Battle of Ice: Nevsky Repels Teutonic Knights on Frozen Lake
Alexander Nevsky positioned his forces on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus on April 5, 1242, deliberately luring the heavily armored Teutonic Knights onto ice that could barely support their weight. The Knights' signature wedge formation, the Schweinekopf, punched into the Russian center but became trapped when Nevsky's flanking cavalry closed behind them. Contemporary sources describe knights breaking through the ice and drowning in their armor. The battle halted the Northern Crusades' eastward push into Novgorod and preserved Russian Orthodox Christianity against Catholic expansion. Nevsky later became a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church and a symbol of Russian resistance against Western aggression for eight centuries.
April 5, 1242
784 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Russia
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Teutonic Knights
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Battle of the Ice
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Lake Peipus
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Alexander Nevsky
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Russian
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Battle on the Ice
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Lake Peipus
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Novgorod Republic
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Alexander Nevsky
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Teutonic Order
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Saint Petersburg
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Veliky Novgorod
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Livonian Brothers of the Sword
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Russia
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