The southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea from the Gulf of Finland to the Vistula was inhabited by Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. In this part of Eastern Europe at the end of the 12th century. There was a process of transition to a class society, although there were significant remnants of the primitive communal system. In the absence of their own statehood and church institutions, the Russian lands had a strong influence on the Baltic states. By the beginning of the 13th century. Novgorod and the Polotsk land have established close economic, political and cultural ties with the peoples of this part of the European continent.

Beginning of the 13th century was a time of expansion to the east of Western European countries and religious and political organizations. The ideological justification for this kind of policy was given by the Roman Catholic Church, which called for the speedy baptism of pagans and sought to assert its influence throughout the Baltic region.

Those who most aggressively sought to penetrate the East were those supported by the papal curia German spiritual knightly orders. As a result of the crusade proclaimed by the Vatican, Catholic missionaries and knights and adventurers eager for loot and adventure rushed to the Baltic states. In 1201, at the mouth of the Western Dvina, invaders founded the Riga fortress. In 1202, the Order of the Sword Bearers was founded (from the image of a sword and cross on the order's clothing). In 1237, as a result of the unification of the Order of the Swordsmen with the Teutonic Order located in Prussia, the Livonian Order arose, which became the main military-colonization support of the Vatican in Eastern Europe.

At the head of the Livonian Order was a master who had, in principle, unlimited power. The Knights of the Order were obliged to observe vows of chastity, obedience, poverty and a promise to devote their entire lives to the fight against the “infidels.” In reality, the knights were not distinguished by military discipline, modesty, or poverty. By agreement with the Vatican, one third of all conquered Baltic lands became the property of the Order. The local population was subjected to merciless robbery and in case of the slightest disobedience they were mercilessly exterminated.

Denmark and Sweden were active in the eastern Baltic. The Danes founded the Revel fortress (on the site of modern Tallinn), the Swedes sought to establish themselves on the island of Saarema (Ezel) and on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.

The increased expansion of Western European knights to the East seriously threatened the interests of the Russian principalities. The Russian lands adjacent to it, primarily Polotsk and Novgorod, actively joined the struggle for the Baltic states. In their actions, the Russians found support from the local population, for whom the oppression brought by the knights was many times heavier than the tribute collected by the Polotsk and Novgorod authorities.

Battle of Neva

In the summer of 1240, a Swedish flotilla under the command of the military commander Birger unexpectedly appeared in the Gulf of Finland, and after passing along the river. Neva, stood at the mouth of the river. Izhora. Here the Swedes set up their temporary camp. Prince of Novgorod Alexander Yaroslavich, hastily gathering a small squad and part of the militia, decided to inflict an unexpected blow on the enemy. On July 15, 1240, as a result of the fearlessness and heroism of the Russian troops and the talent of their commander, the larger Swedish army was defeated. For the victory won on the Neva, Prince Alexander was nicknamed "Nevsky". The Neva victory over the Swedes prevented Russia from losing access to the Baltic Sea and the threat of cessation of trade relations with Western Europe.

Battle on the Ice

At the same time, the knights of the Livonian Order began to seize Russian lands. The knights managed to capture Pskov, Izborsk, and Koporye. The situation in Novgorod was complicated by the fact that, as a result of a quarrel with the Novgorod boyars, Prince Alexander Nevsky temporarily left the city. The danger that threatened Novgorod forced its population to again call on Prince Alexander Yaroslavich.

As a result of the successful actions of the Russian troops, Pskov and Koporye were liberated from the knights. On April 5, 1242, the main forces of German knights and the Russian army led by Prince Alexander Nevsky met on the ice of Lake Peipsi. One of the most famous battles of the Russian Middle Ages, called the Battle of the Ice, took place here. As a result of a fierce battle, the Russians won a decisive victory. The battle on Lake Peipsi stopped the knightly offensive against Rus'. However, the threat of military and religious-spiritual expansion from the West largely continued to influence the foreign policy of the Russian lands.

Formation of the Mongol Empire

Territory and economy

Education at the beginning of the 13th century had a huge impact on the fate of Rus', as well as many other countries in Europe and Asia. in the steppes of Central Asia a strong Mongol state.

By the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. The Mongols occupied a vast territory from Baikal and Amur in the east to the headwaters of the Irtysh and Yenisei in the west, from the Great Wall of China in the south to the borders of Southern Siberia in the north. The predominant occupation of the Mongols was extensive nomadic cattle breeding, and hunting in the northern regions; agriculture and crafts were poorly developed. Mongolian society was experiencing a period of disintegration of patriarchal relations. According to most historians, the Mongol state developed as an early feudal state with strong remnants of primitive communal and slave relations. In the process of establishing statehood, a layer of nobility (noyons), ordinary warriors-combatants (nukers), and simple nomads (karachu) emerged. As in other early class societies, the desire to capture booty, prisoners, and new lands necessary for nomadic cattle breeding was of great importance in the life of the Mongols. The vast majority of the population was involved in the campaigns. This circumstance played a fatal role not only in the fate of the conquered peoples of Asia and Europe, but also in the fate of the Mongolian people themselves.

