The name of Alexander Nevsky is known in our days to every schoolboy. This image today is associated with us with valor, the military successes of the Slavs in the Middle Ages, the successful defense of Russian territories and Orthodoxy.
A brief biography of Alexander Nevsky
Alexander was the second son of the Kiev and Vladimir prince Yaroslav, and also Grandson of the famous Prince of Galicia and Novgorod Mstislav Udatny. Already at an early age Alexander takes prince's tonsure - a symbolic dedication of the warrior, defender of the Orthodox faith. Almost all his childhood the young prince spends in Novgorod. In the same city, and begins his reign as governor of his father, Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Alexander's achievement of that age, when he could already fully lead the squad to battle, coincided with turbulent times in the northwest of Russian lands. This was the era of the Crusades, directed not only against the Saracens of the East, but also against Orthodox Christians. Knightly Catholic armies in the second half of the 1230s did not break into the north-western lands, plundering the local population and seizing territory.
The Battle of Alexander Nevsky with the Swedes
Like many princes of medieval Rus, Alexander spent much of his life in military campaigns. Thus, the confrontation of 1240 with the Swedes on the Neva River gave him the proper nickname, which we all know today. This massacre was the result of many years of conflict between Novgorod and the Swedish state for controlling the territories of Izhora and the Karelian Isthmus, as well as power over the tribes inhabiting these lands. Each of the parties sought to baptize the Gentiles in their own way. The Novgorod chronicle brings to us the glorious victory of the Russian squadron . However, the course of the battle is told very briefly. Be that as it may, this battle of Alexander Nevsky stopped the advance of the Swedes to the south and gave the princes the opportunity to gather strength for decisive battles with other opponents. Perhaps the more serious threat was the German crusaders of the Livonian and Teutonic Order.
Battle of Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipsi
This episode of military history is better known as the Battle of the Ice. Terrible Opponents were the knights of the Teutonic Order, chained to heavy armor. The talented commander built his army in such a way that he managed to surround the flanks of his opponents in the course of the battle and make them squabble. The result of this battle is well known. Ice Peipsi Lake could not withstand the load of the army retreating heavily armed soldiers, as a result of which many of them found their death in cold water. The Battle of Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipsi made it possible to preserve the cultural appearance of Russia, without letting the Western European cultural paradigms be imposed on the local population, like Poles, Czechs or Croats. Especially important is the feat of the Grand Duke in the light of the fact that it was during this period that Russia was greatly weakened by the Mongol invasion. Much of the biography of the commander of the current historians draw from the most valuable document of the thirteenth century, called "The Life of St. Alexander Nevsky." This document was written, apparently, by one of the monks of the monastery in Vladimir, where the relics of the canonized prince were buried.