Battle on the ice battle on lake Chud. A battle of great historical significance

In a fierce battle on Lake Peipsi on April 5, 1242, the Novgorod soldiers under the command of Prince Alexander Nevsky won a significant victory over the army of the Livonian Order. To put it briefly "Battle on the Ice", then even a fourth-grade student will understand what is at stake. The battle under this name is of great historical importance. That is why its date is one of the days of military glory.

At the end of 1237, the Pope proclaimed the 2nd Crusade to Finland. Taking advantage of this plausible pretext, in 1240 the Livonian Order captured Izborsk, and then Pskov. When in 1241 the threat loomed over Novgorod, at the request of the inhabitants of the city, Prince Alexander led the defense of the Russian lands from the invaders. He led an army to the Koporye fortress and took it by storm.

In March of the following year, his younger brother, Prince Andrei Yaroslavich, came to his aid from Suzdal with his retinue. By joint actions, the princes recaptured Pskov from the enemy.

After that, the Novgorod army moved to the Dorpat bishopric, which was located on the territory of modern Estonia. Dorpat (now Tartu) was ruled by Bishop Hermann von Buxgewden, brother of the order's commander. The main forces of the crusaders were concentrated in the vicinity of the city. The German knights met with the advance detachment of the Novgorodians and defeated them. They were forced to retreat to the frozen lake.

Troop formation

The united army of the Livonian Order, Danish knights and Chudi (Baltic-Finnish tribes) was built in the shape of a wedge. Sometimes this formation is called a boar's head or a pig. The calculation is made to break the enemy's battle formations and drive a wedge into them.

Alexander Nevsky, assuming a similar formation of the enemy, chose the layout of his main forces along the flanks. The correctness of this decision was shown by the outcome of the battle on Lake Peipsi. The date April 5, 1242 is of decisive historical significance.

The course of the battle

At sunrise, the German army under the command of Master Andreas von Völfen and Bishop Hermann von Buxgewden moved towards the enemy.

As can be seen from the battle scheme, the archers were the first to enter the battle with the crusaders. They fired at the enemies, who were well protected by armor, so, under the pressure of the enemy, the arrows from the bow had to retreat. The Germans began to press the middle of the Russian army.

At this time, the regiment of the left and right hands hit the crusaders from both flanks. The attack was unexpected for the enemy, his battle formations lost their harmony, and confusion ensued. At this moment, the squad of Prince Alexander fell on the Germans from the rear. Now the enemy was surrounded and began a retreat, which soon turned into a flight. Russian soldiers pursued those who fled seven miles.

Losses of the parties

As with any military action, both sides suffered heavy losses. Information about them is rather contradictory - depending on the source:

• The Livonian rhymed chronicle mentions 20 knights killed and 6 captured;
• The Novgorod first chronicle reports on the killed 400 Germans and 50 prisoners, as well as on the large number of those killed among the Chudi "and the pad of Chudi beshisla";
• The Chronicle of Grandmasters gives data on the fallen seventy knights "70 Order Lords", "seuentich Ordens Herenn", but this is the total number of those killed in the battle on Lake Peipsi and during the liberation of Pskov.

Most likely, the Novgorod chronicler, in addition to the knights, also counted their warriors, which is why such great differences are observed in the chronicle: it comes about the various killed.

The data on the losses of the Russian troops are also very vague. “Many brave warriors have fallen,” our sources say. The Livonian Chronicle says that for every German killed, 60 Russians were killed.

As a result of two historical victories of Prince Alexander (on the Neva over the Swedes in 1240 and on Lake Peipsi), it was possible to prevent the seizure of the Novgorod and Pskov lands by the crusaders. In the summer of 1242, ambassadors from the Livonian Department of the Teutonic Order arrived in Novgorod and signed a peace treaty, in which they renounced encroachments on Russian lands.

A feature film "Alexander Nevsky" was made about these events in 1938. The Battle on the Ice went down in history as an example of military art. The brave prince was numbered among the saints by the Russian Orthodox Church.

For Russia, this event plays an important role in the patriotic education of young people. At school, they begin to study the topic of this fight in the 4th grade. Children will find out in what year the Battle of the Ice took place, with whom they fought, mark on the map the place where the crusaders were defeated.

In grade 7, students are already working on this historical event in more detail: they draw tables, schemes of the battle with legend, give reports and reports on this topic, write abstracts and essays, read the encyclopedia.

The significance of the battle on the lake can be judged by the way it is presented in different types arts:

According to the old calendar, the battle took place on April 5, and in a new way - on April 18. On this date, the day of the victory of the Russian soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky over the crusaders was legally established. However, the discrepancy of 13 days is valid only in the interval from 1900 to 2100. In the 13th century, the difference would be only 7 days. Therefore, in fact, the anniversary of the event falls on April 12. But as you know, this date was "staked out" by the cosmonauts.

According to Igor Danilevsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences, the significance of the battle on Lake Peipsi is greatly exaggerated. Here are his arguments:

The well-known expert on medieval Russia, the Englishman John Fennell, and the German historian specializing in Eastern Europe, Dietmar Dahlmann, agree with him. The latter wrote that the significance of this ordinary battle was inflated with the aim of forming a national myth, in which Prince Alexander was appointed the defender of Orthodoxy and the Russian lands.

The famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky did not even mention this battle in his scientific works, probably because of the insignificance of the event.

The data on the number of participants in the fight are also contradictory. Soviet historians believed that about 10-12 thousand people fought on the side of the Livonian Order and their allies, and the Novgorod army was about 15-17 thousand warriors.

At present, most historians are inclined to believe that there were no more than sixty Livonian and Danish knights on the side of the order. Taking into account their squires and servants, this is approximately 600 - 700 people plus monsters, about the number of whom there is no data in the annals. According to many historians, there were no more than a thousand chudi available, and there were about 2,500 - 3,000 Russian soldiers. There is another curious circumstance. Some researchers reported that Tatar troops sent by Khan Baty helped Alexander Nevsky in the battle on Lake Peipsi.

In 1164 there was a military clash near Ladoga. At the end of May, the Swedes sailed to the city in 55 ships and laid siege to the fortress. Less than a week later, the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav Rostislavich arrived with his army to help the citizens of Ladoga. He perpetrated a real massacre of Ladoga uninvited guests. According to the testimony of the first Novgorod chronicle, the enemy was defeated and put to flight. It was a real devastation. The winners captured 43 out of 55 ships and many prisoners.

For comparison: in the famous battle on the Neva River in 1240, Prince Alexander took neither prisoners nor enemy ships. The Swedes buried the dead, took the stolen goods and departed, but now this event is forever associated with the name of Alexander.

Some researchers question the fact that the battle took place on ice. It is also considered speculation that the crusaders fell through the ice during the flight. Nothing is written about this in the first edition of the Novgorod Chronicle and in the Livonian Chronicle. This version is also supported by the fact that at the bottom of the lake in the supposed place of the battle it was not possible to find anything confirming the "under-ice" option.