Power of Genghis Khan

In 1206, at a congress of the Mongol nobility, Temujin was proclaimed great khan with the name Genghis Khan (the exact meaning of this name has not yet been clarified). He had the abilities of a cruel and power-hungry ruler and an extraordinary organizer. The main task of the life of the new state was declared to be a war of conquest, the entire people - as an army. In an effort to strengthen his power, Genghis Khan mercilessly dealt with the rebellious. One of the Mongolian tribes - the Tatars - was completely slaughtered for disobedience to the khan (the term “Tatars” itself, however, survived, was used in relation to the population of the Golden Horde, and was preserved in the name of the largest Turkic-speaking ethnic group in Russia).

Genghis Khan's power was divided according to the decimal principle. Tens, hundreds, thousands and “tumens” (darkness) were considered not only military units, but also administrative units that could field a certain number of warriors. The army was shackled by a cruel system of mutual responsibility; for violation of discipline, cowardice in battle, one was executed ten, ten - a hundred, etc. During the first campaigns, the Mongols managed to capture foreign craftsmen, who armed Genghis Khan’s army with siege equipment that the nomads did not have. The strength of the Mongol army was its well-organized intelligence, where Muslim merchants associated with international transit trade were especially valuable informants.

In the course of continuous wars, Genghis Khan managed to subjugate and lead on campaigns, along with the Mongols, a significant number of other nomadic peoples of Eurasia. Iron discipline, organization and exceptional mobility of cavalry, equipped with captured military equipment, gave Genghis Khan's troops a significant advantage compared to the sedentary militias of other peoples. Of decisive importance, however, was the fact that although in terms of their economic and cultural level the states conquered by the Mongols were often at a higher level of development, they, as a rule, experienced a stage of fragmentation, and there was no unity in them. A well-known role in the success of the Mongols was played by the principle of religious tolerance they professed towards the conquered peoples. The latter circumstance stimulated loyalty towards the conquerors on the part of the majority of the clergy and religious institutions and organizations.

Mongol conquests

Soon after coming to power, Genghis Khan began his campaigns of conquest. His troops attacked the peoples of Southern Siberia and Central Asia. In 1211, the conquest of China began (it was finally conquered by the Mongols in 1276).

In 1219, the Mongol army attacked Central Asia, which was under the rule of the ruler of Khorezm (the country at the mouth of the Amu Darya) Muhammad. The overwhelming majority of the population hated the power of the Khorezmians. The nobility, merchants and Muslim clergy were opposed to Muhammad. Under these conditions, Genghis Khan's troops successfully conquered Central Asia. Bukhara and Samarkand were captured. Khorezm was devastated, its ruler fled from the Mongols to Iran, where he soon died. One of the corps of the Mongol army, led by military leaders Jebe and Subudai, continued the campaign and went on long-range reconnaissance to the West. Having skirted the Caspian Sea from the south, the Mongol troops invaded Georgia and Azerbaijan and then broke through to the North Caucasus, where they defeated the Cumans. The Polovtsian khans turned to the Russian princes for help. At the princely congress in Kyiv, it was decided to go to the steppe against a new unknown enemy. In 1223 on the shore R. Kalki, flowing into the Sea of Azov, a battle took place between the Mongols and detachments of Russians and Polovtsians. The Polovtsians fled almost from the very beginning. The Russians did not know either the character of the new enemy or his methods of warfare; there was no unity in their army. Some of the princes, including Daniil Romanovich Galitsky, actively participated in the battle from the very beginning, while other princes preferred to wait. As a result, the Russian army was defeated, and the captured princes were crushed under the boards on which the victors feasted.

Having won the victory at Kalka, the Mongols did not, however, continue their march to the north. They turned east against Volga Bulgaria. Having failed to achieve success there, Jebe and Subudai returned back to report on their campaign to Genghis Khan.

- (Baltic Crusades) is a historical event of the 12th-13th centuries, when Catholic German, Danish and Swedish feudal lords organized “northern” crusades in the Eastern Baltic against “pagans”: Finnish tribes, Slavs (Obodritov, ... ... Catholic Encyclopedia

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Crusades 1st Crusade Peasants' Crusade ... Wikipedia

In a broad sense, military. actions cf. century European chivalry, which was carried out on the initiative and with the support of the Popes and had rel. motives: wars against Muslim invaders (Moors, Saracens, Turks), pagans (Prussians, Wends) and participants... ... Catholic Encyclopedia

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Crusades 1st Crusade Peasants' Crusade German Crusade 2nd Crusade 3rd Crusade 4th Crusade Albigensian Crusade ... Wikipedia

Books

, Erdman Karl. The study of the Crusades around the world begins with this book - a classic work by the famous German medievalist Karl Erdmann. She is one of those who have completely transformed...
The Origin of the Idea of the Crusade, Erdmann K. The study of the Crusades around the world begins with this book, a classic work by the famous German medievalist Karl Erdmann. She is one of those who have completely transformed...

Seventy-five years ago, on July 1, 1942, a parade was held in Riga in honor of the “first anniversary of the liberation of Latvia from the Bolsheviks.” The parade was hosted by Reichskommissar Ostland Heinrich Lohse, who recalled that exactly a year before, in July 1941, German units from Army Group Nord entered Riga. I remembered how Latvia lived under Nazi occupation.

