The battle of ice is one of the greatest battles in Russian history, during which Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky repelled the invasion of the Knights of the Livonian Order on Lake Peipsi. For many centuries, historians have been debating about the details of this battle. Some points remain unclear, including how the Battle of the Ice went. The scheme and reconstruction of the details of this battle will allow us to reveal the secret over the mysteries of history associated with the great battle.
Background to the conflict
Beginning in 1237, when the pope announced the beginning of the next crusade in the lands of the eastern Baltic, between the Russian principalities on the one hand, and Sweden, Denmark and the German Livonian Order on the other, constant tension persisted, which from time to time developed into military operations.
So, in 1240, the Swedish knights led by the Jarl Birger landed at the mouth of the Neva, but the Novgorod army, led by Prince Alexander Nevsky, defeated them in a decisive battle.
In the same year, the Livonian Order launched an offensive operation on Russian lands. His troops took Izborsk and Pskov. Having assessed the danger, the Novgorod veche in 1241 called Alexander back to reign, although he had only recently expelled him. The prince gathered a squad and moved against the Livonians. In March 1242, he managed to free Pskov. Alexander moved his troops to the possessions of the Order, towards the Derpt Bishopric, where the crusaders gathered considerable forces. The parties prepared for the decisive battle.
Opponents met on April 5, 1242 on Lake Peipsi, then still covered in ice. That is why later the battle acquired the name - Battle of the Ice. The lake at that time froze deep enough to withstand heavily armed warriors.
Forces of the parties
The Russian army was a rather fragmented composition. But his backbone, undoubtedly, was the Novgorod squad. In addition, the army included the so-called "lower regiments", which led the boyars. The total number of Russian squads is estimated by historians at 15-17 thousand people.
The Livonians' army was also a mixed suit. The battle skeleton was made up of heavily armed knights of the military monastic Order , led by Magister Andreas von Velwen, who, however, did not take part in the battle itself. The troops also included Danish allies and the militia of the city of Dorpat, which included a significant number of Estonians. The total number of Livonian troops is estimated at 10-12 thousand people.
Battle progress
Historical sources have left us rather scarce information about how the battle unfolded. The massacre of the ice began with the archers of the Novgorod troops coming forward and covering with a hail of arrows a system of knights. But the latter succeeded, using a military building called the “pig,” to crush the shooters and smash the center of Russian forces.
Seeing this situation, Alexander Nevsky ordered to cover the Livonian troops from the flanks. Knights were taken in ticks. Their mass extermination by the Russian squad began. The auxiliary forces of the order, seeing that their main forces were defeated, rushed to flight. The Novgorod squad pursued those running for more than seven kilometers. The battle ended with the complete victory of the Russian forces.
Such was the story of the Battle of the Ice.
Battle pattern
Not without reason in the domestic textbooks on military affairs the Battle of Ice took its rightful place . The diagram below clearly demonstrates the leadership gift of Alexander Nevsky and serves as an example of an excellent military operation.
On the map, we clearly see the initial breakthrough of the Livonian army into the ranks of the Russian squad. The environment of the knights and the subsequent flight of the auxiliary forces of the Order, which ended the Battle of Ice, are also shown. The scheme allows you to build these events in a single chain and greatly facilitates the reconstruction of events that occurred during the battle.
Aftermath of the battle
After the Novgorod army won a complete victory over the Crusader forces, to which Alexander Nevsky’s considerable merit, a peace agreement was signed in which the Livonian Order completely abandoned its recent acquisitions on the territory of Russian lands. An exchange of prisoners was also made.
The defeat that the Order suffered in the Battle of Ice was so serious that for ten years it licked its wounds and did not even think about a new invasion of Russian lands.
No less significant is the victory of Alexander Nevsky in the general historical context. After all, it was then that the fate of our lands was decided and the actual end of the aggression of the German crusaders in the eastern direction was put. Of course, even after that the Order tried more than once to tear off a piece of Russian land, but the invasion had never taken such a large-scale character.
Misconceptions and stereotypes associated with the battle
There is an idea that in many ways in the battle on Lake Peipsi, the Russian army was helped by ice, which could not withstand the severity of heavily armed German knights and began to fall through under them. In fact, there is no historical confirmation of this fact. Moreover, according to the latest research, the weight of the equipment of the German knights and Russian knights participating in the battle was approximately equal.
The German crusaders in the view of many people, which is primarily inspired by the cinema, are heavily armed armored men in helmets, often decorated with horns. In fact, the charter of the Order forbade the use of helmet ornaments. So, in principle, Livonians could not have any horns.
Summary
Thus, we found out that one of the most important and significant battles in Russian history was the Battle of the Ice. The battle plan allowed us to visually reproduce his move and determine the main reason for the knights defeat - a reassessment of their strength when they recklessly rushed to the attack.