In addition, it is not known exactly where the Battle of the Ice took place. Briefly and in detail about this can be read in various sources. According to the official point of view, the battle took place on the western shore of Cape Sigovets in the southeastern part of Lake Peipsi. This place was determined according to the results of a scientific expedition of 1958-59, headed by G.N. Karaev. At the same time, it should be noted that no archaeological finds have been found that unequivocally confirm the conclusions of scientists.

There are other points of view about the location of the battle. In the eighties of the twentieth century, an expedition led by I. E. Koltsov also explored the alleged battle site using dowsing methods. The alleged graves of the fallen warriors were mapped. According to the results of the expedition, Koltsov put forward a version that the main battle took place between the villages of Kobylye fortified settlement, Samolva, Tabory and the Zhelcha River.

April 18 - Day of Military Glory of Russia, the day of the victory of the Russian soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky over the German knights on Lake Peipsi (the so-called Battle of the Ice, 1242). The date is marked according to Federal law"On the days of military glory (victorious days) of Russia" dated 03.13.1995 No. 32-FZ.

In the early 40s. XIII century, taking advantage of the weakening of Russia, which occurred as a result of the devastating invasion of the Mongol-Tatars, German crusaders, Swedish and Danish feudal lords decided to seize its northeastern lands. Together they hoped to conquer the Novgorod feudal republic. The Swedes, with the support of Danish knights, tried to capture the mouth of the Neva, but in the Battle of the Neva in 1240 they were defeated by the Novgorod army.

In late August - early September 1240, the crusaders of the Livonian Order invaded the Pskov land, which was formed by the German knights of the Teutonic Order in 1237 in the Eastern Baltic region inhabited by the Livonian and Estonian tribes. After a short siege, the German knights captured the city of Izborsk. Then they besieged Pskov and, with the assistance of the traitorous boyars, soon occupied it too. After that, the crusaders invaded the Novgorod land, seized the coast of the Gulf of Finland and erected their own on the site of the ancient Russian fortress Koporye. Before reaching Novgorod 40 km, the knights began plundering its environs.

(Military encyclopedia. Military publishing. Moscow. In 8 volumes - 2004)

An embassy was sent from Novgorod to the great Vladimir prince Yaroslav, so that he would release his son Alexander (Prince Alexander Nevsky) to help them. Alexander Yaroslavovich ruled in Novgorod from 1236, but because of the intrigues of the Novgorod nobility left Novgorod and went to reign in Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Yaroslav, realizing all the danger of the threat emanating from the West, agreed: the case concerned not only Novgorod, but all of Russia.

In 1241, Prince Alexander Nevsky, returning to Novgorod, gathered an army from Novgorodians, Ladoga residents, Izhora and Karelians. Having secretly made a quick transition to Kopor, it took this strong fortress by storm. With the capture of Koporye, Alexander Nevsky secured the north-western borders of the Novgorod lands, secured his rear and northern flank for further struggle against the German crusaders. At the call of Alexander Nevsky, troops from Vladimir and Suzdal arrived to help the Novgorodians under the command of his brother, Prince Andrei. The united Novgorod-Vladimir army in the winter of 1241-1242. undertook a campaign in the Pskov land and, cutting off all roads from Livonia to Pskov, took this city by storm, as well as Izborsk.

After this defeat, the Livonian knights, having collected a large army, marched to the Pskov and Peipsi lakes. The basis of the troops of the Livonian Order was heavily armed knightly cavalry, as well as infantry (bollards) - detachments of the peoples enslaved by the Germans (Estonians, Livs, etc.), which were many times larger than the knights in number.

Having found out the direction of movement of the main forces of the enemy, Alexander Nevsky sent his army there as well. Having reached Lake Peipsi, the army of Alexander Nevsky found itself in the center of possible routes for the enemy's movement to Novgorod. At this point, it was decided to give battle to the enemy. The enemy armies met on the shores of Lake Peipsi near the Crow Stone and the Uzmen tract. Here on April 5, 1242, a battle took place, which went down in history as the Battle of the Ice.

At dawn, the crusaders on the ice of the lake at a slow trot approached the position of the Russians. According to the established military tradition, the army of the Livonian Order advanced with an "iron wedge", which appears in Russian chronicles as "pigs". At the forefront was the main group of knights, some of them covered the flanks and rear of the "wedge", in the center of which the infantry was located. The wedge had its task to crush and break through the central part of the enemy troops, and the columns following the wedge were to crush the enemy's flanks by enveloping. In chain mail and helmets, with long swords, they seemed invulnerable.

Alexander Nevsky contrasted this stereotypical tactics of the knights with a new formation of the Russian troops. He concentrated his main forces not in the center ("chele"), as the Russian troops always did, but on the flanks. Ahead was a forward regiment of light cavalry, archers and slingers. The order of battle of the Russians was turned with the rear to the steep, steep eastern shore of the lake, and the prince's horse squad took cover in ambush behind the left flank. The chosen position was advantageous because the Germans advancing on open ice, were deprived of the opportunity to determine the location, number and composition of the Russian army.

The knight's wedge broke through the center of the Russian army. Having stumbled upon the steep shore of the lake, the sedentary, armored knights could not develop their success. The flanks of the Russian order of battle ("wings") clamped a wedge in pincers. At this time, the squad of Alexander Nevsky struck from the rear and completed the encirclement of the enemy.

Under the onslaught of the Russian regiments, the knights mixed their ranks and, having lost their freedom of maneuver, were forced to defend themselves. A cruel slaughter ensued. Russian infantrymen dragged the knights from their horses with hooks, chopped them with axes. Trapped on all sides in a confined space, the crusaders fought desperately. But their resistance gradually weakened, it took on an unorganized character, the battle broke up into separate centers. Where large groups of knights accumulated, the ice could not bear their weight and broke. Many knights drowned. The Russian cavalry pursued the defeated enemy for over 7 km, to the opposite shore of Lake Peipsi.

The army of the Livonian Order suffered a complete defeat and suffered huge losses at that time: up to 450 knights were killed and 50 were taken prisoner. Several thousand Knechts were destroyed. The Livonian Order was faced with the need to conclude a peace, according to which the crusaders renounced their claims to Russian lands, and also renounced part of Latgale (a region in eastern Latvia).

The victory of the Russian army on the ice of Lake Peipsi was of great political and military significance. A crushing blow was dealt to the Livonian Order, the advance of the crusaders to the East stopped. The Battle on the Ice was the first example in history of the defeat of the knights by an army consisting mainly of infantry, which testified to the advanced nature of Russian military art.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

And Vladimirtsy under the leadership of Alexander Nevsky, on the one hand, and the army of the Livonian Order, on the other.

The opposing armies met on the morning of April 5, 1242. The Rhymed Chronicle describes the moment of the beginning of the battle as follows:

Thus, the news of the Chronicle about the battle formation of the Russians as a whole is combined with the reports of the Russian chronicles about the separation of a separate rifle regiment in front of the center of the main forces (since 1185).