Big plans

Although there were fierce battles in Latvia, the territory of the republic was captured by the Germans relatively quickly. On June 26, 1941, units of the invading army occupied Daugavpils, on June 29 - Liepaja, and on July 1, after two days of fighting, Riga also fell. Thus, less than three weeks after the start of the war, the entire Latvian land fell under the rule of Hitler. Those local residents who did not have time or did not want to evacuate received the invaders with mixed feelings. Latvia was annexed to the USSR in July 1940, and in a short period of time, through repressions and deportations of obvious and potential opponents of their regime, they managed to turn a significant part of the population against themselves, so many greeted the Wehrmacht soldiers as liberators.

Photo: Berliner Verlag / Archive / Diomedia

With the beginning of the German occupation, repressions began against supporters of the Soviet regime, unreliable people and the “racially inferior element,” which, in particular, included the then quite numerous Jews in Latvia. The executions of Jews, carried out with the help of the “Arais team” recruited from local residents, took place in the Bikernieki and Dreili forests, in Rumbula, many were burned alive in the Riga Choral Synagogue. Soviet prisoners of war were also massacred. A network of “death factories” (48 prisons, 23 concentration camps and 18 Jewish ghettos) began operating on the territory of Latvia; the concentration camp in Salaspils became the most famous.

Administratively, the territory of Latvia became part of the Reichskommissariat “Ostland” and received the name Lettland district, which was administered from Riga. Lettland was headed by General Commissioner Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, who worked as an ordinary dentist before joining the Nazi Party. He was assisted by Director General of Internal Affairs Oskar Dankers, a former military leader of the pre-war Republic of Latvia. The most sinister person in the local leadership was the highest SS and police leader in Riga, Friedrich Jeckeln, who commanded terror against the recalcitrant. By the way, figures from pre-communist Latvia were widely represented in the puppet “government” of Lettland, which gave many Latvians reason to hope that the Germans, if they did not restore the statehood of their country, would at least provide it with broad autonomy.

However, the occupiers quickly made it clear that such expectations were groundless: on August 18, 1941, all enterprises and lands of Latvia were declared “the property of the German state.” The initial plans of the Germans did not promise anything good for this land and its inhabitants. Back in 1939, at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery, Hitler said: “For us, we are talking about expanding living space and ensuring supplies, as well as solving the Baltic problem.”

“In other words, the Baltic territory would become a raw material appendage of the Reich. This was clearly stated both in the Ost plan and in further directives, which the “authorized person for the centralized solution of problems of the Eastern European space,” which Alfred Rosenberg was before his appointment to the post of head of the “Eastern Ministry,” carefully carried out in these territories,” explains historian Julia Kantor.

She refers to the Rosenberg memorandum of April 2, 1941 regarding Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. “The question must be decided whether these areas should not be given a special task as the future territory of the German population, designed to assimilate the most racially suitable local elements. If such a goal is set, then these areas will require a very special treatment within the overall task. It will be necessary to ensure the outflow of significant layers of the intelligentsia, especially Latvian, to the central Russian regions, then begin to populate the Baltic states with large masses of German peasants,” it said. The author of the memorandum did not exclude the resettlement of Danes, Norwegians, Dutch, and, after the victorious end of the war, the British to these areas, in order to annex this region, already completely “Germanized,” to the indigenous lands of Germany in one or two generations.

Between communists and Nazis

Ansiedlungsstab was opened in Latvia - a representative office of an organization involved in the resettlement of German colonists in the region, which was considered as “restoration of historical justice.” For many centuries, present-day Latvia was under the rule of German barons; there were many representatives of this nationality here even before the war, and in 1939 Hitler signed an agreement with the Latvian dictator Karlis Ulmanis on the repatriation of the German population to their historical homeland. After the capture of Latvia, its “regermanization” was proclaimed. According to Kantor, the Nazis planned to transport as many Germans as possible from the territory of the Reich there, while certainly protecting them from incest with the local residents.

At the same time, the inhabitants of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia who were “suitable” for assimilation “from the point of view of race” were to be gradually resettled in Germany, and those “unsuitable” were to be moved to remote areas, to the “Russian East”, or destroyed. However, the failures of the Germans on the eastern front prevented the implementation of these plans. Enormous human losses forced the Reich leadership to set the Ostland leadership the task of forming Waffen SS legions from local residents. After this, Dankers and his assistant Alfred Valdmanis dared to hint to their superiors that the recruitment of the Latvian population into the legion would be especially successful if Latvia were promised autonomy, or even statehood.

The Germans did not make any specific promises in this regard, and the recruitment of Latvians into the legion was often carried out by violent methods - over 100 thousand people passed through it. Many conscripts avoided serving on the German side. “My brother Eugene was mobilized into the legion, and he was forced to go to war. Six months later, when his unit was retreating through our region, my brother escaped, hid and secretly returned to us in Daugavpils. He did not want to fight on the side of the Nazis. Later, Evgeniy was mobilized a second time, this time into the Soviet troops. In December 1944, my brother died during the liberation of the Tukums region,” Wilhelm Bernat, an elderly resident of Daugavpils, told Lenta.ru.

On the territory of Lettland throughout its existence, armed resistance to the occupiers, mainly led by communists, did not cease. For example, in Riga there was an underground group led by Imants Sudmalis, in Liepaja - under the leadership of Boris Pelnen and Alfred Stark, in Daugavpils - a resistance detachment led by Pavel Leibch. They kept in touch with the partisans, distributed leaflets and the Latvian language newspaper “For Soviet Latvia” delivered across the front line, obtained weapons and carried out targeted but painful attacks on the occupiers.

