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |access-date=31 March 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009193828/http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |url-status=live }}</ref> gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands".<ref name="Curtis-1998-3"/> When the seat of the Metropolitan of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] moved to Moscow in 1325, its influence increased.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gleason |first1=Abbott |title=A Companion to Russian History |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Chichester |isbn=978-1444308426 |pages=126}}</ref> Moscow's last rival, the [[Novgorod Republic]], prospered as the chief [[fur trade]] centre and the easternmost port of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |title=Novgorod and the 'Novgorodian Land' |jstor=20171136 |volume=40 |number=3 |pages=345–363 |date=September 1999 |publisher=EHESS |journal=Cahiers du Monde russe}}</ref>

Led by Prince [[Dmitry Donskoy]] of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted [[List of conflicts in Eastern Europe during Turco-Mongol rule|a milestone defeat]] on the Mongol-Tatars in the [[Battle of Kulikovo]] in 1380.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Moscow gradually absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as [[Principality of Tver|Tver]] and [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-3">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |year=1998 |title=Russia – Muscovy |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/3.htm |access-date=25 June 2021 |publisher=Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606071001/https://countrystudies.us/russia/3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Ivan&nbsp;III]] ("the Great") threw off the control of the [[Golden Horde]] and consolidated the whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first Russian ruler to take the title "Grand Duke of all Rus'". After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, Moscow [[Third Rome|claimed succession to the legacy]] of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. Ivan&nbsp;III married [[Sophia Palaiologina]], the niece of the last [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Constantine&nbsp;XI]], and made the Byzantine [[double-headed eagle]] his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.<ref name="Curtis-1998-3"/> [[Vasili III of Russia|Vasili III]] united all of Russia by annexing the last few independent [[List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine|Russian states]] in the early 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=M.S. |title=The Origins of the Modern European State System, 1494–1618 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317892755 |url={{GBurl|id=smCgBAAAQBAJ|pg=PT281}}}}</ref>