His name is sacred to every Russian person. Grateful Russia honors his memory. His feat will not be forgotten as long as the Russian Land stands. And yet, when the prince-boy Dmitry, only nine years old, inherited the Moscow throne, many thought that Rus was living out its last days— the Tatar yoke, princely feuds, and terrible epidemics pushed the Russian people to the brink of life and death. The fate of the country was decided in 1380 on the Kulikovo Field, where Prince Dmitry Ivanovich fought as an ordinary soldier—in ordinary armor, without guards, right in the thick of hand-to-hand combat. And although this great victory did not destroy the yoke (just two years later Tokhtamysh burned Moscow), it was at the Battle of Kulikovo, under Prince Dmitry’s leadership, that Rus proved its right to exist and to a great future.