Battle of the Ice

From Freepedia

The Battle of the Ice also known as the Battle on Lake Peipus or the Battle of Lake Peipus (Russian: Ледовое побоище, German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee, Estonian: Jäälahing), took place in 1242. It was one of the more significant defeats sustained by Roman Catholic crusaders until the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. It effectively marked the end of the Northern Crusade against Orthodox Novgorod and other Russian territories in the aftermath of the conquest of Estonia.

Hoping to exploit the Russians' weakness in the wake of the Mongol and Swedish invasions, the Teutonic knights attacked the neighboring Novgorod Feudal Republic and occupied Pskov, Izborsk, and Koporye in the autumn of 1240. When they approached Novgorod itself, the local citizens recalled to the city 20-year-old prince Alexander Nevsky, whom they had banished to Pereslavl earlier that year. During the campaign of 1241, Alexander managed to retake Pskov and Koporye from the crusaders. Having heard that they had burnt local children in the bonfires, Alexander responded by ransoming the knights and hanging local Votes and Estonian foot-soldiers. Image:Pyukhtitsy.jpg

In the spring of 1242, the Teutonic knights defeated a reconnaissance detachment of Novgorodians about 20 km south of the fortress of Dorpat, now Tartu. The knights, lead by the Prince-Bishop of Dorpat Hermann I of Buxhoeveden and auxiliary troops of local Ugaunian Estonians then met with Alexander's forces by the narrow strait that connects the northern and southern parts of Lake Peipus (Lake Peipus proper with Lake Pskovskoe) on April 5, 1242.

According to contemporary Russian chronicles, after hours of hand-to-hand fighting, Alexander ordered the left and right wings of his archers to enter the battle. The knights started to retreat in disarray onto the ice, and the appearance of the fresh Russian cavalry made them run for their lives. Under the weight of their heavy armour, the thin ice started to collapse, and many knights drowned. Only "the Grand Master, some bishops, and a handful of mounted knights" managed to return back to Dorpat (Tartu) after the battle.

The Battle of the Ice has been described as an event of major significance, especially by Russian historians. The knights' defeat at the hands of Alexander's forces prevented the crusaders from retaking Pskov, the linchpin of their eastern crusade. The Novgorodians had succeeded in defending Russian territory, and the Teutonic crusaders never mounted another serious challenge eastward.

Sergei Eisenstein's groundbreaking film Alexander Nevsky features the Battle of the Ice. However, the classic film has elements of propaganda, it makes many changes to the historical background, and should not be viewed as being completely accurate historically.

References

• Military Heritage did a feature on the Battle of Lake Peipus and the holy Knights Templar and the monastic knighthood Hospitallers (Terry Gore, Military Heritage, August 2005, Volume 7, No. 1, pp.28 to 33)), ISSN 1524-8666.
• Eric Christiansen, The Northern Crusades. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.
• Basil Dmytryshyn, Medieval Russia 900-1700. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.
• John France, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999.
• David Nicolle, Lake Piepus 1242. London: Osprey Publishing, 1996.
• William Urban, The Teutonic Knights—A Military History. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003.
• Terrence Wise, The Knights of Christ. London: Osprey Publishing, 1984.