Battle on the Ice or the Battle of Lake Peipus - the battle of the Novgorod-Pskov army of Prince Alexander Nevsky with the troops of the Livonian knights, which took place on April 5, 1242 on the ice Lake Peipsi. It put a limit to the advance of German knighthood to the East. Alexander Nevsky - Prince of Novgorod, Grand Duke of Kiev, Grand Duke of Vladimir, legendary commander, Russian saint Orthodox Church.
Causes
In the middle of the 13th century, Russian lands were threatened from all sides by foreign invaders. The Tatar-Mongols were advancing from the east, and the Livonians and Swedes were laying claim to Russian soil from the northwest. In the latter case, the task of fighting back fell to powerful Novgorod, which had a vested interest in not losing its influence in the region and, most importantly, in preventing anyone from controlling trade with the Baltic countries.
How it all began
1239 - Alexander took measures to protect strategically important for the Novgorodians Gulf of Finland and the Neva and therefore was ready for the Swedish invasion in 1240. In July, on the Neva, Alexander Yaroslavich, thanks to extraordinary and swift actions, was able to defeat the Swedish army. A number of Swedish ships were sunk, but Russian losses were extremely insignificant. After that, Prince Alexander was nicknamed Nevsky.
The Swedish offensive was coordinated with the next attack of the Livonian Order. 1240, summer - they took the border fortress of Izborsk, and then captured Pskov. The situation for Novgorod was becoming dangerous. Alexander, not counting on help from Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', devastated by the Tatars, imposed large expenses on the boyars in preparation for the battle and tried to strengthen his power in the Novgorod Republic after the victory on the Neva. The boyars turned out to be stronger and in the winter of 1240 they were able to remove him from power.
Meanwhile, German expansion continued. 1241 - the Novgorod land of Vod was imposed with tribute, then Koporye was taken. The Crusaders intended to capture the coast of the Neva and Karelia. A popular movement broke out in the city for an alliance with the Vladimir-Suzdal principality and the organization of resistance to the Germans, who were already 40 versts from Novgorod. The boyars had no choice but to ask Alexander Nevsky to return. This time he was given emergency powers.
With an army of Novgorodians, Ladoga, Izhorians and Karelians, Alexander knocked out the enemy from Koporye, and then liberated the lands of the Vod people. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich sent the Vladimir regiments, newly formed after the Tatar invasion, to help his son. Alexander took Pskov, then moved to the lands of the Estonians.
Movement, composition, disposition of troops
The German army was located in the Yuryev area (aka Dorpat, now Tartu). The Order gathered significant forces - there were German knights, the local population, and the troops of the King of Sweden. The army that opposed the knights on the ice of Lake Peipus had a heterogeneous composition, but a single command in the person of Alexander. The “lower regiments” consisted of princely squads, boyar squads, and city regiments. The army that Novgorod fielded had a fundamentally different composition.
When the Russian army was on the western shore of Lake Peipsi, here in the area of the village of Mooste, a patrol detachment led by Domash Tverdislavich scouted out the location of the main part German troops, started a battle with them, but was defeated. Intelligence managed to find out that the enemy sent minor forces to Izborsk, and the main parts of the army moved to Lake Pskov.
In an effort to prevent this movement of enemy troops, the prince ordered a retreat to the ice of Lake Peipsi. The Livonians, realizing that the Russians would not allow them to make a roundabout maneuver, went straight to their army and also set foot on the ice of the lake. Alexander Nevsky positioned his army under the steep eastern bank, north of the Uzmen tract near the island of Voroniy Kamen, opposite the mouth of the Zhelcha River.
Progress of the Battle of the Ice
The two armies met on Saturday, April 5, 1242. According to one version, Alexander had 15,000 soldiers at his disposal, and the Livonians had 12,000 soldiers. The prince, knowing about the German tactics, weakened the “brow” and strengthened the “wings” of his battle formation. Alexander Nevsky's personal squad took cover behind one of the flanks. A significant part of the prince's army was made up of foot militia.