Here are just some episodes of the activities of the underground in 1942. On July 7, just a week after the German parade in the capital of Latvia, fighters from the Riga Underground Center blew up 9,000 tons of ammunition in a warehouse in Cekule; On September 5, a military warehouse was set on fire on Citadeles Street in Riga; On September 16, a train with ammunition was blown up at the Yugla station; On October 3, the warehouse in Čiekurkalns was burned; a month later, they planted explosives in the building of the editorial office of the Nazi newspaper Tēvija ("Motherland"). Naturally, the Germans responded with brutal police operations, looked for underground fighters, arrested and executed many.

At that time, among the Latvian intelligentsia, disappointed by the Germans’ reluctance to give Latvia autonomy, the slogan was heard more and more often (secretly, of course): “Against both the Nazis and the Bolsheviks.” In general, as historian Vladimir Simindey explained to Lenta.ru, the intelligentsia was then experiencing a deep split: “The left part agreed to cooperate with the Soviet government - and, accordingly, either ended up evacuated or shot. However, some still managed to “change their shoes in the air” and serve the Nazis. Most of them were confused and tried to somehow get settled and survive. The conformists dreamed that somehow everything would be decided by itself - the Swedes, the British and the Americans would come, they say, and save them from the Germans and Russians. But there was also an influential, angry minority, pro-Nazi, but with a fig in their pocket, with a hidden mixture of envy and hostility towards the Germans and contempt and hatred towards the Russians, especially the Soviets. Among them, Latvian student corporators especially stood out.”

End of Lettland County

After the Battle of Stalingrad, those who collaborated with the Germans began to understand the impending defeat of Nazi Germany and fear of retribution. “Nazi propaganda actively played on the latter: they were very afraid of Soviet captivity... But we must understand that the intelligentsia, in conditions of war and censorship, did not have that much influence on the minds: “popular” rumors, hopes, and fears were in circulation,” notes Simindei . One of the heroes of “moral resistance” to the Nazis was Konstantin Čakste, the son of the first president of independent Latvia. In 1943, he created the underground Latvian Central Council, 190 of its members turned to the governments of Western countries with a request for help in restoring state independence of Latvia. In February 1944, the memorandum was delivered by boat to the Swedish island of Gotland and reached the ex-ambassadors of Latvia in Stockholm, London, and Washington.

Gradually, the flight from under the doomed Nazi banner began. In the autumn of 1944, a detachment of 3,000 people was formed in Kurzeme, led by General Janis Kurelis, who served with the Germans, but was secretly part of the Latvian Central Council. Initially, the “kurelies”, who wore German army uniforms with stripes in the form of the Latvian flag on the sleeves, were supposed to fight in the rear of the advancing Red Army. But the leadership of the detachment intended to proclaim the defense of independent Latvia. The SS carried out a military operation to disband the group, many were disarmed, captured and shot, but the battalion of Lieutenant Robert Rubenis refused to lay down their arms and fought out of the encirclement, although Rubenis himself was killed.

Troops of the 2nd Baltic Front crossed the Latvian border on July 18, 1944, Riga was taken on October 13, and a German group was captured in Kurzeme sat out surrounded until the end of the war. During these months, many local residents left the republic - those who had stained themselves by collaborating with the Nazis or simply did not want to live under the Bolsheviks. The fates of the leaders of the Lettland district turned out differently. Drechsler was captured by the British in 1945 and committed suicide in Lübeck. Dankers was interned by the Americans, survived the Nuremberg trials, emigrated to the United States in 1957 and died there. Jeckeln was captured by the Soviets, sentenced to death by the military tribunal of the Baltic Military District, and publicly hanged in Riga on February 3, 1946.

C Since ancient times, the Prussians were at enmity with Poland. The Poles repeatedly tried to conquer Prussians , but all efforts ended in vain. Having failed to achieve victory by arms, they attempted to convert the Prussians to Christianity with the help of Christian missionaries. In 997, Boleslav the Brave sent the Bishop of Prague Adalbert (Wojciech) to the lands of the Prussians. But this mission ended for Adalbert tr A gically. Suspecting him to be a Polish spy, the Prussians kill him. This happened on April 23, 997 on St. George's Day. The remains of the martyr were ransomed by Bolesław and sent to Gniezno.

The next action of the missionary monk Bruno from Querfurt also ended in failure and death; he and 18 of his companions died on February 14, 1009, according to the chronicler, “somewhere on the border of Prussia and Rus'.”

In the 12th century. Bolesław III (Wrymouth) again makes an attempt to conquer the Prussians. But both of his campaigns end in practically nothing. Moreover, having been ambushed during the second campaign, Boleslav’s troops suffered heavy losses.

After the civil strife that began in Poland, the Poles had no time for the Prussians. But then the Prussians, taking advantage of the weakening of their southern enemies, began to undertake predatory campaigns against them. Exhausted Poland was unable to repel these attacks.

The Polish princes, exposed to the devastating raids of the Prussians, turned to the pope for help.

In it At the time, the pope called on European Christians for a crusade against pagans, including European ones. The knights of the order responded to his call from distant Spain Calatrava (C alatrava). This first spiritual knightly order of Spain was founded in Castile in 1158, during the struggle against the Moors. At the origins of its creation was the knightly order of the Templars. The Spanish Order of Calatrava was approved by Pope Alexander III in 1164. It received its name from Calatrava Castle, which was recaptured from the Muslims. The distinctive sign (coat of arms) of this order was a white cloak with a pink cross. Having become famous in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, they believed that they would be able to help Polish Christians.