In the center, the Germans broke through the Russian line:

But then the troops of the Teutonic Order were surrounded by the Russians from the flanks and destroyed, while other German troops retreated to avoid the same fate: the Russians pursued those running on the ice for 7 miles. It is noteworthy that, unlike the battle of Omovzhe in 1234, sources close to the time of the battle do not report that the Germans fell through the ice; according to Donald Ostrovsky, this information penetrated into later sources from the description of the battle of 1016 between Yaroslav and Svyatopolk in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and "The Tale of Boris and Gleb".

In the same year, the Teutonic Order concluded a peace treaty with Novgorod, abandoning all its recent conquests not only in Russia, but also in Letgol. There was also an exchange of prisoners. Only 10 years later the Teutons tried to re-capture Pskov.

The scale and significance of the battle

The Chronicle says that there were 60 Russians for every German in the battle (which is recognized as an exaggeration), and the loss of 20 knights killed and 6 prisoners in the battle. The Chronicle of Grandmasters (Die jungere Hochmeisterchronik, sometimes translated as Chronicle of the Teutonic Order), the semi-official history of the Teutonic Order, written much later, speaks of the death of 70 order knights (literally "70 order gentlemen", "seuentich Ordens Herenn" ), but unites those killed during the capture of Pskov by Alexander and on Lake Peipsi.

According to the traditional point of view in Russian historiography, this battle, together with the victories of Prince Alexander over the Swedes (July 15, 1240 on the Neva) and over the Lithuanians (in 1245 near Toropets, near Lake Zhiztsa and near Usvyat), was of great importance for Pskov and Novgorod, holding back the onslaught of three serious enemies from the west - at the very time when the rest of Russia was greatly weakened Mongol invasion... In Novgorod, the Battle of the Ice, together with the Neva victory over the Swedes, was recalled in the 16th century at litanies in all Novgorod churches. In Soviet historiography, the Battle of the Ice was considered one of the largest battles in the entire history of German-knightly aggression in the Baltic States, and the number of troops on Lake Peipsi was estimated at 10-12 thousand people for the Order and 15-17 thousand people for Novgorodians and their allies (the last figure corresponds to the estimate and by Henry of Latvia the number of Russian troops when describing their campaigns in the Baltic States in the 1210-1220s), that is, at about the same level as in the Battle of Grunwald () - up to 11 thousand people for the Order and 16-17 thousand people in the Polish-Lithuanian army. The Chronicle, as a rule, reports about the small number of Germans in those battles that they lost, but even in it the Battle on the Ice is unambiguously described as a defeat for the Germans, unlike, for example, the Battle of Rakovorskoy ().

As a rule, the minimum estimates of the number of troops and losses of the Order in the battle correspond to the historical role that specific researchers assign to this battle and to the figure of Alexander Nevsky as a whole (for more details, see Assessments of the activities of Alexander Nevsky). V.O. Klyuchevsky and M.N. Pokrovsky did not mention the battle at all in their writings.

The English researcher J. Fennell believes that the significance of the Battle of the Ice (and the Battle of the Neva) is greatly exaggerated: “Alexander did only what numerous defenders of Novgorod and Pskov did before him and what many did after him, namely, rushed to protect the extended and vulnerable borders from the detachments of invaders ". Russian professor I.N.Danilevsky agrees with this opinion. He notes, in particular, that the battle was inferior in scale to the battle of Saul (1236), in which the master of the order and 48 knights were killed by the Lithuanians, and the battle of Rakovor; contemporary sources even describe the battle of the Neva in more detail and attach more importance to it. However, in Russian historiography, it is not customary to remember the defeat at Saul, since the Pskovites took part in it on the side of the defeated knights.

German historians believe that in fighting on the western borders, Alexander Nevsky did not pursue any coherent political program, but the successes in the West provided some compensation for the horrors of the Mongol invasion. Many researchers believe that the very scale of the threat that the West posed to Russia is exaggerated. On the other hand, L.N. Gumilev, on the contrary, believed that not the Tatar-Mongol "yoke", but Catholic Western Europe represented by the Teutonic Order and the Archbishopric of Riga, posed a mortal threat to the very existence of Russia, and therefore the role of the victories of Alexander Nevsky in Russian history is especially great.

The Battle of the Ice played a role in the formation of the Russian national myth, in which Alexander Nevsky was assigned the role of "defender of Orthodoxy and the Russian land" in the face of the "Western threat"; victory in the battle was considered a justification for the political steps of the prince in the 1250s. The cult of Nevsky was especially actualized in the Stalin era, serving as a kind of graphic historical example for the cult of Stalin himself. The cornerstone of the Stalinist myth about Alexander Yaroslavich and the Battle of the Ice was the film by Sergei Eisenstein (see below).

On the other hand, it is wrong to believe that the Battle of the Ice became popular in the scientific community and among the general public only after the appearance of Eisenstein's film. "Schlacht auf dem Eise", "Schlacht auf dem Peipussee", "Prœlium glaciale" [Battle on ice (us.), Battle on Lake Peipsi (German), Ice battle(lat.).] - such well-established concepts are found in Western sources long before the director's work. This battle was and will forever remain in the memory of the Russian people, as well as, say, the Battle of Borodino, which, according to a strict view, cannot be called victorious - the Russian army left the battlefield. And for us this great battle who played important role at the end of the war.

Memory of the battle

Films

Music

• The musical score for Eisenstein's film, written by Sergei Prokofiev, is a cantata dedicated to the events of the battle.

Literature

Monuments

Monument to the squads of Alexander Nevsky on Mount Sokolikha

Monument to Alexander Nevsky and Poklonny cross

A bronze bow cross was cast in St. Petersburg at the expense of patrons of the Baltic Steel Group (A. V. Ostapenko). The prototype was the Novgorod Alekseevsky cross. The author of the project is A. A. Seleznev. A bronze sign was cast under the leadership of D. Gochiyayev by the foundry workers of ZAO "NTTSKT", architects B. Kostygov and S. Kryukov. During the implementation of the project, fragments from the lost wooden cross by sculptor V. Reshchikov were used.

Commemorative cross for prince "s armed force of Alexander Nevsky (Kobylie Gorodishe) .jpg

Memorial cross to the squads of Alexander Nevsky

Monument in honor of the 750th anniversary of the battle

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Monument in honor of the 750th anniversary of the battle (detail)

In philately and on coins

Facts

Due to the incorrect calculation of the date of the battle according to the new style, the Day of Military Glory of Russia is the Day of the victory of Russian soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky over the crusaders (established by Federal Law No. 32-FZ of March 13, 1995 "On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia") 18 April instead of the correct new style on April 12th. The difference between the old (Julian) and the new (first introduced in 1582 by the Gregorian) style in the 13th century would have been 7 days (counting from April 5, 1242), and the difference between them of 13 days takes place only in the period 03/14/1900-14.03 .2100 (new style). In other words, Victory Day on Lake Peipsi (April 5, old style) is celebrated on April 18, which really falls on April 5, old style, but only now (1900-2099).

