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"Ice battle"
1242
"Ice battle"
Alexander Nevsky's victory over the German Knights of the Livonian Order on Lake Peipsi.
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COURSE OF EVENTS
The tenth century in densely populated - by medieval standards, of course - Western Europe was marked by the beginning of expansion.
In the future, from century to century, this expansion expanded, taking a variety of forms.
The European peasant, bent under the burden of duties to the seigneur, ventured to invade the rebellious forests.
He cut down trees, cleared the land of shrubs and drained swamps, extracting additional arable land.
The Europeans were pushing the Saracens (the Arabs who had captured Spain), there was a Reconquista (the"reconquest" of Spain).
Inspired by the lofty idea of the liberation of the Holy sepulchre and overcome by a thirst for wealth and new lands, the crusaders stepped into the Levant - the so called territories located on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle Ages.
The European "onslaught on the east" began; villagers, skilled urban craftsmen, experienced merchants, knights appeared in large numbers in Slavic countries, for example, in Poland and the Czech Republic, began to settle and settle there.
This contributed to the rise of the economy, social and cultural life of the Eastern European countries, but at the same time caused problems, creating rivalry and confrontation between the newcomers and the indigenous population.
A particularly large wave of immigrants poured out of the German lands, where the rulers of the German Empire (following Emperor Frederick Barbarossa) supported the "onslaught to the East".
Soon, the Baltic states attracted the eyes of Europeans.
It was perceived as a forest desert, slightly populated by wild Letto Lithuanian and Ugro Finnish pagan tribes who did not know state power.
Since ancient times, Russia and the Scandinavian countries have been expanding here.
They colonized the border areas to themselves.
They imposed tribute on the local tribes.
The Russians, back in the time of Yaroslav the Wise, built their fortress Yuryev (named after the name of George given to Yaroslav the Wise at the baptism of the name of George) behind Lake Peipsi in the land of the Ugro Finns of the Estonians.
The Swedes advanced into the possession of the Finns until they reached the borders of the Karelian land controlled by Novgorod.
At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries, people from the west of Europe appeared in the Baltic States.
The Catholic missionaries who carried the word of Christ were the first to come.
In 1184, the monk Maynard unsuccessfully tried to convert the Livs (the ancestors of modern Latvians) to Catholicism.
The monk Berthold in 1198 preached Christianity already with the help of the swords of the Crusader knights.
The Bremen canon Albert, sent by the pope, captured the mouth of the Dvina River and founded Riga in 1201.
A year later, the Order of monks of knights was created on the Livonian lands conquered around Riga.
It was called the Order of the Swordsmen in the form of a long cross, more like a sword.
In 1215-1216, the swordsmen captured Estonia.
This was preceded by their struggle with the Russian and Lithuanian princes, as well as enmity with Denmark, which from the beginning of the XII century claimed Estonia.
In 1212, the swordsmen came close to the borders of the Pskov and Novgorod lands.
Mstislav Udaloy, who reigned in Novgorod, successfully resisted them.
Then, during the reign of Alexander Nevsky's father Yaroslav Vsevolodovich in Novgorod, the swordsmen were defeated near Yuryev (modern Tartu).
The city was left to the Crusaders on the condition that a tribute was paid to Novgorod for it (Yuriev's tribute).
By 1219, Denmark had conquered Northern Estonia, but after 5 years the swordsmen regained it.
The activity of the Crusaders pushed the Lithuanian tribes (Lithuania, Zhmud) to unite.
They, the only Baltic peoples, began to form their own state.
In the land of the Baltic tribe of Prussians, which was located near the Polish border, another Crusader order was founded - the Teutonic Order.
Previously, he was in Palestine, but the Polish king invited the Teutons to the Baltic States, hoping for their help in the fight against the pagan Prussians.
The Teutons soon began to seize Polish possessions.
As for the Prussians, they were exterminated.
But the defeat in 1234 from Alexander Nevsky's father Yaroslav, and in 1236 from the Lithuanians led to the reform of the Order of the Sword.
In 1237, it became a branch of the Teutonic Order, and it became known as the Livonian Order.
The Batu invasion gave rise to the Crusaders ' hope that the expansion could be extended to the northern lands of the Orthodox, who had long been considered heretics in the West — after the split of the churches in 1054.