The knights of Calatrava, who arrived around 1220 on the Prussian coast, began to fight the Prussians. But in this struggle they were unable to achieve victory and turn the tide. During their stay in Prussia, they founded three castles. Presumably Schoneck (Schoneck), Thyman and Lukow.

Then their traces are lost; some researchers believe that they all died in Prussia, since there is no confirming information about their return to Spain.

The situation on the border remained extremely tense.

The following campaigns that fell on Prussia were already crusades, officially blessed by the church. They were organized by Polish princes, supported by state and spiritual leaders. Princes Leszek the White, Henry the Bearded and Konrad of Mazovia took part in the first campaign in 1222. A year later, Prince Svyatopolk joined them, as well as many bishops. However, they did not conquer Prussia, and the border was on fire again,

The Prussians began massive raids, devastating and ruining Pomerania and Mazovia, the border land of Chelm was turned into a desert. To stop these raids, it was necessary to organize constant border protection, especially from Mazovia.

I could help untie this knot of problems Order of the Brothers of the Knights of Christ " Fratres Militiae Christi» active in Livonia since 1202, members who were called Swordsmen by the coat of arms on a white cloak in the form of a red cross, and under it a red sword with the point downwards, worn by them on the left side of the chest. But they had their own problems in Latvia and Estonia, and they could not help Poland.

Meanwhile, the position of the Polish prince Konrad of Mazovia was getting worse. Prussian detachments constantly launched devastating raids on Polish territories, mainly in Mazovia. Conrad was driven to despair by these raids; the lack of funds led to the fact that he could not take not only offensive actions against the Prussians, but also resist them on defense. It got to the point that one of the Prussian detachments approached his residence and demanded horses and clothes from him. Conrad did not dare to refuse them, and robbed the noble gentlemen invited to his feast, sending their horses and outerwear to the Prussians.

In this catastrophic situation, Konrad Mazowiecki decides to create his own knightly order. Founded in 1224, the order was called "Brothers of the Knightly Service of Christ in Prussia" or " Dobrzhinsky" at the place of his residence, the Dobrzyn fortress, given to them by Konrad. As a distinction, they had a white cloak, on which were sewn a red, six-pointed star and a sword, very similar to the coat of arms of the Order of the Brothers of the Knights of Christ in Livonia. It is believed that his master Bruno and some of the knights were from this order. The Dobrzyn Order had a charter for the swordsmen, and its main task was considered to be the defense of Polish lands.

In total, there were 14 order brothers, and with bollards and squires they represented a significant force. But in the very first battle (1224) with the Prussians, the Brothers of Knightly Service to Christ in Prussia, or the Dobrzhin Knights, were defeated. After this defeat, the Prussians repeatedly besieged the residence of this order, but were unable to take it. However, they demoralized the order knights so much that even a small Prussian detachment could calmly plunder the surroundings of the fortress without encountering any resistance on their part.

Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, Konrad of Mazowiecki, probably at the agreement of Prince Henry the Bearded, who allocated possessions in Silesia to the Teutonic Order in 1222, established contacts with the Grand Master Hermann von Salza.

Hermann von Salza was aware of the affairs of the European North,

Having received the Helm lands from Conrad, he decided to seek support from Emperor Frederick II and the Pope.

Already in 1226 he received from Frederick II a document known as the "Golden Bull", in which he approved the deal with Conrad and transferred to the order the lands that he would later conquer in Prussia.

But the master clearly saw the difficulties that he would face in relation to the papal mission led by Bishop Christian. The main problem, very briefly, is the papal missionary theory: the pagans must be converted to Christianity, but they cannot be subjected to their domination.

The relationship of the order with Bishop Christian went through several stages; in 1231, an agreement was concluded with him in Rubenicht, according to which Christian renounced the rights to the possession of the Kulm land transferred to him by the Bishop of Plock (German Plock), and the lands donated to him by Konrad of Mazovia, but retained his episcopal rights in this territory.

An unexpected incident helped the order get closer to its goal.

Already after the beginning of the offensive of the knights in Prussia (1231), Bishop Christian, during a trip to the Prussians, in 1233, was taken prisoner by the pagans. The order brothers did not lift a finger to save him. On the contrary, Hermann von Salzaa, taking advantage of the fact that the competitor had been eliminated, successfully concluded an agreement with Rome. Gregory IX convinced by the master that Christian was missing, on August 3, 1234 he issues a bull essentially similar to the “golden bull”

Be that as it may, in 1226, two knight-monks with squires and bollards appeared at Conrad’s court, who soon settled on the border with Prussia in the fortified castle Vogelsang (Birdsong). In front of them, beyond the Vistula, stretched an unknown country, overgrown with forests, full of lakes and swamps.

In 1230 Pope Gregory IX gave permission to the order to expand the sphere of Christianity in this country, allowing the occupation of territories not covered by Christian missions, and also took custody of the lands they captured in the future. A document from Konrad of Mazowiecki dated 1228 was also confirmed, according to which the prince ceded the land of Chelm to the order “ without retaining any privileges for oneself and without counting on this in the future».