At the end of the 20th century, in Russia and some republics of the former USSR, many political organizations celebrated the unofficial holiday of the Day of the Russian Nation (April 5), designed to become the date of unity of all patriotic forces.

On April 22, 2012, to the 770th anniversary of the Battle on the Ice, the Museum of the History of the Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR to clarify the site of the Battle of the Ice in 1242 was opened in the village of Samolva, Gdovsky District, Pskov Region.

see also

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Notes (edit)

2. Razin E.A.
3. Uzhankov A.
6. The Battle of the Ice in 1242: Proceedings of a complex expedition to clarify the location of the Battle of the Ice. - M.-L., 1966 .-- 253 p. - S. 60-64.
7. ... Its date is considered more preferable, since, in addition to the number, it also contains a link to the day of the week and church holidays (the day of commemoration of the martyr Claudius and praise of the Mother of God). In the Pskov Chronicles, the date is April 1.
8. Donald ostrowski(English) // Russian History / Histoire Russe. - 2006. - Vol. 33, no. 2-3-4. - P. 304-307.
9. .
10. .
11. Henry of Latvia. .
12. Razin E.A. .
13. Danilevsky, I.... Polit.ru April 15, 2005.
14. Dittmar Dahlmann. Der russische Sieg über die "teutonische Ritter" auf der Peipussee 1242 // Schlachtenmythen: Ereignis - Erzählung - Erinnerung. Herausgegeben von Gerd Krumeich und Susanne Brandt. (Europäische Geschichtsdarstellungen. Herausgegeben von Johannes Laudage. - Band 2.) - Wien-Köln-Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 2003. - S. 63-76.
15. Werner Philipp. Heiligkeit und Herrschaft in der Vita Aleksandr Nevskijs // Forschungen zur osteuropäischen Geschichte. - Band 18. - Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1973. - S. 55-72.
16. Janet Martin. Medieval Russia 980-1584. Second edition. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. - P. 181.
17. ... gumilevica.kulichki.net. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
20. // Gdovskaya Zarya: newspaper. - 30.3.2007.
24. (inaccessible link from 25-05-2013 (2103 days) - history , copy) // Official site of the Pskov region, July 12, 2006]
27. .
28. .
29. .

Literature

• Lipitsky S.V. Battle on the Ice. - M .: Military Publishing, 1964 .-- 68 p. - (The heroic past of our Motherland).
• Mansikka V.Y. Life of Alexander Nevsky: Analysis of editions and text. - SPb., 1913. - "Monuments of ancient writing." - Issue. 180.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky / Prep. text, translation and comm. V.I. Okhotnikova // Literary monuments Ancient Rus: XIII century. - M .: Fiction, 1981.
• Yu.K. Runners Monument of Russian literature of the XIII century: "The Word about the destruction of the Russian land" - M.-L .: Nauka, 1965.
• Pashuto V.T. Alexander Nevsky - M .: Young Guard, 1974 .-- 160 p. - Series "Life of Remarkable People".
• Karpov A. Yu. Alexander Nevsky - Moscow: Young Guard, 2010 .-- 352 p. - Series "Life wonderful people».
• Khitrov M. Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky. Detailed biography. - Minsk: Panorama, 1991 .-- 288 p. - Reprint ed.
• Klepinin N.A. Holy Blessed and Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky. - SPb: Aleteya, 2004 .-- 288 p. - Series "Slavic Library".
• Prince Alexander Nevsky and His Era: Research and Materials / Ed. Yu. K. Begunov and A. N. Kirpichnikov. - SPb .: Dmitry Bulanin, 1995 .-- 214 p.
• Fennell J. The crisis of medieval Russia. 1200-1304 - M .: Progress, 1989 .-- 296 p.
• Battle on the Ice 1242: Proceedings of a complex expedition to clarify the place of the Battle on the Ice / Otv. ed. G. N. Karaev. - M.-L .: Nauka, 1966 .-- 241 p.
• Tikhomirov M.N. About the place of the Battle on the Ice // Tikhomirov M.N. Ancient Russia: Sat. Art. / Ed. A. V. Artsikhovsky and M. T. Belyavsky, with the participation of N. B. Shelamanova. - M .: Nauka, 1975 .-- S. 368-374. - 432 p. - 16,000 copies.(in the lane, superex.)
• Nesterenko A. N. Alexander Nevsky. Who won the Battle on the Ice., 2006. Olma-Press.

Links

Excerpt from the Battle of the Ice

His illness went on in its physical order, but what Natasha called: it happened to him, happened to him two days before Princess Marya's arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death was victorious. It was the unexpected realization that he still treasured the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued attack of horror at the unknown.
It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overcame him.
"Oh, it was she who came in!" He thought.
Indeed, in Sonya's place, Natasha, who had just come in, had just entered with soundless footsteps.
Since she began to follow him, he has always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She was sitting on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the candlelight from him, and knitting a stocking. (She learned to knit stockings ever since Prince Andrey told her that no one knows how to go after the sick like the old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) colliding spokes, and the brooding profile of her lowered face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement - a ball rolled off her knees. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement bent, lifted the ball and sat down in its previous position.
He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to breathe deeply, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took a breath.
In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her again; but since then they have never talked about the future.
“Could it or could it not have been? He thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the spokes. - Was it really only then that fate brought me to her so strangely so that I could die? I love her the most in the world. But what should I do if I love her? " - he said, and he suddenly involuntarily groaned, out of a habit that he had acquired during his suffering.
Hearing this sound, Natasha put the stocking down, bent over closer to him and suddenly, noticing his glowing eyes, approached him with a light step and bent down.
- You are not asleep?
- No, I have been looking at you for a long time; I felt when you entered. Nobody like you, but gives me that soft silence ... of the other world. I just want to cry with joy.
Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with ecstatic joy.
- Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything.
- And I? She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said.
- Why too much? .. Well, how do you think, how do you feel in your heart, with all your heart, will I be alive? What do you think?
- I'm sure, I'm sure! - Natasha almost screamed, with a passionate movement taking him by both hands.
He paused.
- How good! And, taking her hand, he kissed her.
Natasha was happy and excited; and at once she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calmness.
“You weren't asleep, however,” she said, suppressing her joy. “Try to sleep… please.
He released, shaking her, her hand, she went over to the candle and again sat down in the same position. Twice she looked back at him, his eyes shining towards her. She asked herself a lesson on a stocking and told herself that until then she would not look back until she finished it.
Indeed, soon afterwards he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep long and suddenly woke up anxiously in a cold sweat.
Falling asleep, he thought about the same thing that he thought about from time to time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her.
"Love? What is love? He thought. - Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by one thing. Love is God, and to die means to me, a particle of love, to return to a common and eternal source. " These thoughts seemed to him comforting. But these were only thoughts. Something was lacking in them, something was one-sidedly personal, mental - there was no evidence. And there was the same concern and ambiguity. He fell asleep.
He dreamed that he was lying in the same room in which he actually lay, but that he was not wounded, but healthy. Many different persons, insignificant, indifferent, appear before Prince Andrey. He talks to them, argues about something unnecessary. They are going to go somewhere. Prince Andrew vaguely recalls that all this is insignificant and that he has other, most important concerns, but continues to speak, surprising them, with some empty, witty words. Little by little, imperceptibly, all these faces begin to disappear, and everything is replaced by one question about the closed door. He gets up and goes to the door to slide the latch and lock it. Everything depends on the fact that he will or will not have time to lock it. He walks, in a hurry, his legs do not move, and he knows that he will not have time to lock the door, but still painfully strains all his strength. And a painful fear grips him. And this fear is the fear of death: it stands behind the door. But at the same time as he impotently awkwardly crawls to the door, this is something terrible, on the other hand, already, pressing, is breaking into it. Something not human - death - is pounding at the door, and we must hold it. He grasps the door, strains his last efforts - it is no longer possible to lock it - at least to hold it; but his strength is weak, awkward, and, pressed by the terrible, the door opens and closes again.
Once again it pushed from there. The last, supernatural efforts are in vain, and both halves opened silently. It has entered, and it is death. And Prince Andrew died.
But the instant he died, Prince Andrew remembered that he was asleep, and the instant he died, he, making an effort over himself, woke up.
“Yes, it was death. I died - I woke up. Yes, death is awakening! " - suddenly brightened in his soul, and the veil, hiding the unknown until now, was raised before his soul's gaze. He felt, as it were, the release of the force previously bound in him and that strange lightness that had not left him since then.
When, waking up in cold sweat, he stirred on the sofa, Natasha went up to him and asked what was wrong with him. He did not answer her and, not understanding her, looked at her with a strange look.
This was what happened to him two days before Princess Marya's arrival. From that day on, as the doctor said, the debilitating fever took on a bad character, but Natasha was not interested in what the doctor was saying: she saw these terrible, more certain for her, moral signs.
From that day began for Prince Andrew, together with awakening from sleep - awakening from life. And in relation to the duration of life, it did not seem to him more slowly than awakening from sleep in relation to the duration of a dream.

