novgorod
i've done a little research,tell me what do you think
-Copyright protected Osprey material deleted, please refrain from posting those in the future.
The Novgorodian Army
[/CENTER]
Lake Peipus, April 5th, 1242 AD
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. Alexander, intending to fight in a place of his own choosing, retreated in efforts to draw the often over-confident Crusaders to the frozen lake.
The Crusader forces likely numbered somewhere in the area of 2,000 to 2,500 soldiers. Most of the Knights were German, although there also were a large number of Danes, and the army also included large numbers of Swedish and Estonian mercenaries. The Russian force in contrast numbered around 6,000 soldiers.
What is known of the battle is very simple. The Crusader knights charged across the lake on the ice towards Nevsky’s positions on the eastern shore at a place known as “Raven’s Rock,” with the Danes on the left, the Teutonic Knights in the center, and the Livonian feudal knight contingent on the right, followed at a great distance by the Estonian foot.
Alexander placed his Novgorod militia foot in the center on the shoreline to absorb this charge, which was probably aimed at capturing Nevsky himself, with the reserve cavalry in the center. To his right, he placed his strong Druzhina cavalry wing, reinforced by Mongol horse archers, to outflank and destroy the Danes. On his left, was a weaker wing of cavalry to confront the feudal knights.
Apparently these flank elements did their jobs, repulsing and driving off the two crusader wings. This resulted in the encirclement and destruction of the Teutonic knights in the center, who were now too deeply engaged with the Russian foot to extricate themselves.
The battle was decided more by the impetuosity of charging into the center, and being doubly-enveloped, than by any collapse of the ice that was so popularized in the movie.
But, 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 by this time were exhausted from the constant fighting and struggling with the slippery surface of the frozen lake. The Crusaders started to retreat in disarray deeper onto the ice, and the appearance of the fresh Russian cavalry made them run for their lives. Under the weight of their heavy armor, the thin ice started to collapse, and many knights drowned (this is the theme of the Alexander Nevsky movie, and the painting you find on books and model box tops). Only “the Grand Master, some bishops, and a handful of mounted knights” managed to return back to Dorpat (Tartu) after the battle.
This battle was significant in that it was the last major attempt by the Germans to break into Russia proper for several centuries, and the Russians used this aggression as a popular myth to support their propaganda campaigns against German expansionism in the 20th century. Four years after defeating the Teutonic Order, Alexander Nevsky would submit to the Mongols.
There is apparently some debate on the details and significance if the Battle of Lake Peipus. My sources are: “The Northern Crusades” by C. Christiensen, and “The Teutonic Knights” by W. Urban.
1. The actual bone of contention was the town of Pskov, which was ruled by Novgorod, but right on the border of land claimed by the Bishop of Dorpat. There were rival factions in Pskov, one of which wished to align more closely with the German Livonians. In the early winter of 1241-1242 that faction essentially opened the gates of Pskov to a small Livonian “Crusader” force that took charge of the town without a fight. They were only able to get away with this because Alexander Nevsky and the Novgorodian army were on the eastern border trying to defend against the Mongols.
2.Realizing that they couldn’t hold the town against a real assault, which was expected when Prince Alexander finally figured out what happened, the Bishop called for help from the Livonians, the Teutonic Knights, the Danes and anyone else who he could call on in the depths of winter. It was not an offensive push against Novgorod, but a reinforcement of the puny garrison at Pskov.
3. Numbers are hard to pin down, but the figure of 2,000 is probably reasonable. Only a very small number were Teutonic Knights, and they were not running the show. There simply weren’t many Knight Brothers in the territory at that time - it was only 6 years after the Sword Brothers were almost wiped out at Saule, a year after the Battle of Leignitz, and the year of a major tribal revolt in Prussia. The Grand Master of the Order was still in Acre, and even the Livonian Provincial Master was physically in Prussia in 1242. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle indicated that the highest ranking Knight lost at Lake Peipus was a Komtur, and that he and his men were all killed - so that’s what? Maybe a dozen Knight Brothers and twice that number of sergeants? The Order was hard up for manpower, and couldn’t really afford to lose any more than they had to, but this was hardly a huge loss for them. Leignitz, Saule, and the Prussian Revolt were all much worse.