By the spring of 1230, Hermann von Balck, appointed Landmaster of Prussia and . Along with him came the Marshal of the Order, Dietrich von Bernheim, as well as the brothers Konrad von Teitleben, Heinrich von Berg and Heinrich von Kitz, with many squires.

To strengthen their base on the left bank of the Vistula, they built another Nessau castle.

Soon they had to face the Prussians for the first time.

One of the Prussian detachments, having crossed the Vistula, invaded Polish lands, engaging in robbery and robbery. Having learned about this, the order brothers, armed with arms, rushed after them. Seeing the pursuit, the Prussians were terribly surprised. It’s been a long time since anything like this happened on the Polish border. The Prussian opponents were so intimidated and demoralized that they had become accustomed to complete impunity. Having learned from a captured Pole who these knights were, they retreated in confusion.

In December 1230 (according to other sources in the spring of 1231 ) After waiting for the Vistula to rise, the order brothers, led by Hermann von Balck, appointed Landmaster of Prussia, together with a detachment of crusaders crossed to the eastern bank of the river.

The conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic Order began. But in parallel, the order of the “Brothers of the Knightly Service of Christ in Prussia” continues to exist, which probably, as allies, also takes part in the attack on the Prussians. Until 1235 it continued its sovereign existence, and then joined the German Order.

By this time, in Pomerania there already existed small holdings of the Order of the “Riders of the Hospital of St. John”, they are also the Ioannites, they are also the Hospitallers, they are also the Knights of Rhodes, they are also the Order of Malta.

Created like the Templars in Palestine. Initially it was the hospital brotherhood of St. John, but in 1120 it was transformed into a spiritual knightly order and, as a difference from the Templars, had a black cloak and a white eight-pointed cross. Much later, the black cloak was replaced by a red one, but the cross remained unchanged.

The possessions were donated to them by the Pomeranian or Pomeranian (Polish) princes. Taking advantage of this, the Dobrzyn Knights became part of the Order of St. Joanna (1237)

Union with the Order of the Swordsmen

C The Order of the Swordsmen, created by Bishop Albert, almost from the day of its founding in 1202, entered into a stubborn struggle against the bishop, seeking complete independence from him. Already by 1207, an agreement was concluded between the bishop and the order, according to which two-thirds of the conquered territory went to the bishop, and one-third to the order. But the knights were not satisfied with this result either. Subsequently, the dispute was transferred to the court of the pope. In the bull of October 20, 1210, Innocent III it says: 1) the order is subordinate to the bishop in the person of the master, but the order knights are subordinate only to the master. 2) for the military defense of the church in Livonia, the order receives from the bishop a third of all the recently conquered land of the Livs and Letts. 3) Knights have the right to conquer new lands without any obligations regarding them in relation to the bishop, but with the obligation only to negotiate, according to the instructions of Rome, with future new bishops of the conquered territories .

By 1237, detachments of swordsmen and troops of bishops, moving through the territory of the pagans, partially reached the borders of Pskov in the east. In the south, Livonia bordered on aggressive Lithuania.

Faced with great difficulties in the fight against Lithuania and Russian raids, the master of the sword Volkvin already in 1234 invited the Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order, Hermann von Salza, to unite. Von Salza, in order to clarify the situation, sent a delegation to Livonia in 1235 led by Ehrenfried von Noenburg, commander of Negelstand. After becoming familiar with the order of the Order of the Sword, a chapter was assembled in Marburg (Germany), which was headed by the Landmaster of Germany, Ludwig von Oettingen. The swordsmen who arrived at this chapter were carefully questioned about their charter, way of life, possessions and claims. Then the delegation that visited Livonia was interviewed. The head of the delegation, von Noenburg, presented a report in which he described the behavior of the Brothers of the Sword in a very negative light, calling them stubborn and conflicted people, who in their activities violate the order’s charters, who pay more attention to the personal at the expense of the public good. “And these he added, pointing his finger at the sword-bearers present, and four more known to me, the worst of all there.” . They were denied union.

It should be taken into account that during this period most of the military activities of the Order of the Swordsmen were directed either against the local Baltic tribes or against the constantly strengthening Lithuanian state. In the second half of the summer of 1236, the Order of the Swordsmen organized a campaign against the strengthening Lithuania, and Pskov, whose lands were also subject to Lithuanian raids, joined this action. (Which there are numerous records of in Russian chronicles of the 20-30s of the 13th century). But this campaign ended for Allies suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Saul, in which the Swordsmen lost their master and 48 brother knights killed. Of the 200 Pskov warriors, only two dozen returned home.

This defeat led the Order of the Knights of Christ on the brink of collapse . The question arose about the very existence of this order. An urgent appeal was made to the German Order with a request for unification. But this time they were refused. And only under the strongest pressure of Pope Gregory IX , unification took place in 1237. According to the conditions of unification put forward by the German Order. From that time on, the Order of the Sword was abolished, the red cross with a red sword was replaced by a simple black cross, and the charter (statute) of N.O. was extended to the territory of Livonia. Livonia became its branch, at the same time it enjoyed autonomy and had the right to choose its master.

Landmaster of Prussia Hermann von Balck with 40 brothers and a large number of squires was sent to help Livonia.