There was nothing scary and abrupt in this relatively slow awakening.
His last days and hours passed in an ordinary and simple way. And Princess Marya and Natasha, who did not leave him, felt this. They did not cry, did not shudder and recent times feeling this themselves, they no longer went after him (he was no longer there, he left them), but after the closest memory of him - after his body. The feelings of both were so strong that the external, terrible side of death did not affect them, and they did not find it necessary to indulge their grief. They did not cry either with him or without him, but they never spoke about him among themselves. They felt they could not express in words what they understood.
They both saw how he was deeper and deeper, slowly and calmly, descending from them somewhere there, and both knew that this was the way it should be and that it was good.
He was confessed, given the Holy Communion; everyone came to say goodbye to him. When they brought his son to him, he put his lips to him and turned away, not because it was hard or sorry for him (Princess Marya and Natasha understood this), but only because he believed that this was all that was demanded of him; but when they told him to bless him, he did what was required and looked around, as if asking if there was anything else to be done.
When the last shudders of the body, abandoned by the spirit, occurred, Princess Marya and Natasha were here.
- Is it over ?! - said Princess Marya, after his body had already been lying motionless and cold for several minutes before them. Natasha came up, looked into the dead eyes and hurried to close them. She closed them and did not kiss them, but venerated what was the closest memory of him.
“Where did he go? Where is he now? .. "

When the dressed, washed body lay in the coffin on the table, everyone approached him to say goodbye, and everyone cried.
Nikolushka was crying from the suffering bewilderment that was tearing his heart. The Countess and Sonya cried out of pity for Natasha and that he was no longer there. The old count cried that soon, he felt, and he had to take the same terrible step.
Natasha and Princess Marya were crying now, too, but they were not crying out of their own personal grief; they wept from the reverent tenderness that gripped their souls before the consciousness of the simple and solemn sacrament of death that took place before them.

The totality of the causes of phenomena is inaccessible to the human mind. But the need to look for reasons is embedded in the human soul. And the human mind, not having grasped the countlessness and complexity of the conditions of phenomena, of which each separately can be considered a cause, grasps at the first, most understandable rapprochement and says: this is the reason. In historical events (where the subject of observation is the essence of people's actions), the will of the gods is the most primitive rapprochement, then the will of those people who stand in the most prominent historical place - historical heroes. But one has only to delve into the essence of each historical event, that is, into the activities of the entire mass of people who participated in the event, in order to make sure that the will of the historical hero not only does not direct the actions of the masses, but is itself constantly guided. It would seem that it is all the same to understand the meaning of a historical event in one way or another. But between the person who says that the peoples of the West went to the East because Napoleon wanted it, and the person who says that it happened because it should have happened, there is the same difference that existed between people who claimed that the earth stands firm and the planets move around it, and those who said that they do not know what the earth is supported on, but know that there are laws governing the movement of both it and other planets. There are no reasons for a historical event and cannot be, except for the only reason for all reasons. But there are laws governing events, partly unknown, partly groping by us. The discovery of these laws is possible only when we completely renounce the search for reasons in the will of one person, just as the discovery of the laws of planetary motion became possible only when people renounced the idea of ​​the affirmation of the earth.

