He was the second son of Ivan Kalita, and succeeded his brother Simeon the Proud, who died of the Black Death.

Upon succeeding his brother and because of increased civil strife among the Golden Horde, Ivan briefly toyed with the idea of abandoning traditional Moscow allegiance to the Mongols and allying himself with Lithuania, a growing power in the west.

This policy was quickly abandoned and Ivan asserted his allegiance to the Golden Horde.

[1] Contemporaries described Ivan as a pacific, apathetic ruler, who didn't flinch even when Algirdas of Lithuania captured his father-in-law's capital, Bryansk.

Like his brother, Ivan II was not as successful as his father or grandfather with regard to territorial expansion.