One of the brightest pages in the history of the Middle Ages are the Crusades. As a rule, they are associated with an attempt to expand Christianity to the Middle East, and the struggle against Muslims, but this interpretation is not entirely correct.
As the series of crusades began to gain momentum, the papacy, which was their main initiator, realized that these campaigns could serve Rome to achieve political goals not only in the fight against Islam. This is how the multi-vector nature of the Crusades began to take shape. Expanding their geography, the crusaders turned their gaze to the north and northeast.
By that time, a fairly strong stronghold of Catholicism had formed near the borders of Eastern Europe in the person of the Livonian Order, which was the product of the merger of two German spiritual Catholic orders - the Teutonic Order and the Order of the Sword.
Speaking in general, the prerequisites for the promotion of the German knights to the east were there for a long time. Back in the 12th century, they began to seize the Slavic lands beyond the Oder. Also in the sphere of their interests was the B altic,inhabited by Estonians and Karelians, who at that time were pagans.
The first sprouts of the conflict between the Slavs and the Germans took place already in 1210, when the knights invaded the territory of modern Estonia, entering into a struggle with the Novgorod and Pskov principalities for influence in this region. The retaliatory measures of the principalities did not lead the Slavs to success. Moreover, the contradictions in their camp led to a split and a complete lack of interaction.
The German knights, the backbone of which were the Teutons, on the contrary, managed to gain a foothold in the occupied territories and set about consolidating their efforts. In 1236, the Order of the Sword and the Teutonic Order merged into the Livonian Order, and the very next year the Pope authorized new campaigns against Finland. In 1238, the Danish king and the head of the order agreed on joint actions against Russia. The moment was chosen the most suitable, because by that time the Russian lands were bled dry by the Mongol invasion.
The same was used by the Swedes, who in 1240 decided to capture Novgorod. Having landed on the banks of the Neva, they met with resistance in the person of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who managed to defeat the interventionists and it was after this victory that he became known as Alexander Nevsky. The battle on Lake Peipsi was the next important milestone in the biography of this prince.
However, before that, between Russia and the German orders, there was a fierce struggle for two more years, which brought success to the latter, in particular, Pskov was captured, Novgorod was also under threat. Under these conditions, the battle on Lake Peipsi took place, or, asit is customary to call it the Ice Battle.
The battle was preceded by the liberation of Pskov by Nevsky. Having learned that the main units of the enemy were attacking the Russian forces, the prince blocked the way of the Livonian Order on the lake.
The battle on Lake Peipsi took place on April 5, 1242. The knightly forces managed to break through the center of the Russian defense and hit the shore. Russian flank strikes gripped the enemy and decided the outcome of the battle. This is how the battle on Lake Peipus ended. Nevsky, on the other hand, reached the peak of his fame. He remained in history forever.
The Battle of Lake Peipus has long been considered almost a turning point in the entire struggle of Russia against the Crusaders, but modern trends cast doubt on such an analysis of events, which is more characteristic of Soviet historiography.
Some authors note that after this battle, the war took on a protracted character, but the threat from the knights was still tangible. In addition, even the role of Alexander Nevsky himself, whose successes in the Battle of the Neva and the Battle of the Ice elevated him to unprecedented heights, is disputed by historians such as Fenell, Danilevsky and Smirnov. The battle on Lake Peipsi and the Battle of Neva, according to these researchers, are embellished, however, as well as the threat from the crusaders.
