Ivan III Defies the Horde

1488

The Muscovite grand prince refused the final embassy of the Great Horde, reportedly stamping on the khan's portrait. It was a theatrical break. Russia's rulers would soon be calling themselves autocrats and building the Kremlin in its present form, brick by Italian-engineered brick. His reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin using Italian architects gave the capital the red-brick fortress silhouette it retains today.