First of all, von Balck returned the king of Denmark to Valdemar II the northern part of Estonia, which was claimed by the Order of the Sword, and concluded a treaty with them at Stensby on June 7, 1238. This treaty recorded an alliance between Denmark and N.O. Only after this Balck took up internal affairs - Livonian affairs. Here he came across sharp opposition in the form of the former Knights of the Sword, newly admitted to the German Order. All this prompted him to leave Livonia back in 1238. Young Knight N.O. Dietrich von Grüningen, whom he left there for himself, already in 1239 followed him. Thus, the unification of the two orders began with an internal conflict. For N.O. in Livonia, it was about securing the flanks of their enterprise against the Prussians, and former members of the Order of the Sword, incorporated into N.O. pursued completely different political goals, first of all they wanted to acquire Estonia, as well as advance towards Pskov. This policy was completely inconsistent with the policy of N.O. in Prussia.

Management N.O. in Prussia during the first phase, which lasted the entire XIII century, tried to subordinate the interests of the Livonian order branch to its own interests. It used a wide variety of means to do this. Firstly, knights who came from the same regions where the brothers of the sword were from (who by origin were mainly from the north of Germany) were sent to Livonia in order to regulate politics in Livonia in a new way. Order brother Andreas von Stirland sent there ( Andreas von Stirland ) from Steiermark in 1240 went to Novgorod to agree on peace there . But it did not help, order The knights were drawn into battles with Alexander Yaroslavovich, and were defeated on the ice of Lake Peipsi on April 5, 1242. Neither Landmaster N.O. in Prussia and certainly not the Grand Master who was in the Holy Land, they could not have expected such a turn of events. These conflicts with Russia were provoked by the same forces that wanted to continue the policy of the Sword Bearers. To prevent this, the order leadership in Prussia tried to unite the orders into one hand. In 1251, Eberhard von Zaine was sent to Livonia ( Eberhard von Seyne ) who tried to restore internal order in Livonia and by establishing the Memel Castle (Klaipeda) tried to ensure communication between the two branches of the order.

(But back in the XIV century, in the circle of the Grand Master they sighed sadly because of the heavy inheritance received by the order in 1237)

Ten years before these events, a major event occurred in the Baltic states that especially influenced events in Prussia.

After two campaigns of the Tatars to the Russian lands in 1238 and 1240. The Tatars, dividing into two columns, invaded Western Europe. One of the columns invaded Poland.

The German barons of the northern March, as well as several dozen brothers of the German Order with bollards, came to the aid of the Polish Prince Henry, they were joined by local Johannites who had their possessions in the Baltic States and Poland, as well as the knights of the Order of the Temple. The Templars had 9 brother knights and 500 warriors.

In the spring of 1241, the order knights first encountered the Tatars.

In the battle near the city of Liegnitz, on April 9, the united knightly army was defeated. In this battle, the order brothers were on the left flank and, under the powerful onslaught of the Tatar-Mongol cavalry, almost all of them were destroyed. Of the templars, only three knights survived.

75 years ago, Soviet troops went on the offensive against Nazi positions in the Baltic states. The purpose of the military operation was to defeat the Nazis on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea and create a springboard for entry into German territory.

As a result, the Red Army managed to expel Army Group North from almost the entire Baltic territory. Germany lost an important industrial and food base, as well as a profitable strategic area that provided its fleet with freedom of action in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea.

Internal strife

In the 1930s, pro-German and pro-Nazi sentiments began to grow among the Baltic political elites, military historian Yuri Knutov told RT.

“This caused acute internal contradictions. Workers and poor peasants sympathized with the Soviet Union and did not want their republics to be turned by wealthier fellow citizens into a German springboard for an attack on the USSR,” the expert noted.

Large Baltic capital worked closely with industrialists and financiers of Hitler's Germany. In June 1939, Estonia and Latvia concluded non-aggression pacts with the Reich. The Soviet leadership tried to convince France and England to take the Baltic states under their military-political guardianship, but were never able to achieve this. Left alone with Berlin, Moscow was forced to sign with Germany in August 1939.

Realizing the inevitability of Hitler's aggression, the leadership of the USSR convinced the political elites of the Baltic states of the advisability of placing Soviet military bases on their territory. In 1940, pro-Soviet governments came to power in the Baltic republics, initiating their annexation to the Soviet Union.

“These events in the republics themselves were assessed ambiguously: the local leftists warmly supported them, the rightists, on the contrary, condemned them and pinned their hopes on Nazism,” Knutov noted.

Therefore, according to the historian, after the Nazi invasion in 1941 in the Baltic states, a split occurred among the local population, which resulted in internal confrontation. One part of the local residents joined the Red Army to fight Nazism, while the other supported Hitler.

The Baltics in the Great Patriotic War

In the summer of 1941, most of the Baltic states were captured by Nazi troops. The Nazis, relying on the locals, established a strict occupation regime and began mass murders of Jews, communists, Soviet employees and members of the intelligentsia.

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“The Baltic nationalists were active in the police and punitive units, giving freedom of action to the German divisions needed in the front lines,” Boris Sokolov, a methodologist at the Victory Museum, said in an interview with RT.

In Latvia and Estonia, units of the SS troops were formed on the basis of the punitive battalions of the auxiliary police. In Lithuania, the Nazis limited themselves to creating 22 Schutzmanschaftbattalions (auxiliary units), in which about 13 thousand people served.