After the Battle of Borodino, the occupation of Moscow by the enemy and the burning of it, historians recognize the movement of the Russian army from Ryazan to Kaluga road and to the Tarutino camp as the most important episode of the war of 1812 - the so-called flank march beyond Krasnaya Pakhra. Historians attribute the glory of this brilliant feat to various people and argue about who, in fact, belongs to. Even foreign, even French, historians recognize the genius of the Russian commanders, speaking of this flanking march. But why military writers, and everyone behind them, believe that this flanking march is a very profound invention of some one person, who saved Russia and killed Napoleon, is very difficult to understand. First, it is difficult to understand what is the profundity and genius of this movement; for in order to guess that the best position of the army (when it is not attacked) is where there is more food, it does not take much mental exertion. And everyone, even a stupid thirteen-year-old boy, could easily guess that in 1812 the most advantageous position of the army, after the retreat from Moscow, was on the Kaluga road. So, it is impossible to understand, firstly, what conclusions historians reach to see something profound in this maneuver. Second, it is even more difficult to understand exactly what historians see as the salvation of this maneuver for the Russians and its perniciousness for the French; for this flank march, under other, previous, concomitant and subsequent circumstances, could be fatal for the Russian and saving for the French army. If from the time this movement took place, the position of the Russian army began to improve, then it does not follow from this that this movement was the reason for that.
This flank march not only could not have brought any benefits, but could have ruined the Russian army, if other conditions did not coincide. What would have happened if Moscow had not burned down? If Murat had not lost sight of the Russians? If Napoleon was not inactive? If at Krasnaya Pakhra the Russian army, on the advice of Bennigsen and Barclay, would have fought? What would have happened if the French attacked the Russians when they followed Pakhra? What would have happened if later Napoleon, approaching Tarutin, attacked the Russians with at least one tenth of the energy with which he attacked in Smolensk? What would have happened if the French had gone to Petersburg? .. With all these assumptions, the salvation of the flank march could turn into disastrous.
Third, and the most incomprehensible, is that people who study history deliberately do not want to see that the flank march cannot be attributed to any one person, that no one ever foresaw it, that this maneuver, just like the retreat into Filyakh, in the present, he never presented himself to anyone in its integrity, but step by step, event by event, instant by instant, flowed out of an infinite number of the most diverse conditions, and only then did he introduce himself in all his integrity, when it was accomplished and became the past.
At the council in Fili, the prevailing thought among the Russian authorities was a self-evident retreat in a direct direction back, that is, along the Nizhny Novgorod road. Evidence of this is the fact that the majority of the votes at the council was cast in this sense, and, most importantly, the well-known conversation after the advice of the commander-in-chief with Lansky, who was in charge of the provisions section. Lanskoy reported to the commander-in-chief that food for the army was collected mainly along the Oka, in the Tula and Kaluga provinces, and that in the event of a retreat to Nizhny, the stocks of food would be separated from the army by the large river Oka, through which transportation in the first winter is impossible. This was the first sign of the need to deviate from the previously thought most natural direct direction to Nizhny. The army held on to the south, along the Ryazan road, and closer to the reserves. Subsequently, the inaction of the French, who even lost sight of the Russian army, worries about protecting the Tula plant and, most importantly, the benefits of approaching their reserves, forced the army to deviate even further south, to the Tula road. Having crossed with a desperate movement behind Pakhra onto the Tula road, the commanders of the Russian army thought to stay at Podolsk, and there was no thought of the Tarutino position; but the innumerable number of circumstances and the appearance of the French troops again, who had previously lost sight of the Russians, and the battle plans, and, most importantly, the abundance of provisions in Kaluga forced our army to deviate even more to the south and cross into the middle of its food routes, from Tula to Kaluga road, to Tarutin. Just as it is impossible to answer the question when Moscow was abandoned, it is impossible to answer exactly when and by whom it was decided to go to Tarutin. Only when the troops had already come to Tarutin as a result of innumerable differential forces did people begin to assure themselves that they wanted this and had foreseen this for a long time.

The famous flank march consisted only in the fact that the Russian army, retreating all straight back in the opposite direction of the offensive, after the French offensive had stopped, deviated from the direct direction taken at first and, not seeing the pursuit behind it, naturally moved in the direction where it attracted by the abundance of food.
If one imagined not brilliant generals at the head of the Russian army, but just one army without commanders, then this army could not have done anything other than moving back to Moscow, describing an arc from the side with which there was more food and the edge was more abundant.
This movement from Nizhegorodskaya to Ryazan, Tula and Kaluga roads was so natural that the marauders of the Russian army fled in this very direction and that in this very direction it was required from Petersburg for Kutuzov to transfer his army. In Tarutin, Kutuzov received almost a reprimand from the sovereign for leading the army to the Ryazan road, and he was pointed out the very situation against Kaluga, in which he was already at the time he received the emperor's letter.
Rolling back in the direction of the impulse given to him during the entire campaign and in the Battle of Borodino, the ball of the Russian army, when the force of the impulse was destroyed and not receiving new impulses, assumed the position that was natural to him.
The merit of Kutuzov did not consist in some ingenious, as they call it, strategic maneuver, but in the fact that he alone understood the significance of the event that was taking place. He alone understood even then the significance of the inaction of the French army, he alone continued to assert that the Battle of Borodino was a victory; he alone - the one who, it would seem, due to his position as commander-in-chief, should have been called to the offensive - he alone used all his strength to keep the Russian army from useless battles.
The knocked-out animal under Borodino lay where the hunter had left it; but whether he was alive, whether he was strong, or whether he only lurked, the hunter did not know this. Suddenly the groan of this beast was heard.
The groan of this wounded beast, the French army, denouncing its death, was the sending of Loriston to the Kutuzov camp with a request for peace.
Napoleon, with his confidence that what came to his mind was not good, what was good, but what came to his mind, wrote to Kutuzov the words that first came to his mind and did not make any sense. He wrote:

"Monsieur le prince Koutouzov," he wrote, "j" envoie pres de vous un de mes aides de camps generaux pour vous entretenir de plusieurs objets interessants. Je desire que Votre Altesse ajoute foi a ce qu "il lui dira, surtout lorsqu" il exprimera les sentiments d "estime et de particuliere consideration que j" ai depuis longtemps pour sa personne ... Cette lettre n "etant a autre fin, je prie Dieu, Monsieur le prince Koutouzov, qu" il vous ait en sa sainte et digne garde ,
Moscou, le 3 Octobre, 1812. Signe:
Napoleon ".
[Prince Kutuzov, I am sending one of my general adjutants to you to negotiate with you on many important subjects. I ask Your Grace to believe everything that he will tell you, especially when he begins to express to you the feelings of respect and special reverence that I have nourished for you for a long time. Therefore, I pray to God to keep you under my sacred roof.
Moscow, October 3, 1812.
Napoleon. ]

"Je serais maudit par la posterite si l" on me regardait comme le premier moteur d "un accommodement quelconque. Tel est l "esprit actuel de ma nation", [I would be damned if they looked at me as the first instigator of any deal; this is the will of our people.] - Kutuzov answered and continued to use all his strength for this to keep troops from advancing.
In the month of the plundering of the French army in Moscow and the quiet stay of the Russian army near Tarutino, a change took place in the ratio of the strength of both troops (spirit and number), as a result of which the advantage of strength turned out to be on the side of the Russians. Despite the fact that the position of the French army and its numbers were unknown to the Russians, how soon the attitude changed, the need for an offensive immediately manifested itself in countless signs. These signs were: the sending of Loriston, and the abundance of provisions in Tarutino, and information that came from all sides about the inaction and disorder of the French, and the recruiting of our regiments, and good weather, and prolonged rest of Russian soldiers, and usually arising in the troops as a result of rest impatience to carry out the work for which everyone was gathered, and curiosity about what was done in the French army, so long lost from sight, and the courage with which the Russian outposts were now prowling around the French stationed in Tarutino, and the news of easy victories over the French men and partisans, and the envy generated by this, and the feeling of revenge that lay in the soul of every person as long as the French were in Moscow, and (most importantly) the vague, but arising in the soul of every soldier, the consciousness that the attitude of force has changed now and the advantage is on our side. The essential relationship of forces changed and an offensive became necessary. And immediately, just as surely as the chimes begin to beat and play in the clock, when the hand has completed a full circle, in the higher spheres, in accordance with a significant change in forces, increased movement, hissing and playing of chimes were reflected.

