Back in 1242, one of the brightest battles in the military history of Russia took place. The forces under the leadership of Alexander Nevsky defeated the powerful army of the knightly Livonian Order. Much has been said and written about the battle. Only now the fiction in other works has thoroughly overshadowed the truth.
Entertaining cinema
The older generations had an idea of the battle on Lake Peipsi largely thanks to Sergei Eisenstein's famous film Alexander Nevsky (1938), where Russians enthusiastically smash the enemy to the accompaniment of Prokofiev's symphonic suite.
Due to the tight schedule, the actual shooting of the battle took place in the summer. The asphalt in the courtyard of Mosfilm was sprinkled with chalk and salt, flooding it all with liquid glass. The "ice floes" were made of wooden boards, painted white.
But although the film received the Stalin Prize, and was actually shot by the personal order of the leader, it still more resembles an enthusiastic ode to the Russian spirit and military valor than a claim to some kind of historical evidence. The picture is replete not only with factual inaccuracies, such as the discrepancy between uniforms and weapons, but also with outright fantasies inherent in the heroic epic - in the script, along with historical characters, fictional ones also act.
However, the task was not to accurately film the events. It was a propaganda tape and it fulfilled its mission during the war against fascism, when it triumphantly returned to the screens.
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Enlightenment through enslavement
The main documents referred to by historians who have studied this period are the Novgorod Chronicle and the Livonian "Rhymed Chronicles". Both sources state that the battle took place on April 5, 1242. On the ice of Lake Peipsi, the army of Alexander Nevsky, consisting of the soldiers of Novgorod and Vladimir, and the knightly army of the Livonian Order met.
The reason for the confrontation was the behavior of individual Germans. Allegedly carrying the culture and Christian faith to the pagans, the nobles, knights and monks from Prussia were actually looking for only profit - they conquered new lands, levied tribute to the local population, and used free labor.
By 1242, the Livonian knights subjugated the entire Baltic region, after which they took Pskov and invaded the Novgorod possessions, planning a further advance to the East.
Yaroslavich - aka Nevsky
In those days, Novgorod was the most prosperous city in Russia. It was ruled by the young prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who received the nickname Nevsky for the fact that in 1240, being a 19-year-old youth, with a small squad repulsed the attack of the Swedish aggressors in the area where the Izhora River flows into the Neva, showing personal valor and heroism. He took part in the campaigns of his father (Prince of Kiev and Vladimir Yaroslav Vsevolodovich), and his main hobby was the study of military affairs.
Deceived "pig"
The Battle on the Ice began in the early morning of April 5, 1242. The bulk of the enemy troops consisted of "knight-dogs", as they are mentioned in Russian chronicles.
The knightly "pig" confidently walked like a wedge in the center. Nevsky applied a different tactic, trying to lure the enemy as deep as possible into the location of his troops. At the decisive moment, the "pig", which had climbed almost into the rear of the Russians, was struck simultaneously from both flanks with the help of reinforcements that had arrived. Not expecting such a turn, the knights fled. Nevsky's plan justified itself.
The Livonian Chronicle fully confirms this course of events. But there are serious differences regarding the number of participants and losses.
“The Russians had such an army that sixty men attacked each German. Twenty brother knights were killed, and six were taken prisoner. This is the course of the battle. This is the evidence of the Germans. The Russian chronicles speak of the destruction of four hundred knights. Modern scientists believe that both sides got excited in the assessments, and the truth, as always, is somewhere in between.
The Germans did not drown
However, the main discrepancy with the same film by Eisenstein is that neither our nor Livonian sources say anything about the fact that most of the German knights drowned. Allegedly, the ice on the lake broke, and heavy armor dragged the Germans to the bottom.
According to authoritative historians, in reality, Russian and German soldiers had approximately the same protective ammunition, and plate armor appeared only in the XIV century.
There are also experts who remind that in those days there were also larger-scale battles with more serious losses for the Order. Why did the exploits of the Nevsky army go down in history? Perhaps because in other battles some Russian principalities sided with the enemy - the notorious feudal fragmentation in Russia.
There is also a version that Tatar-Mongols helped Alexander in the battle, with whom he allegedly established a mutually beneficial partnership.
Be that as it may, the Battle of the Ice went down in history as an example of military wisdom. The competent formation of the troops, the rapid interaction of infantrymen and mounted units, and a good choice of location played a role.
And finally, the main thing. The advance of the Order to the East was stopped, and the borders of Russia, adopted after the Battle of the Ice, were unshakable for several more centuries.
Author: Pavel Plotnikov