Foreign Policy
To prevent Russia from being attacked by the Golden Horde, Basil I entered into alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1392 and married Sophia of Lithuania, the only daughter of Vytautas the Great. The alliance turned out to be fragile, since Vytautas would later capture Vyazma and Smolensk in 1403–1404.
Timur raided the Slavic lands in 1395; he ruined the Volgan regions but did not penetrate so far as Moscow. Timur's raid was of service to the Russian prince as it damaged the Golden Horde, which for the next twelve years was in a state of anarchy. During the whole of this time no tribute was paid to the khan, Olug Moxammat, though vast sums of money were collected in the Moscow treasury for military purposes. In 1408 Edigu ravaged Russians territory, but was unable to take Moscow. In 1412, however, Basil found it necessary to pay the long-deferred visit of submission to the Horde.
The growing influence of Moscow abroad was underlined by the fact that Basil married his daughter Anna to Emperor John VIII Palaeologus of Byzantium.
Read more about this topic: Vasily I Of Moscow
Famous quotes related to foreign policy:
“Maybe it’s understandable what a history of failures America’s foreign policy has been. We are, after all, a country full of people who came to America to get away from foreigners. Any prolonged examination of the U.S. government reveals foreign policy to be America’s miniature schnauzer—a noisy but small and useless part of the national household.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“My home policy: I wage war; my foreign policy: I wage war. All the time I wage war.”
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929)