The Russian army was ruled by Kutuzov with his headquarters and the sovereign from St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg, even before the news of the abandonment of Moscow was received, detailed plan throughout the war and was sent to Kutuzov for leadership. Despite the fact that this plan was drawn up on the assumption that Moscow was still in our hands, this plan was approved by the headquarters and accepted for execution. Kutuzov only wrote that distant sabotage is always difficult to execute. And to resolve the difficulties encountered, new instructions were sent and persons who were supposed to monitor his actions and report them.
In addition, the entire headquarters of the Russian army has now been transformed. The places of the murdered Bagration and the offended, retired Barclay were replaced. They very seriously considered what would be better: put A. in place of B., and B. in place of D., or, on the contrary, D. in place of A., etc., as if something other than A.'s pleasure and B., could have depended on it.
At the army headquarters, on the occasion of the hostility of Kutuzov with his chief of staff, Bennigsen, and the presence of the emperor's confidants and these movements, a more than usual game of parties was going on: A. undermined B., D. under S., etc. ., in all possible movements and combinations. With all these undermining, the subject of intrigue was, for the most part, the military affairs that all these people thought to lead; but this military business proceeded independently of them, exactly the way it was supposed to go, that is, it never coincided with what people invented, but proceeded from the essence of the attitude of the masses. All these inventions, interbreeding, entangling, represented in the higher spheres only a true reflection of what was to be accomplished.

Alexander Nevsky and Battle of the Ice

Alexander Nevsky: A Brief Biography

To nyaz Novgorod and Kiev and the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Alexander Nevskiy best known for stopping the advance of the Swedes and the Knights of the Teutonic Order to Russia. At the same time, instead of opposing the Mongols, he paid tribute to them. Many considered such a position to be cowardice, but it is possible that Alexander was simply sensibly assessing his capabilities.

A son Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich The Grand Duke of Vladimir and the all-Russian leader, Alexander, was elected Prince of Novgorod in 1236 (predominantly a military post). In 1239 he married Alexandra, daughter of the Prince of Polotsk.

Some time ago, the Novgorodians invaded Finnish territory, which was under the control of the Swedes. In response to this, as well as wanting to block the Russians' access to the sea, in 1240 the Swedes invaded Russia.

Alexander won a significant victory over the Swedes at the mouth of the Izhora River, on the banks of the Neva, as a result of which he received the honorary nickname Nevsky... However, a few months later, Alexander was expelled from Novgorod due to a conflict with the Novgorod boyars.

Later, the Pope Gregory IX began to call on the Teutonic knights to "Christianize" the Baltic region, although the peoples living there were already Christians. In the face of this threat, Alexander was invited to return to Novgorod, and, after several clashes, in April 1242, he won a famous victory over the knights on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Thus, Alexander stopped the eastward advance of both the Swedes and the Germans.

But there was another serious problem, in the east. Mongol troops conquered most of Russia, which was not politically united at the time. Alexander's father agreed to serve the new Mongol rulers, but died in September 1246. As a result of this, the throne of the Grand Duke was free and Alexander and his younger brother Andrey went to Batu(Batu), the Mongol khan of the Golden Horde. Batu sent them to the great Kagan, who, perhaps in spite of Batu, who preferred Alexander, violating the Russian custom, appointed Andrew the Great Prince of Vladimir. Alexander became the prince of Kiev.

Andrei entered into an agreement with other Russian princes and western neighbors, against the Mongol rulers, and Alexander took the opportunity to inform about his brother Sartak, the son of Batu. Sartak sent an army to overthrow Andrew and Alexander soon took his place as Grand Duke.

As the Grand Duke, Alexander strove to restore the prosperity of Russia through the construction of fortifications, temples and the adoption of laws. He continued to control Novgorod with the help of his son Vasily. This violated the established traditions of government in Novgorod (veche and invitation to reign). In 1255, the inhabitants of Novgorod expelled Vasily, but Alexander gathered an army and returned Vasily back to the throne.

In 1257, in connection with the upcoming population census and taxation, an uprising broke out in Novgorod. Alexander helped force the city into submission, probably fearing that the Mongols would punish all of Russia for the actions of Novgorod. In 1262, uprisings against Muslim tribute collectors from the Golden Horde began, but Alexander managed to avoid reprisals by going to Sarai, the capital of the Horde on the Volga, and discussing the situation with the khan. He also achieved the release of Rus from the obligation to supply soldiers for the khan's army.

On the way home, Alexander Nevsky died in Gorodets. After his death, Russia broke up into warring principalities, but his son Daniel received Moscow into the principality, which ultimately led to the reunification of the northern Russian lands. In 1547 the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Alexander Nevsky.

Battle on the Ice

The Battle on the Ice (Lake Peipsi) took place on April 5, 1242, during the Northern Crusades (12-13 centuries).

Armies and Generals

Crusaders

• Herman Dorpat
• 1,000 - 4,000 people

• Prince Alexander Nevsky
• Prince Andrey II Yaroslavich
• 5,000 - 6,000 people

The Battle of the Ice - Prehistory

In the thirteenth century, the papacy tried to force Orthodox Christians living in the Baltic region to accept the papal sovereignty. Despite the fact that previous efforts were unsuccessful, in the 1230s a new attempt was made to create an ecclesiastical state in the Baltics.

While preaching the Crusade in the late 1230s, Wilhelm of Modena organized a Western coalition to invade Novgorod land. This papal action against Russia coincided with the desire of the Swedes and Danes to expand their territories to the east, so both states began to supply troops for the campaign, as well as the knights of the Teutonic Order.

The trade center of the region, Novgorod, like most of Russia, in the recent past was invaded by the Mongols (the Novgorod lands were only partially devastated, and the Mongols did not go to Novgorod itself per.). While formally remaining independent, Novgorod assumed Mongol rule in 1237. The Western invaders hoped that the Mongol invasion would distract Novgorod's attention and that this was the right time for an attack.

In the spring of 1240, Swedish troops began their advance into Finland. The alarmed residents of Novgorod called the recently exiled Prince Alexander back to the city to lead the army (Alexander was expelled and called back after the Battle of the Neva per.). Having planned a campaign against the Swedes, Alexander defeated them in the battle on the Neva and received an honorary nickname Nevsky.

Campaign in the South

Although the crusaders were defeated in Finland, they were more fortunate in the south. Here, at the end of 1240, the mixed forces of the knights of the Livonian and Teutonic orders, Danish, Estonian and Russian troops managed to capture Pskov, Izborsk, and Koporye. But in 1241 Alexander conquered the eastern lands of the Neva, and in March 1242 he liberated Pskov.

Wanting to strike back at the crusaders, he raided the lands of the Order in the same month. Having finished with this, Alexander began to retreat to the East. Having gathered their troops in this region together, Hermann, Bishop of Dorpat, set off in pursuit.

Battle on the Ice

Although Hermann's troops were fewer in number, they were better equipped than their Russian opponents. The chase continued, and on April 5, Alexander's army set foot on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Crossing the lake, in the narrowest place, he looked for a good defensive position and it turned out to be the eastern shore of the lake, with ice blocks protruding from the uneven ground. Having deployed in this place, Alexander lined up his army, placing the infantry in the center, and the cavalry on the flanks. Arriving on the western bank, the Crusader army formed a wedge, placing heavy cavalry at the head and flanks.