Especially attracted Mr. Veliky Novgorod.
But not only the crusaders were tempted by the Novgorod land.
The Swedes were also interested in it.
Mr. Veliky Novgorod and Sweden have repeatedly fought when their interests in the Baltic States clashed.
At the end of the 1230s, news was received in Novgorod that the son in law of the Swedish king Jarl (the title of the Swedish nobility) Birger was preparing a raid on the Novgorod possessions.
Alexander, the 19 year old son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, was sitting as a prince in Novgorod at that time.
He ordered the Izhora elder Pelgusii to watch the coast and report the Swedish invasion.
As a result, when the Scandinavian boats entered the Neva River and stopped at the confluence of the Izhora River, the Prince of Novgorod was notified in time.
On July 15, 1240, Alexander arrived at the Neva River and unexpectedly attacked the enemy with the forces of a small Novgorod detachment and his squad.
Against the background of the destruction of north eastern Russia by the Mongol Khan Batu, this battle broke a difficult circle for contemporaries: Alexander brought victory to Russia and with it hope, faith in his own strength!
This victory earned him the honorary title of Nevsky.
The confidence that the Russians are capable of winning victories helped them to survive in the difficult days of 1240, when a more dangerous enemy, the Livonian Order, invaded the Novgorod borders.
Ancient Izborsk has fallen.
Pskov traitors opened the gates to the enemy.
The Crusaders scattered across the Novgorod land and plundered in the vicinity of Novgorod.
Not far from Novgorod, the Crusaders built a fortified outpost, made raids under the Meadow and the Saber Churchyard, which was 40 versts from Novgorod.
Alexander was not in Novgorod.
He quarreled with the independent Novgorodians and left for Pereyaslavl Zalessky.
Under the pressure of circumstances, the Novgorodians began to ask the Grand Duke of Vladimir Yaroslav for help.
The Novgorodians wanted to see Alexander Nevsky at the head of the Suzdal regiments.
Grand Duke Yaroslav sent another son, Andrey, with a cavalry detachment, but the Novgorodians stood their ground.
In the end, Alexander arrived, brought his Pereyaslav squad and the Vladimir Suzdal militia, consisting mainly of peasants.
The Novgorodians also assembled regiments.
In 1241, the Russians launched an offensive, recapturing Koporye from the Crusaders.
The fortress erected by the knights in Koporye was destroyed.
In the winter of 1242, Alexander Nevsky unexpectedly appeared at Pskov and liberated the city.
Russian troops entered the Order, but soon their vanguard was defeated by the knights.
Alexander led the regiments to the eastern shore of Lake Peipsi and decided to give battle.
On April 5, 1242, the great Sich happened on the melted ice.
The Russians stood in the traditional "eagle": in the center of the regiment, consisting of the Vladimir Suzdal militia, on the sides the regiments of the right and left hands the heavily armed Novgorod infantry and the princely cavalry squads.
The peculiarity was that a significant mass of troops was located on the flanks, usually the center was the strongest.
Behind the militia there was a steep bank covered with boulders.
On the ice in front of the shore, a wagon train sledge was placed, fastened with chains.
This made the coast completely impassable for the knights ' horses and was supposed to keep the faint hearted in the Russian camp from fleeing.
A cavalry squad was standing in ambush near the island of Voroniy Kamen.
The knights moved on the Russians"boar's head".
It was a special system that brought success to the Crusaders more than once.
In the center of the "boar's head", the infantry of the knechta marched, closing ranks.
From the sides of them and behind them in 2-3 rows rode armored riders, their horses also had shells.
Ahead, the ranks of the most experienced knights were moving, narrowing at the tip.
The "boar's head", nicknamed by the Russians "pig", rammed the enemy, broke through the defense.
Knights with spears, battle axes, swords destroyed the enemy.
When he was defeated, the infantry of the knechta were released, finishing off the wounded and fleeing.
The chronicle story about the ice battle reports "there was a slash of evil, and the crack from spears, and breaking, and the sound from the sword section".
The knights crushed the Russian center and spun on the spot, breaking their own formation.
They had nowhere to move.
From the flanks, the knights were pressed by "regiments of the right and left hands".
As if they were squeezing the "pig"with pincers.
On both sides, the combatants had many dead.
The ice was red with blood.
The enemy suffered mainly from the infantry.
