Muscovite War of Succession

For the period of political crisis 1598–1613, see Time of Troubles.
Muscovite War of Succession
Muscovite Civil War

Sophia of Lithuania insulting Vasily Kosoy during a wedding feast. 1861 painting by Pavel Chistyakov
Date1425 – 1453
Location
Grand Duchy of Moscow (Muscovy)
Result Vasily II victory
Belligerents
Younger Donskoy line Older Donskoy line
Commanders and leaders
1425—1434
Vasily II Vasilyevich
1425—1434

Yury Dmitrievich

Dmitry II Shemyaka (1433–4)
Vasily Kosoy (1433–4)
1434—1436

Vasily II Vasilyevich
Dmitry II Shemyaka

Dmitry Krasny
1434—1436
Vasily Kosoy
1436—1453

Vasily II Vasilyevich
Mäxmüd of Kazan (1445–8)

Boris of Tver (1446–53)
Ivan of Mozhaysk [ru; uk] (1445–7)
Qasim Khan (1452–3)
1436—1453

Dmitry II Shemyaka (1439; 1445–53)
Ulugh of Kazan (1437–45)

Ivan of Mozhaysk [ru; uk] (1447–53)

The Muscovite War of Succession,[1][2] or Muscovite Civil War,[3] was a war of succession in the Grand Duchy of Moscow (Muscovy) from 1425 to 1453.[a] The two warring parties were Vasily II, the son of the previous Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily I, and on the other hand his uncle, Yury Dmitrievich, the Prince of Zvenigorod, and the sons of Yuri Dmitrievich, Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. In the intermediate stage, the party of Yury conquered Moscow, but in the end, Vasily II regained his crown.

According to Alef (1956), it was "the only struggle for succession in Moscow's history",[5] as well as "the only civil war within the Muscovite principality".[4] He argued that "the death rate in the Moscow family was so high that the dynasty barely maintained itself. When the inheritors to the family patrimony increased sharply at the end of the fourteenth century, an internecine struggle was foreordained. This element helps explain the stability and strength of Moscow in the fourteenth century."[6]

  1. ^ Alef 1983, p. 11.
  2. ^ Martin 2004, p. 400.
  3. ^ Alef 1956, p. 1–2.
  4. ^ a b Alef 1983, p. Abstract i.
  5. ^ Alef 1983, p. Preface i.
  6. ^ Alef 1983, p. Abstract i–ii.


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