Hi there,
In the previous post, I talked about the quarrel between the Great Duke of Moscow Ivan the Third, and the Mongol Khan Akhmat. You can read about it here
I stopped at the point when Akhmat was threatening the Russians to cross Ugra once it would freeze, but he was a bit bluffing. Although Mongol's cavalry was still a very formidable force, in the 15th century their bows and arrows conceded in power to guns and cannons that Mongols didn't have. Therefore, Akhmat was waiting for Lithuanian king Casimir, who promised to invade Moscow lands from the West.
However, Ivan the Third anticipated this maneuver and having bribed the Crimea's khan Mehgley Girey, convinced him to do the raid to Lithvenia. So, while Akhmat was waiting for the arrival of the Lithuanian army to take the Moscowitz in pincers, Casimir had his hands full dealing with the invasion of the Crimeans.
Another decisive moment was that Akhmat experienced huge problems with supplies. Mongols army had to be on the move all the time since each Mongol had three horses: one he rode, one carried the spoils, and one was spare. So during the standoff on the river Ugra, Mongols and their horses ate everything that was possible to eat and started dying from hunger.
Thus, instead of crossing the river Ugra, Akhmat was forced to call it off. Well, technically speaking, he didn't return home, but went around the Russian lands and attacked Lithavenians lands, calling Casimir a traitor.
When later he returned from Lithavenians lands back home with big booty and dismissed the army, other Mongol princes took away his booty and chopped his head off.
As to Ivan the Third, he returned to Moscow as a winner, without fighting the battle and since that time Russia didn't pay taxes to the Golden Horde anymore.
It is noteworthy to say that all this happened at the same time as the french king Luis the XI similarly unified French lands. History remembers him by the name "The universal spider." The great Scottish writer Walter Scott wrote a famous novel about this time called "Quentin Dorward."
By the way, I found this French movie with English subtitles about Luis the XI on Youtube. I enjoyed it.
