Alexander Nevsky Defeats the Teutonic Knights
The defeat of the Teutonic Knights by Alexander Nevsky on April 5, 1242, is a pivotal moment in Russian history, symbolizing the struggle for national independence. Alexander, born around 1219, was a prince of Novgorod and a prominent military leader who first gained fame by defeating Swedish forces in 1240. The Teutonic Knights, a powerful German military and religious order, sought to expand their territory into northern Russia, threatening the local Orthodox Christian population. On the frozen Lake Chud, Nevsky's forces achieved a decisive victory against the knights, securing the autonomy of Novgorod and marking a significant triumph against Western encroachment.
Following this victory, Alexander faced a new challenge from the Mongols, leading him to adopt a strategy of cooperation rather than confrontation. He later became grand prince of Kiev and was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547, celebrated as a national hero. His legacy has been immortalized in culture, notably in the 1938 film "Alexander Nevsky," which portrays his valor against foreign invaders. Today, he remains a symbol of Russian resilience and is honored for his contributions to both the defense of the nation and the Orthodox Church.
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Alexander Nevsky Defeats the Teutonic Knights
Alexander Nevsky Defeats the Teutonic Knights
On April 5, 1242, Alexander Nevsky, a Russian prince, won a stunning victory against the Teutonic Knights, a formidable group of invaders from the West who were determined to annex northern Russia to their lands in Europe. Considered a national hero even in his own time, he is still honored as the defender of Russia's independence and of its national Orthodox Church.
Alexander Nevsky was born Alexander Yaroslavich in roughly 1219, although the exact date is uncertain. He was the second son of Grand Prince Yaroslav II of the medieval Russian state of Vladimir-Suzdal. Alexander was elected prince of the city of Novgorod, an important Russian principality located not far from modern-day St. Petersburg, in 1236. He earned the honorific Nevsky after he defeated a marauding Swedish army in 1240 near the conjunction of the Neva and Izhora rivers.
At the time, Russia was still part of the barbarous eastern frontier of Europe. Many of the peoples in eastern Europe were still pagans, although Christianity had reached Russia and Alexander himself was a Christian. European invaders such as the Swedes sought to both conquer and Christianize the lands to the east. One particularly powerful threat to Russia was the Order of the Teutonic Knights, a German military and religious order founded in 1190 during the Crusades in the Middle East. The knights received official papal sanction in 1199 from Pope Innocent III and in 1226 were given most of the region that later constituted Prussia (modern-day northern Germany) by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. The Teutonic Knights either converted, killed, or expelled the local population, who were mostly pagan Slavs, and brought in many German settlers. Their ranks swelled, and in 1234 Pope Gregory IX promised to grant the order any additional lands that they conquered from the Slavs to their east. The papacy made little distinction between pagan Slavs and those like Alexander who were Orthodox Christians, since the Orthodox Church did not recognize the Catholic popes in Rome. Building enormous castles and fortresses to protect their new domains and to operate as forward military bases, the Teutonic Knights began to push eastwards, and by the 1240s they were invading Russia.
Alexander, who had met with some trouble in Novgorod for excessive interference in local affairs after his victory against the Swedes, was called upon by its people to lead their armies once again. A brilliant military leader, he met the Teutonic Knights on the frozen surface of Lake Chud (now known as Lake Peipus, in the modern-day Estonia) on April 5, 1242, and defeated them. It was a decisive victory and secured the freedom of Novgorod and northern Russia from European invaders.
After the victory over the Germans, the next threat against Russia came from the Mongols, who invaded from the east just a few years later. Rather than do battle with this seemingly unstoppable force, Alexander decided to cooperate with the Mongols, who made him grand prince of Kiev in 1246 and Prince of Vladimir in 1252. He died on November 14, 1263. His son, Daniel, would later become ruler of Moscow, today the capital of Russia.
Alexander was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547; his feast day is September 12. He became one of Russia's great national heroes, and his splendidly decorated tomb may be seen in St. Petersburg. The Russian cinema classic Alexander Nevsky (1938), directed by Sergei Eisenstein with music by Sergei Prokofiev, shows him at his most heroic, leading his people in battle against the Teutonic Knights; the film was an early Soviet response to the threat posed by Nazi Germany.