Moving on the ice, the crusaders reached the location of Alexander's Russian army. Their movement slowed down as they had to overcome irregularities and suffer losses from archers. When the two armies collided, hand-to-hand combat began. As the battle raged, Alexander ordered his cavalry and horse archers to attack the crusaders from the flanks. Rushing forward, they soon successfully surrounded Herman's army and began to beat him. As the battle took such a turn, many of the crusaders began to fight their way back across the lake.

According to myths, the crusaders began to fall through the ice, but most likely there were not many who did. Seeing that the enemy was retreating, Alexander allowed to pursue him only to the western shore of the lake. After being defeated, the crusaders were forced to flee to the West.

Consequences of the Battle on the Ice

While the losses of the Russian losses are not known with sufficient accuracy, it has been established that about 400 crusaders were killed and another 50 were captured. After the battle, Alexander offered generous peace terms, which were quickly accepted by Herman and his allies. The defeats on the Neva and Lake Peipsi actually stopped the attempts of the West to subjugate Novgorod. Based on a minor event, the Battle of the Ice subsequently became the basis of Russia's anti-Western ideology. This legend was promoted by the film Alexander Nevskiy, filmed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1938.

The legend and iconography of the Battle of the Ice was used for propaganda purposes during World War II as a description of the defense of Russia against German invaders.

Map 1239-1245

The Rhymed Chronicle specifically says that twenty knights died and six were taken prisoner. The discrepancy in assessments can be explained by the fact that the Chronicle has in mind only the “brothers” - knights, not taking into account their squads, in this case, out of 400 Germans who fell on the ice of Lake Peipsi, twenty were real “brothers” - knights, and of 50 prisoners were “brothers” 6.

The Chronicle of the Grandmasters (Die jungere Hochmeisterchronik, sometimes translated as Chronicle of the Teutonic Order), the semi-official history of the Teutonic Order, written much later, speaks of the death of 70 order knights (literally "70 order gentlemen", "seuentich Ordens Herenn" ), but unites those killed during the capture of Pskov by Alexander and on Lake Peipsi.

The immediate place of the battle, according to the conclusions of the expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the leadership of Karaev, can be considered a section of Lake Warm, located 400 meters west of the modern coast of Cape Sigovets, between its northern tip and the latitude of the village of Ostrov.

Consequences

In 1243, the Teutonic Order concluded a peace treaty with Novgorod and officially renounced all claims to Russian lands. Despite this, ten years later the Teutons tried to re-capture Pskov. Wars with Novgorod continued.

According to the traditional point of view in Russian historiography, this battle, together with the victories of Prince Alexander over the Swedes (July 15, 1240 on the Neva) and over the Lithuanians (in 1245 near Toropets, near Lake Zhiztsa and near Usvyat), was of great importance for Pskov and Novgorod. , holding back the onslaught of three serious enemies from the west - at the very time when the rest of Russia was greatly weakened by the Mongol invasion. In Novgorod, the Battle of the Ice, together with the Neva victory over the Swedes, was recalled in the 16th century at litanies in all Novgorod churches.

However, even in the Rhymed Chronicle, the Battle of the Ice is unambiguously described as a defeat for the Germans, in contrast to Rakovor.

Memory of the battle

Films

• In 1938, Sergei Eisenstein shot the feature film "Alexander Nevsky", in which the Battle of the Ice was filmed. The film is considered one of the brightest representatives of historical films. It was he who, in many respects, formed the idea of ​​the battle in the modern viewer.
• In 1992, a documentary film "In memory of the past and in the name of the future" was shot. The film tells about the creation of a monument to Alexander Nevsky for the 750th anniversary of the Battle of the Ice.
• In 2009, the joint efforts of the Russian, Canadian and Japanese studios shot the full-length anime film "First Squad", where the Battle of the Ice plays a key role in the plot setting.

Music

• The musical score for Eisenstein's film, written by Sergei Prokofiev, is a symphonic suite dedicated to the events of the battle.
• The rock group Aria on the album "Hero of Asphalt" (1987) released the song " Ballad about an ancient Russian warrior", Telling about the Battle of the Ice. This song has gone through a lot various treatments and reprints.

Literature

• Poem by Konstantin Simonov "Battle on the Ice" (1938)

Monuments

Monument to the squads of Alexander Nevsky on the town of Sokolikha

Monument to the squads of Alexander Nevsky on the town of Sokolikha in Pskov

Monument to Alexander Nevsky and Poklonny cross

A bronze bow cross was cast in St. Petersburg at the expense of patrons of the Baltic Steel Group (A. V. Ostapenko). The prototype was the Novgorod Alekseevsky cross. The author of the project is A. A. Seleznev. A bronze sign was cast under the leadership of D. Gochiyayev by the foundry workers of ZAO "NTTSKT", architects B. Kostygov and S. Kryukov. During the implementation of the project, fragments from the lost wooden cross by sculptor V. Reshchikov were used.

In philately and on coins

Due to the incorrect calculation of the date of the battle according to the new style, the Day of Military Glory of Russia is the Day of the victory of Russian soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky over the crusaders (established by Federal Law No. 32-FZ of March 13, 1995 "On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia") April 18 instead of the correct April 12 in the new style. The difference between the old (Julian) and new (first introduced in 1582 by the Gregorian) style in the 13th century would have been 7 days (counting from April 5, 1242), and the difference of 13 days is used only for dates 1900-2100. Therefore, this day of military glory of Russia (April 18 according to the new style in the XX-XXI centuries) is actually celebrated according to the currently corresponding to it on April 5 according to the old style.

Due to the variability of the hydrography of Lake Peipsi, historians for a long time could not accurately determine the place where the Battle on the Ice took place. Only thanks to long-term research carried out by the expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (under the leadership of G. N. Karaev) was the site of the battle established. The battle site is immersed in water in summer and is located about 400 meters from the island of Sigovets.

see also

Notes (edit)

Literature

• Lipitsky S.V. Battle on the Ice. - M .: Military Publishing, 1964 .-- 68 p. - (The heroic past of our Motherland).
• Mansikka V.Y. Life of Alexander Nevsky: Analysis of editions and text. - SPb., 1913. - "Monuments of ancient writing." - Issue. 180.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky / Prep. text, translation and comm. V.I. Okhotnikova // Literature Monuments of Ancient Russia: XIII century. - M .: Publishing house of Art. literature, 1981.
• Yu.K. Runners Monument of Russian literature of the XIII century: "The Word about the death of the Russian land" - M.-L .: Nauka, 1965.
• Pashuto V.T. Alexander Nevsky - M .: Young Guard, 1974 .-- 160 p. - Series "Life of Remarkable People".
• Karpov A. Yu. Alexander Nevsky - Moscow: Young Guard, 2010 .-- 352 p. - Series "Life of Remarkable People".
• Khitrov M. Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky. Detailed biography. - Minsk: Panorama, 1991 .-- 288 p. - Reprint ed.
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