The crusaders traditionally advanced with a wedge (“pig”) - a deep formation, shaped like a trapezoid, the upper base of which was facing the enemy. At the head of the wedge were the strongest of the warriors. The infantry, as the most unreliable and often not at all knightly part of the army, was located in the center of the battle formation, covered in front and behind by mounted knights.
At the first stage of the battle, the knights were able to defeat the leading Russian regiment, and then they broke through the “front” of the Novgorod battle formation. When, after some time, they scattered the “brow” and ran into a steep, steep shore of the lake, they had to turn around, which was quite difficult for a deep formation on the ice. Meanwhile, Alexander’s strong “wings” struck from the flanks, and his personal squad completed the encirclement of the knights.
A stubborn battle was going on, the entire neighborhood was filled with screams, crackling and clanging of weapons. But the fate of the crusaders was sealed. The Novgorodians pulled them off their horses with spears from special hooks, ripped open the bellies of their horses with “shoemaker” knives. crowded on narrow space, the skilled Livonian warriors could not do anything. Stories about how the ice cracked under heavy knights are widely popular, but it should be noted that a fully armed Russian knight weighed no less. Another thing is that the crusaders did not have the opportunity to move freely and they were crowded into a small area.
In general, the complexity and danger of conducting combat operations with cavalry on the ice in early April leads some historians to the conclusion that the general course of the Battle of the Ice was distorted in the chronicles. They believe that no sane commander would take an iron-clanging and horse-riding army to fight on the ice. The battle probably began on land, and during it the Russians were able to push the enemy onto the ice of Lake Peipsi. Those knights who were able to escape were pursued by the Russians to the Subolich coast.
Losses
The issue of the losses of the parties in the battle is controversial. During the battle, about 400 crusaders were killed, and many Estonians, whom they recruited into their army, also fell. The Russian chronicles say: “and Chudi fell into disgrace, and Nemets 400, and with 50 hands he brought them to Novgorod.” The death and capture of such a large number of professional warriors, by European standards, turned out to be a rather severe defeat, bordering on catastrophe. It is said vaguely about Russian losses: “many brave warriors fell.” As you can see, the losses of the Novgorodians were actually heavy.
Meaning
The legendary massacre and the victory of Alexander Nevsky’s troops in it had exclusively important for all Russian history. The advance of the Livonian Order into Russian lands was stopped, the local population was not converted to Catholicism, and access to the Baltic Sea was preserved. After the victory, the Novgorod Republic, led by the prince, moved from defensive tasks to the conquest of new territories. Nevsky launched several successful campaigns against the Lithuanians.
The blow dealt to the knights on Lake Peipus was echoed throughout the Baltic states. The 30 thousand Lithuanian army launched large-scale military operations against the Germans. In the same year 1242, a powerful uprising broke out in Prussia. The Livonian knights sent envoys to Novgorod who reported that the order renounced its claims to the land of Vod, Pskov, Luga and asked for an exchange of prisoners, which was done. The words that were spoken to the ambassadors by the prince: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword” became the motto of many generations of Russian commanders. For his military exploits, Alexander Nevsky received the highest award - he was canonized by the church and declared a Saint.
German historians believe that, while fighting on the western borders, Alexander Nevsky did not pursue any coherent political program, but successes in the West provided some compensation for the horrors of the Mongol invasion. Many researchers believe that the very scale of the threat that the West posed to Rus' is exaggerated.
On the other hand, L.N. Gumilyov, on the contrary, believed that it was not the Tatar-Mongol “yoke”, but rather Catholic Western Europe in the person of the Teutonic Order and the Archbishopric of Riga that posed a mortal threat to the very existence of Rus', and therefore the role of Alexander’s victories Nevsky is especially great in Russian history.
Due to the variability of the hydrography of Lake Peipsi, historians for a long time could not accurately determine the place where the Battle of the Ice took place. Only thanks to long-term research carried out by an expedition from the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, they were able to establish the location of the battle. Battle location in summer time submerged in water and located approximately 400 meters from the island of Sigovec.
