I’d rather not follow the fashion of rebuking authorities or invent something that cannot be corroborated by the available sources. The best and most historically veritable work about that epoch is the Alexander Nevsky movie that hit the screens in 1938.
This is no wonder given that no new documents about those heroic days have been discovered in the archives or during the excavations. Yet there are all kind of fables, one of them saying that Batu Khan sent his heavily armed warriors, who decided the battle.
This could happen theoretically even as the Mongol or Anglo-American troops could theoretically appear in the Moscow vicinity and be somehow taken for Siberian divisions. Aliens could also theoretically interfere in the battle. But this just NEVER occurred. Incidentally, the son of two poets Professor Lev Gumilev did not conceal the fact that he wrote many things in his books following the “why not?” principle.
Almost every version that is now passed off as a sensation I already read about back in my early years. True, the situation was more complicated and ambiguous, as is often the case in real life. Some of the Pskov and Novgorod dwellers indeed were not only willing to form an alliance with the Livonian Order, but also to accept its power, which is incidentally reflected in the above-mentioned movie. But even in 1941 quite a few were ready to acknowledge the power of Hitler and even take the oath of allegiance. Among the most notorious personalities are Vlasov, Krasnov and Shkuro. Like these fellows, Mayor Tverdilo of Ancient Pskov who opened the city’s gates for the Crusaders in 1240, also went down in history.
Perhaps he wanted a better fate for his countrymen.
Yet in those days and again 900 years later the Germans came to Rus for reasons less noble than to offer Bavarian beer with sausages to the locals. The first time there were several thousand warriors fighting instead of millions. One of the reasons was that the population was not so numerous then, which is confirmed by numerous annals.
Why is the campaign of 1241-42, which climaxed in the Battle of on the Ice, so glorified?
Alexander Nevsky who reclaimed Pskov and defeated the Teutonic Order’s knights in spring 1242 also inspired hope that Rus was still alive, that our cause was noble, and that the victory would be ours.
It is for this reason that the Battle of the Ice remained in people’s memory, and not only due to the personality of Alexander Nevsky who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church and started the dynasty of Moscow princes who eventually united Rus and defeated both the Golden Horde and the Livonian Order. Incidentally, the first Moscow prince Daniil who ruled Moscow for 40 years was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky!
The historical paradox is that nobody did more for the publicity of the Battle of on the Ice and St. Alexander Nevsky than former seminary student Josef Stalin, who sanctioned the release of the famous film. The recent Internet survey of the Name of Russia project placed these two men side by side in terms of popularity.
It should be noted, however, that the Battle of the Ice was just one of many other battles, no less bloody and glorious for Russian forces.
In fact the very existence of the Russian world’s independent isle was then at stake. For a greater part of Russ was devastated by the Tatar invasion. Those Western lands that had not been affected by Batu Khan’s campaign were ready to swear allegiance to the pagan albeit familiar Lithuania, which was getting ever more powerful, to be warranted autonomy and at least some protection against the inroads of ruthless nomads.
Pskov had already fallen in the Northwest and Novgorod was jeopardized too. Russian lands seemed to be perishing.
Noteworthy among the conflicts that had been raging in the Russian Northwest for ages is the Battle of Rakovor that took place on February 18, 1268, on the territory of modern-day Estonia, then ruled by Denmark, near the town of Rakvere on the Kijula River. As can be judged by the sources, it was much fiercer than the Battle of Peipus. It is after the German-Danish forces were smashed by Russian bands of men that the order could no longer threaten the Russian veche republics supported by the forces of Northwest principalities. Interestingly enough, one of our generals in that battle was a native of Lithuania, Prince of Pskov Dovmont (Daumantas), the husband of Alexander Nevsky’s granddaughter. Afterwards he was canonized for his exploits by the Russian Orthodox Church, like his father-in-law.
It would be stupid to challenge the historical importance of the Battle on the Ice which helped rebuff another east-bound onslaught. We gained a momentous victory and all the rest are just details and interpretations that play no fundamental role, however amusing and curious they might be.
Yuri Moskovsky, historian and sociologist, member of the Union of Russian Writers and the Guild of Journalists
Source: Russian People’s Line
