Lithuania’s Grand Duke Vytautas, also known in English by the traditional Polish and German name Witold, has continued the vision of his predecessor, Algirdas, to control as many Muscovy lands as possible. (Revered as a national hero in Lithuania, Vytautas the Great is to be an important figure in the national rebirth in the early twentieth century.)

In the later part of the fourteenth century, Vytautas and Dmitri Donskoi of Moscow had begun a rivalry for the fertile southern lands of modern day Ukraine, controlled (if only nominally) by the Blue Horde.

As the Tatar power was on the wane, Dmitri had soundly defeated the Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, only to be besieged in Moscow and defeated in 1382 by the new Khan Tokhtamysh, who had taken over the Blue Horde with Timur's backing, forming the Golden Horde.

Many lands are already under the Grand Duke's rule, but the rest are controlled by the Mongols.

The power of the Golden Horde had begun to rise, but in 1389, Tokhtamysh had made the disastrous decision of waging war on his former master, the great conqueror Timur, whose armies had rampaged through modern-day southern Russia, crippling the Golden Horde's economy and practically wiping out its defenses in those lands.

After losing the war, Tokhtamysh had then been dethroned by the party of Khan Temur Qutlugh and Emir Edigu, supported by Timur.

When Tokhtamysh asks Vytautas for assistance in retaking the Horde, the latter readily gathers a huge army which includes Lithuanians, Tatars, Ruthenians, Russians, Poles, Moldavians, Wallachians, and five hundred Teutonic Knights.

An agreement had been reached that the Horde would cede more lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in return for Vytautas’ aid.