Memory
The monument to the squads of Alexander Nevsky was erected in 1993, on Mount Sokolikha in Pskov, almost 100 km away from the actual site of the battle. Initially, it was planned to create a monument on Vorony Island, which would have been a more accurate solution geographically.
1992 - in the village of Kobylye Gorodishche, Gdovsky district, in a place close to the supposed site of the battle, a bronze monument to Alexander Nevsky and a wooden worship cross were erected near the Church of the Archangel Michael. The Church of the Archangel Michael was created by the Pskovites in 1462. The wooden cross was destroyed over time under the influence of unfavorable weather conditions. 2006, July - on the 600th anniversary of the first mention of the village of Kobylye Gorodishche in the Pskov Chronicles, it was replaced with a bronze one.
The Battle of the Ice or the Battle of Peipus is the battle between the Novgorod-Pskov troops of Prince Alexander Nevsky and the troops of the Livonian knights on April 5, 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipus. In 1240, the knights of the Livonian Order (see Spiritual Knightly Orders) captured Pskov and advanced their conquests to Vodskaya Pyatina; their travels approached 30 versts to Novgorod, where at that time there was no prince, because Alexander Nevsky, having quarreled with the veche, retired to Vladimir. Constrained by the knights and Lithuania, which had raided the southern regions, the Novgorodians sent envoys to ask Alexander to return. Arriving at the beginning of 1241, Alexander cleared the Vodskaya Pyatina of the enemy, but decided to liberate Pskov only after combining the Novgorod detachments with the grassroots troops that arrived in 1242 under the command of his brother, Prince Andrei Yaroslavich. The Germans did not have time to send reinforcements to their small garrison, and Pskov was taken by storm.
However, the campaign could not be ended with this success, since it became known that the knights were preparing for the fight and that they were concentrated in the Dorpat (Tartu) bishopric. Instead of the usual waiting for the enemy in the fortress, Alexander decided to meet the enemy halfway and inflict a decisive blow on him with a surprise attack. Having set out along the well-worn path to Izborsk, Alexander sent a network of advanced reconnaissance detachments. Soon one of them, probably the most significant, under the leadership of the mayor's brother Domash Tverdislavich, came across the Germans and Chud, was defeated and forced to retreat. Further reconnaissance discovered that the enemy, having sent a small part of his forces to the Izborsk road, moved with his main forces straight to the ice-covered Lake Peipsi in order to cut off the Russians from Pskov.
Then Alexander “backed towards the lake; The Germans just walked over them,” that is, with a successful maneuver, the Russian army avoided the danger that threatened it. Having turned the situation in his favor, Alexander decided to take the fight and remained near Lake Peipus on the Uzmen tract, at the “Voronei Kameni”. At dawn on April 5, 1242, the knightly army, together with the contingents of the Estonians (Chudi), formed a kind of closed phalanx, known as the “wedge” or “iron pig”. In this battle formation, the knights moved across the ice towards the Russians and, crashing into them, broke through the center. Carried away by their success, the knights did not even notice that both flanks were being encircled by the Russians, who, holding the enemy in pincers, defeated him. The pursuit after the Battle of the Ice was carried out to the opposite Sobolitsky shore of the lake, at which time the ice began to break under the crowded fugitives. 400 knights fell, 50 were captured, and the bodies of the lightly armed miracle lay 7 miles away. The astonished master of the order waited with trepidation for Alexander under the walls of Riga and asked the Danish king for help against “cruel Rus'.”
Battle on the Ice. Painting by V. Matorin
After the Battle of the Ice, the Pskov clergy greeted Alexander Nevsky with crosses, the people called him father and savior. The prince shed tears and said: “People of Pskov! If you forget Alexander, if my most distant descendants do not find a faithful refuge in your misfortune, then you will be an example of ingratitude!”
The victory in the Battle of the Ice was great value V political life Novgorod-Pskov region. The confidence of the pope, the Bishop of Dorpat and the Livonian knights in the quick conquest of the Novgorod lands crumbled for a long time. They had to think about self-defense and prepare for a century-long stubborn struggle, which ended with the conquest of the Livonian-Baltic Sea by Russia. After the Battle of the Ice, the order's ambassadors made peace with Novgorod, abandoning not only Luga and the Vodskaya volost, but also ceding a considerable part of Letgalia to Alexander.