It was difficult to kill the knight.
But if he was pulled off the horse, he became defenseless — the weight of the armor did not allow him to get up and move.
Suddenly the April ice cracked.
The knights were confused.
Those who fell into the water went to the bottom like a stone.
The troops of Alexander Nevsky struck with renewed vigor.
The Crusaders ran.
The Russian horsemen pursued them for several kilometers.
The ice slash was won.
The Crusaders ' plan to establish themselves in Northern Russia failed.
In 1243, the ambassadors of the Order arrived in Novgorod.
Peace was signed.
The Crusaders recognized the inviolable borders of the Lord of Veliky Novgorod, promised to regularly pay tribute to Yuriev.
The terms of the ransom of several dozen knights who were captured were agreed upon.
Alexander led these noble captives from Pskov to Novgorod by the side of their horses, barefoot, bareheaded, with a rope around their necks.
It was impossible to think of a greater insult to the knight's honor.
In the future, there were more than once military skirmishes between Novgorod, Pskov and the Livonian Order, but the border of the possessions of both sides remained stable.
For the possession of Yuriev, the Order continued to pay tribute to Novgorod, and from the end of the XV century - to the Moscow united Russian state.
In political and moral terms, the victories over the Swedes and the knights of the Livonian Order were very important: the scale of the Western European onslaught on the northwestern borders of Russia was reduced.
Alexander Nevsky's victories over the Swedes and Crusaders interrupted the series of defeats of the Russian troops.
It was especially important for the Orthodox Church to prevent Catholic influence on Russian lands.
It is worth remembering that the crusade of 1204 ended with the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders, the capital of the Orthodox empire, which considered itself the Second Rome.
For more than half a century, the Latin Empire existed on the Byzantine territory.
The Orthodox Greeks "huddled" in Nicaea, from where they tried to win back their possessions from the Western Crusaders.
The Tatars, on the contrary, were allies of the Orthodox Greeks in their struggle against the Islamic and Turkish onslaught on the eastern Byzantine borders.
According to the practice established since the tenth century, most of the highest hierarchs of the Russian Church were by origin Greeks or southern Slavs who came to Russia from Byzantium.
The head of the Russian Church, the Metropolitan, was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Naturally, the interests of the Universal Orthodox Church were above all for the leadership of the Russian Church.
The Catholics seemed much more dangerous than the Tatars.
It is no coincidence that before Sergius of Radonezh (the second half of the XIV century), no prominent church hierarch blessed the fight against the Tatars and did not call for it.
The invasion of Batu and the Tatar armies were interpreted by the clergy as a "scourge of God", the punishment of the Orthodox for their sins.
It was the church tradition that created around the name of Alexander Nevsky, who was canonized after his death, the halo of an ideal prince, a warrior, a "sufferer" (fighter) for the Russian land.
This is how he entered the national mentality.
In this case, Prince Alexander is in many ways a" brother " of Richard the Lionheart.
The legendary "doubles" of both monarchs obscured their real historical images.
In both cases, the "legend" is far away from the original prototype.
In serious science, meanwhile, there are still disputes about the role of Alexander Nevsky in Russian history.
Alexander's position in relation to the Golden Horde, his participation in the organization of the Nevryuev army of 1252 and the spread of the Horde yoke to Novgorod, the cruel even for that time reprisals characteristic of Alexander in the fight against his opponents, cause contradictory judgments regarding the results of the activities of this undoubtedly bright hero of Russian history.
For the Eurasians and L. N. Gumilev, Alexander is a far sighted politician who correctly chose an alliance with the Horde, turned his back on the West.
For other historians (for example, I. N. Danilevsky), Alexander's role in Russian history is rather negative.
This role is the actual conductor of the Horde dependence.
Some historians, including S. M. Solovyov, V. O. Klyuchevsky, do not consider the Horde yoke "a useful union for Russia" at all, but note that Russia did not have the strength to fight.
Supporters of the continuation of the struggle against the Horde Daniil Galitsky and Prince Andrey Yaroslavich, despite the nobility of their impulse, were doomed to defeat.
Alexander Nevsky, on the contrary, was aware of the realities and was forced, as a politician, to seek a compromise with the Horde in the name of the survival of the Russian land.
Related events
1263 Death of Alexander Nevsky
July 23, 1240 Battle of the Neva
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