Battle of the Ice

The Battle of the Ice (; ; ), also known as the Battle of Lake Peipus (), was a battle between Novgorod and the Teutonic Knights on April 5, 1242 at Lake Peipus.

Along with the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the Battle of the Ice was one of the most significant defeats sustained by Roman Catholic crusaders during the Northern Crusades. It effectively marked the end of significant campaigns against Orthodox Novgorod and other Russian territories in the aftermath of the conquest of Estonia.

Background

Hoping to exploit the Russians' weakness in the wake of the Mongol and Swedish invasions, the Teutonic Knights attacked the neighboring Novgorod 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 bonfires, Alexander responded by ransoming the knights and hanging local Votes and Estonian foot-soldiers.

In 1891 several Russian ladies founded a nunnery at Pühtitsa, Estonia where they believed the Russian warriors had been buried after the battle. Actually, the nunnery is too far away from the battle site for the legend to be true.

The Battle

In the spring of 1242, the Teutonic Knights defeated a reconnaissance detachment of Novgorodians about 20 km south of the fortress of Dorpat (Tartu). Lead by Prince-Bishop Hermann of the Bishopric of Dorpat, the knights and their 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 them were Germans, including knights of the Teutonic Order and their squires, although there were large numbers of Danes and Swedish and Estonian mercenaries. The Russian force in contrast numbered around 6,000 soldiers.

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 armour, the thin ice started to collapse, and many knights drowned.

According to the First Novgorod Chronicle,

Prince Alexander and all the men of Novgorod drew up their forces by the lake, at Uzmen, by the Rave's Rock; and the Germans and the Estonians rode at them, driving themselves like a wedge throughout their army. And there was a great slaughter of Germans and Estonians... they fought with them during the pursuit on the ice seven versts short of the Subol [north-western] shore. And there fell a countless number of Estonians, and 400 of the Germans, and they took fifty with their hands and they took them to Novgorod.Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades. Penguin Books. London, 1997. ISBN 0140266534

Years later the battle was described in the biased Livonian Rhymed Chronicle of the Livonian Branch of the Teutonic Order:

The [Russians] had many archers, and the battle began with their bold assault on the king's men [Danes]. The brothers' banners were soon flying in the midst of the archers, and swords were heard cutting helmets apart. Many from both sides fell dead on the grass. Then the Brothers' army was completely surrounded, for the Russians had so many troops that there were easily sixty men for every one German knight. The Brothers fought well enough, but they were nonetheless cut down. Some of those from Dorpat escaped from the battle, and it was their salvation that they fled. Twenty brothers lay dead and six were captured.Urban, William. The Teutonic Knights: A Military History. Greenhill Books. London, 2003. ISBN 1853675350

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 succeeded in defending Russian territory, and the German crusaders never mounted another serious challenge eastward.

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

References

Further reading

*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.
*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.
*Terrence Wise, The Knights of Christ. London: Osprey Publishing, 1984.