Battle on Lake Peipus

Battle on the Ice

Part of the Northern Crusades

Depiction of the battle in the late 16th century illuminated manuscript Life of Alexander Nevsky

Date

April 5, 1242

Location

Lake Peipus, between Estonia and Russia

Result

Decisive Novgorodian victory

Teutonic order dropped all territorial claims over Russian lands

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Hermann of Dorpat

Strength

5,000

2,600

Casualties and losses

No exact figures

Livonian Rhymed Chronicle:
20 knights killed
6 knights captured
Novgorod First Chronicle:
400 Germans killed
50 Germans imprisoned

"Countless" Estonians killed

Decisive Novgorodian victory

Livonian Rhymed Chronicle:
20 knights killed
6 knights captured
Novgorod First Chronicle:
400 Germans killed
50 Germans imprisoned

The Battle on the Ice (Russian: Ледовое побоище, Ledovoye poboish'ye; German: Schlacht auf dem Eise; Estonian: Jäälahing; German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee; Russian: битва на Чудском озере, bitva na Chudskom ozere) was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by prince Alexander Nevsky and the crusader army led by the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights on April 5, 1242, at Lake Peipus. The battle is notable for having been fought largely on the frozen lake, and this gave the battle its name.

The battle was a significant defeat sustained by the crusaders during the Northern Crusades, which were directed against pagans and Eastern Orthodox Christians rather than Muslims in the Holy Land. The Crusaders' defeat in the battle marked the end of their campaigns against the Orthodox Novgorod Republic and other Slavic territories for the next century.

The event was glorified in Sergei Eisenstein's historical drama film Alexander Nevsky, released in 1938, which created a popular image of the battle often mistaken for the real events. Sergei Prokofiev turned his score for the film into a concert cantata of the same title, with "The Battle on the Ice" being its longest movement.

...
Wikipedia