Great Stand on the Ugra River

1480

Ivan III's Russian army faced Khan Akhmat's Golden Horde forces across the frozen Ugra in a week-long standoff of cavalry maneuvers. Neither side fought. Akhmat withdrew. The Mongol yoke, already theoretical for decades, was formally finished. Moscow would never again pay tribute to a Tatar khan. Ivan III's alliance with the Crimean Tatars, who attacked Akhmat from the south, was a masterstroke rendering the confrontation unnecessary.