Losses
Monument to the squads of A. Nevsky on Mount Sokolikha
The issue of the losses of the parties in the battle is controversial. The Russian losses are spoken of vaguely: “many brave warriors fell.” Apparently, the losses of the Novgorodians were really heavy. The losses of the knights are indicated by specific numbers, which cause controversy. Russian chronicles, and after them domestic historians they say that about five hundred people were killed by the knights, and the Chuds were “beschisla”; fifty “brothers”, “deliberate commanders”, were allegedly taken prisoner. Four hundred to five hundred killed knights is a completely unrealistic figure, since there was no such number in the entire Order.
According to the Livonian chronicle, for the campaign it was necessary to gather “many brave heroes, brave and excellent,” led by the master, plus Danish vassals “with a significant detachment.” The Rhymed Chronicle specifically says that twenty knights were killed and six were captured. Most likely, the “Chronicle” means only the “brothers”-knights, without taking into account their squads and the Chud recruited into the army. The Novgorod First Chronicle says that 400 “Germans” fell in the battle, 50 were taken prisoner, and “chud” is also discounted: “beschisla.” Apparently, they suffered really serious losses.
So, it is possible that 400 German cavalry soldiers (of which twenty were real “brothers” knights) actually fell on the ice of Lake Peipus, and 50 Germans (of which 6 “brothers”) were captured by the Russians. “The Life of Alexander Nevsky” claims that the prisoners then walked next to their horses during the joyful entry of Prince Alexander into Pskov.
The immediate site of the battle, according to the conclusions of the expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences led by Karaev, can be considered a section of Warm Lake, located 400 meters west of the modern shore of Cape Sigovets, between its northern tip and the latitude of the village of Ostrov. It should be noted that the battle on flat surface ice was more advantageous for the heavy cavalry of the Order, but it is traditionally believed that the place to meet the enemy was chosen by Alexander Yaroslavich.
Consequences
According to the traditional point of view in Russian historiography, this battle, together with the victories of Prince Alexander over the Swedes (July 15, 1240 on the Neva) and over the Lithuanians (in 1245 near Toropets, near Lake Zhitsa and near Usvyat), had great importance for Pskov and Novgorod, delaying the onslaught of three serious enemies from the west - at the very time when the rest of Rus' suffered great losses from princely strife and the consequences of the Tatar conquest. In Novgorod, the Battle of the Germans on the Ice was remembered for a long time: together with the Neva victory over the Swedes, it was remembered in the litanies of all Novgorod churches back in the 16th century.
The English researcher J. Funnel believes that the significance of the Battle of the Ice (and the Battle of the Neva) is greatly exaggerated: “Alexander did only what numerous defenders of Novgorod and Pskov did before him and what many did after him - namely, rushed to protect the extended and vulnerable borders from invaders." Russian professor I.N. Danilevsky also agrees with this opinion. He notes, in particular, that the battle was inferior in scale to the battles of Siauliai (city), in which the Lithuanians killed the master of the order and 48 knights (20 knights died on Lake Peipsi), and the battle of Rakovor in 1268; Contemporary sources even describe the Battle of the Neva in more detail and give it higher value. However, even in the “Rhymed Chronicle,” the Battle of the Ice is clearly described as a defeat of the Germans, unlike Rakovor.
Memory of the battle
Movies
Music
The score for Eisenstein's film, composed by Sergei Prokofiev, is a symphonic suite dedicated to the events of the battle.
Monument to Alexander Nevsky and Worship Cross
The bronze worship cross was cast in St. Petersburg at the expense of patrons of the Baltic Steel Group (A. V. Ostapenko). The prototype was the Novgorod Alekseevsky Cross. The author of the project is A. A. Seleznev. The bronze sign was cast under the direction of D. Gochiyaev by the foundry workers of NTCCT CJSC, architects B. Kostygov and S. Kryukov. When implementing the project, fragments from the lost wooden cross by sculptor V. Reshchikov were used.
