Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the Hypatian Chronicle, when Prince Yuri Dolgoruky holds a meeting there.
Under Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, a wooden fort (kremlin) is built on Borovitsky Hill.
Moscow is completely destroyed during the Mongol invasion led by Batu Khan.
Moscow becomes the seat of its own principality under Daniil Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Nevsky.
Under Prince Dmitri Donskoi, the first stone defensive walls of the Kremlin are built.
Ivan III the Great makes Moscow the center of a unified Russian realm and throws off the Mongol yoke.
Ivan IV (the Terrible) has himself crowned as the first tsar of all Russia in Moscow.
After years of chaos during the Time of Troubles, Moscow is recaptured and a period of reconstruction begins.
Peter the Great moves the Russian capital to the newly founded Saint Petersburg.
After the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks move the capital back to Moscow.
During the Time of Troubles, Moscow was occupied by Polish troops and severely damaged by fires and looting. A people's militia led by Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin liberated the city, leading to the election of Michael Romanov as the new tsar and the beginning of the Romanov dynasty. Moscow slowly recovered and reaffirmed its role as the religious and political center of Russia.