Baltic collaborators were widely used by the Nazis to carry out punitive operations, executions and guard concentration camps in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. According to historians, they, along with Ukrainian nationalists, played an important role in the mass in Eastern Europe - in the German Einsatzgruppen (special forces operational groups) ) there were physically insufficient personnel to kill millions of civilians.

During the war years in Latvia, the Nazis and their accomplices killed over 300 thousand civilians and about the same number of prisoners of war in Estonia — about 61 thousand civilians and 64 thousand captured Soviet soldiers in Lithuania — 150 thousand civilians and 230 thousand prisoners of war.

According to Sokolov, the Third Reich considered the Baltic states a “vital space.”

“This region covered East Prussia from the northeast, control over it allowed the German fleet to feel at ease in the Baltic Sea and ensure communication with Scandinavia,” he emphasized.

In addition, according to the historian, the Baltic states itself were the supply base for the Reich.

“There were oil shale processing plants in Estonia, which supplied Germany with about 500 thousand tons of petroleum products per year. The Germans received a significant amount of agricultural raw materials and food from the Baltic states,” Sokolov said.

Baltic operation

The Nazis turned the Baltic states into one large fortified area, said Yuri Knutov.

“The depth of well-prepared defense lines was tens of kilometers. The main cities, according to Hitler's decision, were turned into fortresses. The Nazis also tried to effectively use the natural factor: the abundance of rivers, lakes and other natural obstacles made it easier for them to defend the region,” the historian noted.

According to him, the Germans were especially active in preparing for the defense of Latvia, transferring a number of combat-ready units to the territory of the republic. Hitler's command planned to detain Soviet troops for a long time. And Nazi propaganda completely convinced the German population that a new turning point in the war should occur on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea.

The Soviet command allocated units that were part of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Baltic, Leningrad, and 3rd Belorussian fronts for the liberation of the Baltic states. The operation involved 900 thousand military personnel, about 17.5 thousand guns and mortars, over 3 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units, and more than 2.6 thousand combat aircraft. The coordination of the actions of the Baltic fronts was carried out by Marshal Alexander Vasilevsky.

In the Baltics, the Red Army was opposed by units of Army Group North, reinforced by units hastily transferred from Army Group Center. The total number of Nazi troops reached 730 thousand people, who had at their disposal 7 thousand guns and mortars, over 1.2 thousand tanks and assault guns, and up to 400 combat aircraft.

“Hitler’s group in the Baltics was one of the strongest and most combat-ready along the entire length of the front line,” Knutov emphasized.

On September 14, troops of the Baltic fronts began an offensive in the direction of Riga. With the support of dense artillery fire, the Soviet military created an advantage in specific sections of the front line and broke through the enemy’s defenses. The Nazis stubbornly resisted, counterattacked, and deployed fresh forces to the most difficult areas, but they could not contain the Red Army.

Part of the forces of the Leningrad Front began an attack on Tallinn. At the same time, the command of the 2nd Shock Army managed to secretly transport about 100 thousand people across Lake Peipus and reach the Tartu region. The German task force “Narva”, in order not to be surrounded, was forced to hastily retreat. By September 26, most of Estonia's territory had been cleared of Nazi occupiers. At the same time, Soviet troops defeated four infantry divisions, five artillery regiments, destroyed about 30 thousand enemy soldiers and officers, and captured about 16 thousand prisoners.

The Nazis managed to withdraw part of their forces from Estonia to Latvia, concentrating 33 divisions, including four tank divisions, in the Riga area. The Soviet command decided to temporarily shift the main efforts to the Memel direction. The blow delivered by units of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian fronts was successful.

Already on October 10, most of the Baltic Nazi group was cut off by land from the main forces of the Wehrmacht. Soon the Red Army cleared most of the northern bank of the Neman River from the Nazis and entered the territory of East Prussia.

In parallel, units of the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian Fronts resumed their offensive in the Riga direction. On October 15, Riga was completely liberated from the Nazi occupiers.

In mid-October, the so-called Courland Cauldron arose on the territory of Latvia. In the western part of the republic, on an area of about 15 thousand square meters. km were blocked, according to various estimates, from 250 to 400 thousand Nazi troops. They were finally defeated only in 1945.

In September - November, the forces of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet drove the Nazis out of most of the strategically important Moonsund archipelago off the coast of Estonia.

“As a result of the Baltic offensive operation, Hitler’s Army Group North was defeated and almost the entire Baltic region was liberated. Of the 59 divisions, 26 were defeated, and three were completely destroyed,” said Boris Sokolov.

According to him, the remnants of the Nazi troops were pressed to the sea, and the front line in the Baltic states was reduced from 1000 to 250 km.

“Success was achieved thanks to effective interaction between the army and navy, hidden regroupings of forces, and the skillful use of artillery, armored vehicles and aviation in the directions of the main offensive,” Sokolov emphasized.

Monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator “Bronze Soldier” at the Tallinn Military Cemetery
RIA News
Ilya Matusikhis

According to Knutov, “the Nazi command hoped that it would be able to restrain Soviet troops in the Baltic states for at least six months, but these plans failed.

“By November 24 - the moment the Baltic operation was completed - almost the entire territory of the region, with the exception of the Courland Pocket and the Memel region, was liberated from the Nazis. Soviet troops began to create a bridgehead for the expulsion of Hitler's troops from East Prussia, which was a serious moral victory for the Soviet Union. This was the beginning of the collapse of the Reich,” Knutov concluded.