Cultural and sports educational raid expedition
Since 1997, an annual raid expedition has been conducted to the sites of military feats of Alexander Nevsky's squads. During these trips, participants in the race help improve areas related to monuments of cultural and historical heritage. Thanks to them, memorial signs were installed in many places in the North-West in memory of the exploits of Russian soldiers, and the village of Kobylye Gorodishche became known throughout the country.
Battle on the Ice
On April 5, 1242, the Russian army led by Prince Alexander Nevsky defeated the Livonian knights in the Battle of the Ice on the ice of Lake Peipsi.
However, the defeat of the Swedes on the Neva did not completely eliminate the danger hanging over Russia: the threat from the north, from the Swedes, was replaced by a threat from the west, from the Germans.
Back in the 12th century, the advance of German knightly detachments from East Prussia to the east was noted. In pursuit of new lands and free labor, under the guise of the intention to convert pagans to Christianity, crowds of German nobles, knights and monks went east. They suppressed resistance with fire and sword local population, sitting comfortably on its lands, built castles and monasteries here and imposed unbearable taxes and tribute on the people. By the beginning of the 13th century, the entire Baltic region was in the hands of German rapists. The population of the Baltic states groaned under the whip and yoke of warlike aliens.
And already in the early autumn of 1240, the Livonian knights invaded the Novgorod possessions and occupied the city of Izborsk. Soon Pskov shared his fate - the Germans were helped to take it by the betrayal of the Pskov mayor Tverdila Ivankovich, who went over to the side of the Germans. Having subjugated the Pskov volost, the Germans built a fortress in Koporye. This was an important bridgehead that made it possible to control the Novgorod trade routes along the Neva and plan further advance to the East. After this, the Livonian aggressors invaded the very center of the Novgorod possessions, captured Luga and the Novgorod suburb of Tesovo. In their raids they came within 30 kilometers of Novgorod. Disregarding past grievances, Alexander Nevskiy at the request of the Novgorodians, at the end of 1240 he returned to Novgorod and continued the fight against the invaders. IN next year he recaptured Koporye and Pskov from the knights, returning most of their western possessions to the Novgorodians. But the enemy was still strong, and the decisive battle was still ahead. 
In the spring of 1242, reconnaissance of the Livonian Order was sent from Dorpat (the former Russian Yuryev, now the Estonian city of Tartu) in order to test the strength of the Russian troops. 18 versts south of Dorpat, the order's reconnaissance detachment managed to defeat the Russian "dispersal" under the command of Domash Tverdislavich and Kerebet. It was a reconnaissance detachment moving ahead of the army of Alexander Yaroslavich in the direction of Dorpat. The surviving part of the detachment returned to the prince and reported to him about what had happened. The victory over a small detachment of Russians inspired the order's command. He developed a tendency to underestimate Russian forces and became convinced that they could be easily defeated. The Livonians decided to give battle to the Russians and for this they set out from Dorpat to the south with their main forces, as well as their allies, led by the master of the order himself. The main part of the troops consisted of knights clad in armor.
The Battle of Lake Peipsi, which went down in history as Battle on the Ice, began on the morning of April 5, 1242. At sunrise, noticing a small detachment of Russian riflemen, the knightly “pig” rushed towards him. Alexander contrasted the German wedge with the Russian heel - a formation in the form of the Roman numeral "V", that is, the angle with the hole facing the enemy. This very hole was covered by a “brow”, consisting of archers, who took the main blow of the “iron regiment” and with courageous resistance noticeably disrupted its advance. Still, the knights managed to break through the defensive formations of the Russian “chela”. A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued. And at its very height, when the “pig” was completely drawn into the battle, at a signal from Alexander Nevsky, the regiments of the left and right hand. Not expecting the appearance of such Russian reinforcements, the knights were confused and began to gradually retreat under their powerful blows. And soon this retreat took on the character of a disorderly flight. Then suddenly, from behind cover, a cavalry ambush regiment rushed into battle. The Livonian troops suffered a crushing defeat. 
