In the intermediate stage, the party of Yury conquered Moscow, but in the end, Vasily II regained his crown.

[clarification needed] In the 13th century the medieval Rus' consisted of a set of relatively small and weak principalities, fighting and making alliances against each other.

The larger states (like the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Republic of Novgorod) progressively conquered or absorbed the smaller ones.

One bigger principality, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, grew due to a series of clever policies and became the biggest one in central Rus'.

In 1380 Dmitry Donskoy, the prince of Moscow, even managed to fight the troops of Golden Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo and win.

[citation needed] In 1432, Yuri and Vasily travelled to Sarai together to seek the judgement of Khan Ulugh Muhammad (Ulu-Mehmet).

His army was defeated in a major battle on the Klyazma [ru] (25 April 1433), in which troops of Yury were fighting against Vasily.

In Veliky Ustyug, the army formed in Vyatka, which had supported Yuri Dmitrievich for a long time, and joined Vasily.

In 1444, Tatars led by Mustafa, the Khan of the Golden Horde, plundered the Ryazan lands, before being defeated by a much larger army sent by Vasily.

In 1445, Ulugh Muhammad conquered Nizhny Novgorod, was defeated in a skirmish near Murom, but won the second battle in Suzdal, capturing, among other prominent Muscovites, Vasily II.

They made a deal, Vasily gave an oath of allegiance and promised not to seek the Great Princedom any more, and in return he was released and got Vologda in his possession.

Nevertheless, Dmitry Shemyaka continued resistance, trying to attract the allies and to collect a big enough army to fight against Vasily.

In 1448, Vasily started military action, which included mostly Northern lands up to Veliky Ustyug and with some interruptions continued till 1452, when Shemyaka was finally defeated and fled to Novgorod.

In particular, Ivan Mozheysky had to flee with their family to Lithuania, and the Principality of Mozhaysk was made a part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

[9] Halperin (2001) observed: 'During the Muscovite civil war both sides simultaneously sought the assistance of the Khan, and excoriated their opponents for doing exactly the same thing.

'[10] In 1977, Halperin had observed that the Muscovite War of Succession weakened Muscovy so much that its old rival, the Principality of Tver, once again felt strong enough to challenge its sole claim to represent the "Rus' Land" (русская земля).