Question

How did Ivan the Great challenge Mongol rule in Moscow?

Answer 1

He declined to pay a tribute to the Mongols for Moscow.

Explanation:

Around the time Ivan III became Tsar, Mongol rule was stretched pretty close to its breaking point. After the Mongols burned Moscow (then just a fur trapping village) to the ground, its leaders realized they could have avoided the destruction as Moscow was boundaried by a big river and an impenetrable forest, and invaders had to cross a land bridge that could have been better defended. They were never successfully taken by foreign forces again and Ivan III was the first to refuse the Mongols a tribute payment, becoming the first post-Mongol sovereign.