The Russians drove them across the ice for another seven miles to the western shore of Lake Peipsi. 400 knights were destroyed and 50 were captured. Some of the Livonians drowned in the lake. Those who escaped from the encirclement were pursued by Russian cavalry, completing their defeat. Only those who were in the tail of the “pig” and were on horseback managed to escape: the master of the order, commanders and bishops.
The victory of Russian troops under the leadership of Prince Alexander Nevsky over the German “dog knights” has important historical significance. The Order asked for peace. Peace was concluded on terms dictated by the Russians. The order's ambassadors solemnly renounced all encroachments on the Russian lands that were temporarily captured by the order. The movement of Western invaders into Rus' was stopped. The western borders of Rus', established after the Battle of the Ice, lasted for centuries. The Battle of the Ice has gone down in history as a remarkable example of military tactics and strategy. Skillful formation of battle formation, clear organization of interaction between its individual parts, especially infantry and cavalry, constant reconnaissance and accounting weaknesses enemy when organizing a battle, right choice place and time, good organization of tactical pursuit, destruction of most of the superior enemy - all this determined Russian military art as advanced in the world.
10th century in a densely populated - by medieval standards, of course - Western Europe marked the beginning of expansion. Subsequently, from century to century, this expansion expanded, taking on a wide variety of forms.
The European peasant, bent under the burden of duties to the lord, ventured into the unruly forests. He cut down trees, cleared the land of bushes and drained swamps, extracting additional arable land.
The Europeans were pushing back the Saracens (the Arabs who captured Spain), and the reconquista (“reconquest” of Spain) was underway.
Inspired high idea liberation of the Holy Sepulcher and the crusaders, overwhelmed by a thirst for riches and new lands, stepped into the Levant - as the territories located along the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea were called in the Middle Ages.
The European “push to the east” began; peasants, skilled city craftsmen, experienced traders, and knights appeared en masse in Slavic countries, for example, in Poland and the Czech Republic, and 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 gave rise to problems, creating rivalry and confrontation between the newcomer and indigenous populations. A particularly large wave of immigrants poured from the German lands, where the rulers of the German Empire (following Emperor Frederick Barbarossa) supported the “onslaught on the East.”
Soon the eyes of Europeans were drawn to the Baltic states. It was perceived as a forest desert, lightly populated by wild Letto-Lithuanian and Finno-Ugric pagan tribes who did not know state power. Since ancient times, Rus' and the Scandinavian countries have been expanding here. They colonized the areas bordering them. Local tribes were subject to tribute. Back in the time of Yaroslav the Wise, the Russians built their Yuryev fortress beyond Lake Peipus in the land of the Finno-Ugric Estonians (named after Yaroslav the Wise at his baptism, the name George). The Swedes advanced into the possessions of the Finns until they reached the borders of the Karelian land controlled by Novgorod.
At the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, people from Western Europe appeared in the Baltic states. The first to come were Catholic missionaries carrying the word of Christ. In 1184, the monk Maynard unsuccessfully tried to convert the Livs (ancestors of modern Latvians) to Catholicism. Monk Berthold in 1198 preached Christianity with the help of the swords of the crusading knights. Canon Albert of Bremen, sent by the Pope, captured the mouth of the Dvina and founded Riga in 1201. A year later, an order of monastic knights was created on the Livonian lands conquered around Riga. He called Order of the Swordsmen in the shape 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 had laid claim to Estonia since the beginning of the 12th century.
In 1212, the Swordsmen came close to the borders of Pskov and Novgorod lands. Mstislav Udaloy, who reigned in Novgorod, successfully resisted them. Then, during the reign of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich's father in Novgorod, the Swordsmen were defeated near Yuryev (modern Tartu). The city remained with the crusaders on the condition that tribute was paid to Novgorod for it (Yuriev's tribute). By 1219, Denmark had reconquered Northern Estonia, but 5 years later 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 order of crusaders was founded - the Teutonic. 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 defeat in 1234 by Alexander Nevsky's father Yaroslav, and in 1236 by the Lithuanians led to the reform of the Order of the Sword. In 1237 it became a branch of the Teutonic Order, and it began to be called Livonian.