4. None of the various contemporary sources talk about anybody breaking through the ice. This doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, just that there’s no historical evidence that it did. Both the Knights and the Novgorodians were experienced at winter fighting, and would likely have been able to avoid that kind of problem.
5. The sum and total result of the Battle was that Pskov returned to Novgorodian control, and the Livonian/Novgorodian border returned to status quo ante- again, there had not been any grand offensive scheme on the the part of the German Livonians, just an attempt to secure a lucky acquisition. Alexander didn’t press his advantage. After a few retaliatory raids, he returned to facing the real threat to Novgorod - the Mongols. The Novgorodian Chronicles celebrated it (obviously) but the battle’s significance is questionable. It certainly made for a neat movie, but it wasn’t one of the decisive battles of history.
ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH
(1220–1263), known as Alexander Nevsky, prince of Novgorod, grand prince of Vladimir, grand prince of Kiev, and progenitor of the princes of Moscow.
Born around 1220, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod Yurevich “Big Nest.” Between the years 1228 and 1233 he and his elder brother, Fyodor, ruled Novgorod in the name of their father Yaroslav of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. After Fyodor’s death in 1233, Alexander’s younger brother Andrei helped him to expand Novgorod’s lands and to increase the prince’s control over the town. In 1238 the Tatars invaded Suzdalia but bypassed Novgorod. Nevertheless, the town’s expansion into the neighboring Finnish lands was challenged by the Swedes and by German Knights (the Order of Livonian Swordbearers, joined later by the Teutonic Order). In 1240, when the Swedes marched against Novgorod, Alexander and a small force confronted the enemy at the river Neva and routed them. He thereby secured Novgorod’s outlet to the Baltic Sea and earned the sobriquet “Nevsky” (of the Neva). After his brilliant victory, he quarreled with the Novgorodians and withdrew to Pereyaslavl Zalessky. But less than a year later the Germans seized Pskov and threatened Novgorod’s commerce, therewith forcing the citizens to bring back Nevsky on his terms. He arrived in 1241 and began reclaiming Novgorod’s lost territories, including neighboring Pskov. He confronted the main force of Teutonic Knights on the frozen Lake Chud (Lake Peypus) where, on April 5, 1242, he defeated them in the famous “battle on the ice.” The next year the Knights and the Novgorodians concluded peace. This allowed Nevsky to continue asserting Novgorod’s jurisdiction over the Finns and to wage war against the encroaching Lithuanians.
After his father died in 1246, Nevsky visited Khan Batu in Saray who sent him to the Great Khan at Karakorum in Mongolia. He came home in 1249 as the grand prince of Kiev and of all Rus, including Novgorod, to which he returned. However, his younger brother Andrei received the patrimonial domain of Vladimir on the Klyazma. After Nevsky visited the Golden Horde in 1252, the khan sent a punitive force against Andrei because he had rebelled against the khan. The Tatars drove him out of Vladimir. Nevsky succeeded him and gained jurisdiction over Suzdalia and Novgorod. Because he was a subservient vassal, the khan let him centralize his control over the other towns of Suzdalia. He also served the khan faithfully by suppressing opposition to the khan’s policies, with the help of the Tatar army. Nevertheless, after the citizens of many towns rebelled against the Tatar census takers, Nevsky interceded, evidently successfully, on behalf of his people. In 1262, on his fourth visit to the Golden Horde, he fell ill. While returning home he became a monk and died at Gorodets on the Volga on November 14, 1263.
Although Nevsky’s valor was generally admired, his collaboration with the Tatars was criticized by his contemporaries and by historians. Metropolitan Cyril, however, exonerated the prince in his “Life of Alexander Nevsky,” and the church canonized him during the reign of Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible).
maybe my post post will give the skiners some ideas
Reply With Quote
. Maybe there were some interesting materials in Osprey's work, but it's his copyrights. Actual name of the battlefield is Lake Chudskoe ( Чудское озеро ), and maxstill's research is a part of russian school history program for 7-10'th grades, most russians know this facts very well 
. This information can be easily found , for example: 
Originally Posted by AirnetSnake
.
Thought nowdays it's name is the same as Russian variant and Piepus is old one.