Batu’s invasion gave rise to the hope among the crusaders that expansion could be expanded to the northern lands of the Orthodox, who in the West had long been considered heretics after the split of the churches in 1054. Mister Veliky Novgorod was especially attractive. But the crusaders were not the only ones who were seduced by the Novgorod land. The Swedes were also interested in it.
Mr. Veliky Novgorod and Sweden fought more than once when their interests in the Baltic states collided. At the end of the 1230s, news was received in Novgorod that the son-in-law of the Swedish king, Jarl (title of the Swedish nobility) Birger, was preparing a raid on the Novgorod possessions. Alexander, the 19-year-old son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, was then sitting as prince in Novgorod. He ordered the Izhora elder Pelgusius to monitor the coast and report the Swedish invasion. As a result, when the Scandinavian boats entered the Neva and stopped at the confluence of the Izhora River, the Prince of Novgorod was notified in time. July 15, 1240 Alexander arrived at the Neva and, with the help of a small Novgorod detachment and his squad, unexpectedly attacked the enemy.
Against the backdrop of the devastation of northeastern Rus' by the Mongol Khan Batu, this battle opened a difficult circle for his contemporaries: Alexander brought victory to Rus' and with it hope, faith in one’s own strength! This victory brought him the honorary title of Nevsky.
Confidence that the Russians were capable of winning victories helped them survive the difficult days of 1240, when a more dangerous enemy, the Livonian Order, invaded the Novgorod borders. Ancient Izborsk fell. The Pskov traitors opened the gates to the enemy. The crusaders scattered across the Novgorod land and plundered in the outskirts of Novgorod. Not far from Novgorod, the crusaders built a fortified outpost, carried out raids near Luga and Sabelny Pogost, which was located 40 versts from Novgorod.
Alexander was not in Novgorod. He quarreled with the independent Novgorodians and left for Pereyaslavl Zalessky. Under pressure from 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, Andrei, with a cavalry detachment, but the Novgorodians stood their ground. In the end, Alexander arrived and brought his Pereyaslav squad and the Vladimir-Suzdal militia, which consisted mainly of peasants. Novgorodians also assembled shelves.
In 1241, the Russians launched an offensive, recapturing Koporye from the crusaders. The fortress built by the knights in Koporye was destroyed. In the winter of 1242, Alexander Nevsky unexpectedly appeared near Pskov and liberated the city.
Russian troops entered the Order, but soon their vanguard was defeated by the knights. Alexander took his regiments to the eastern shore of Lake Peipus and decided to give battle.
April 5, 1242 of the year A great slaughter took place on the melted ice. The Russians stood in the traditional “eagle”: in the center was a regiment consisting of Vladimir-Suzdal militias, on the sides were regiments of the right and left hands - heavily armed Novgorod infantry and princely equestrian squads. The peculiarity was that a significant mass of troops were located on the flanks; usually the center was the strongest. Behind the militia was steep bank, covered with boulders. A convoy's sleigh, fastened with chains, was placed on the ice in front of the shore. This made the coast completely impassable for knightly horses and was supposed to keep the faint-hearted in the Russian camp from fleeing. A horse squad stood in ambush near the island of Voroniy Kamen.
The knights moved towards the Russians "boar's head" This was a special system that more than once brought success to the crusaders. In the center of the “boar’s head”, bollard infantrymen marched in closed ranks. On the sides of them and behind them, in 2-3 rows, rode riders clad in armor; their horses also had armor. Ahead, narrowing to a point, the ranks of the most experienced knights moved. The “Boar’s Head,” nicknamed the “pig” by the Russians, rammed the enemy and broke through the defenses. Knights destroyed the enemy with spears, battle axes, and swords. When it was defeated, bollard infantrymen were released to finish off the wounded and those fleeing.
The chronicle story about the battle on the ice reports “the speed of the slashing of evil, and the crackling from the spears, and the breaking, and the sound from the cutting of the sword.”
The knights crushed the Russian center and began to spin around, breaking their own formation. They had nowhere to move. “Regiments of the right and left hands” pressed on the knights from the flanks. It was as if they were squeezing the “pig” with pincers. There were many dead on both sides of the fighting. The ice turned red with blood. The enemy suffered mainly from infantry. Killing a knight was difficult. But if he was pulled off his horse, he became defenseless - the weight of the armor did not allow him to stand up and move.
Suddenly the April ice cracked. The knights mingled. Those who fell into the water sank like stones to the bottom. Alexander Nevsky's troops struck with redoubled energy. The crusaders ran. Russian horsemen pursued them for several kilometers.
The ice battle was won. The crusaders' plan to establish themselves in Northern Rus' failed.
In 1243, ambassadors of the Order arrived in Novgorod. Peace was signed. The Crusaders recognized the borders of the Lord of Veliky Novgorod as inviolable and promised to regularly pay tribute to Yuryev. The terms for the ransom of several dozen knights who were captured were agreed upon. Alexander led these noble captives from Pskov to Novgorod next to their horses, barefoot, with their heads uncovered, and with a rope around their necks. It was impossible to think of a greater insult to knightly honor.
In the future, military skirmishes occurred more than once between Novgorod, Pskov and the Livonian Order, but the border of the possessions of both sides remained stable. For the possession of Yuryev, the Order continued to pay tribute to Novgorod, and from the end of the 15th century - to the Moscow unified Russian state.
In political and moral terms, 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 Rus' was reduced. The victories of Alexander Nevsky over the Swedes and crusaders interrupted the series of defeats of the Russian troops.
For the Orthodox Church, it was especially important to prevent Catholic influence in Russian lands. It is worth remembering that the crusade of 1204 ended with the capture by the crusaders of Constantinople, the capital of the Orthodox empire, which considered itself the Second Rome. For more than half a century, the Latin Empire existed on Byzantine territory. The Orthodox Greeks “huddled” in Nicaea, from where they tried to recapture their possessions from the Western crusaders. The Tatars, on the contrary, were allies of the Orthodox Greeks in their fight against the Islamic and Turkish onslaught on the eastern Byzantine borders. According to the practice that has developed since the 10th century, most of the highest hierarchs of the Russian Church were by origin Greeks or southern Slavs who came to Rus' 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 else for the leadership of the Russian Church. Catholics seemed much more dangerous than Tatars. It is no coincidence that before Sergius of Radonezh (second half of the 14th century), not a single prominent church hierarch blessed or called for the fight against the Tatars. The invasion of Batu and the Tatar armies were interpreted by the clergy as the “scourge of God,” the punishment of the Orthodox for their sins.
Exactly church tradition created around the name of Alexander Nevsky, canonized after his death, an aura of an ideal prince, warrior, “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 overshadowed their real historical images. In both cases, the “legend” was far removed from the original prototype.
In serious science, meanwhile, debates about the role of Alexander Nevsky in Russian history do not subside. Alexander’s position in relation to the Golden Horde, his participation in the organization of the Nevryuev army in 1252 and the spread of the Horde yoke to Novgorod, the cruel reprisals even for that time, characteristic of Alexander in the fight against his opponents, give rise to conflicting judgments regarding the results of the activities of this undoubtedly bright hero of Russian history .
For Eurasians and L.N. Gumilyov Alexander is a far-sighted politician who correctly chose an alliance with the Horde and turned his back to the West.
For other historians (for example, I.N. Danilevsky), the role of Alexander in national history rather negative. This role is the actual conductor of Horde dependence.
Some historians, including S.M. Solovyova, V.O. Klyuchevsky, does not at all consider the Horde yoke to be a “useful alliance for Rus',” but notes that Rus' did not have the strength to fight. Supporters of continuing the fight against the Horde - Daniil Galitsky and Prince Andrei 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.
