During the campaign, an additional goal was the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims.

Initially, the pope's appeal was addressed only to the French knighthood, but later the campaign turned into a full-scale military campaign, and its idea covered all the Christian states of Western Europe.

Feudal lords and ordinary people of all nationalities advanced to the East by land and sea, along the way liberating the western part of Asia Minor from the power of the Seljuk Turks and eliminating the Muslim threat to Byzantium, and in July 1099 they conquered Jerusalem.

During the 1st Crusade, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other Christian states were founded, which are united under the name of the Latin East.

Background to the conflict

One of the reasons for the crusade was the call for help made by the Byzantine Emperor Alexei I to the Pope.

This call was due to several circumstances. In 1071, the army of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes was defeated by the Seljuk Turk Sultan Alp Arslan in the defeat of Manzikert.

This battle and the subsequent overthrow of Romanus IV Diogenes led to the outbreak of civil war in Byzantium, which did not subside until 1081, when Alexius Comnenus ascended the throne.

By this time, various leaders of the Seljuk Turks had managed to take advantage of the fruits of the civil strife in Constantinople and captured a significant part of the territory of the Anatolian plateau.

In the first years of his reign, Alexei Komnenos was forced to wage a constant struggle on two fronts - against the Normans of Sicily, who were advancing in the west and against the Seljuk Turks in the east. The Balkan possessions of the Byzantine Empire were also subjected to devastating raids by the Cumans.

In this situation, Alexey quite often used the help of mercenaries from Western Europe, whom the Byzantines called Franks or Celts. The empire's generals highly valued the fighting qualities of European cavalry and used mercenaries as shock troops. Their corps needed constant reinforcements.

In 1093-94. Alexei apparently sent the Pope a request for help in hiring the next corps. It is possible that this request served as the basis for the call for a Crusade.

Another reason could have been rumors that reached the West about the atrocities that were happening in Palestine.

At this point, the Middle East found itself on the front line between the Great Seljuk Sultanate (which occupied a significant part of the territory of modern Iran and Syria) and the Fatimid state of Egypt.

The Seljuks were supported mainly by Sunni Muslims, the Fatimids - mainly by Shiite Muslims.

There was no one to protect Christian minorities in Palestine and Syria, and during the hostilities, representatives of some of them were subjected to looting and devastation. This could have given rise to rumors about terrible atrocities committed by Muslims in Palestine.

In addition, Christianity was born in the Middle East: the first Christian communities existed in this territory, most Christian shrines were located in this territory, since Christians believe that it was in the Middle East that the Gospel events took place. For this reason, Christians considered this land theirs.

But at the end of the 6th century. Mohammed (570-632) unites the Arabs and inspires them to embark on a campaign of conquest to create an Arab-Muslim empire.

Syria and Palestine are given to them by victories at Ajenadein (634) and Yarmouk (636). Jerusalem was occupied in 638, Alexandria in 643, and soon after Egypt all of North Africa was conquered. Cyprus occupied in 680

Only in the 10th century. Byzantium recaptures part of the lost territories. The islands of Crete and Cyprus were recaptured by Nikephoros Phocas in 961 and 965. He also makes a cavalry raid into Syria (968) and occupies Kholm, Tripoli and the Lattakie region.

His associate Michael Burtzes recaptures Alep (969). John Timishaeus takes Damascus and Antioch, but Jerusalem remains in the power of the Fatimid emir. Securing northern Syria for himself, Emperor Basil II does not feel strong enough to stand up for Christians, against whom Caliph Al-Hakim begins persecution (1009-1010), which continues until the Crusades. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was almost completely destroyed. In 1030-31, Ephesus was recaptured from the Arabs.

In the second half of the 11th century. (between 1078 and 1081) the Turks appeared in Asia Minor, creating a number of small kingdoms of the Seljuk Turks. (Damascus, Aleppo, etc.) The Arabs also attempted to conquer the Latin (Western) world (Spain in the 8th century, Southern Italy in the 9th century, piracy of the Arab countries of North Africa).

As a result, Christians began to develop the idea that they needed to protect their brothers from persecution and return lost lands and shrines.

The calls of the Pope, the frantic sermons of Peter the Hermit and other religious figures caused an unprecedented upsurge. Campaigns were quickly prepared in different places in France, Germany and Italy. In addition, thousands of people spontaneously gathered into groups and moved to the East.

During the second half of the 1st millennium, Muslims conquered most of North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Spain and many other territories.

However, by the time of the Crusades, the Muslim world was divided internally, there were constant internecine wars between the rulers of various territorial entities, and even the religion itself had undergone a split into several movements and sects. External opponents, including Christian states in the West, did not fail to take advantage of this. Thus, the Reconquista in Spain, the Norman conquest of Sicily and the attacks of the Normans on the North African coast, the conquests of Pisa, Genoa and Aragon in Mallorca and Sardinia and the military actions of Christian rulers against Muslims at sea clearly demonstrated the direction of Western European foreign policy at the end of the 11th century.

Also a significant role was played by the desire of the Pope to increase his power through the formation of new states in the occupied territories that would depend on the Pope. Then it happened. Although the Western Europeans looted a lot of gold, they suffered huge moral and human sacrifices for those times, and the Muslims lost twice as much, and subsequently a crisis began for them.

Western Europe

The idea of ​​the first crusade in particular and the entire crusader movement in general originates in the situation that developed in Western Europe after the end of the early Middle Ages. After the division of the Carolingian Empire and the conversion of the warlike Hungarians and Vikings to Christianity, relative stability came. However, over the previous few centuries, a whole class of warriors had formed in Europe, who, now that the borders of states were no longer threatened by serious danger from the outside, had to use their forces in internecine conflicts and pacify peasant revolts. Blessing the crusade, Pope Urban II said: “Whoever is destitute and poor here will be joyful and rich!”

Continuous military conflicts with Muslims allowed the idea of ​​a Holy War against Islam to flourish. When Muslims occupied Jerusalem - the heart of the Christian religion - Pope Gregory VII in 1074 called for the soldiers of Christ (Latin milites Christi) to go to the East and help Byzantium, which three years earlier had suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Manzikert, recapture the sacred lands. The pope's appeal was ignored by chivalry, but nevertheless drew attention to events in the East and provoked a wave of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Soon, reports began to come in about the abuse and persecution to which pilgrims were subjected by Muslims on their way to Jerusalem and other holy cities. News of the oppression of the pilgrims caused a wave of indignation among Christians.

At the beginning of March 1095, an embassy from Emperor Alexei Komnenos arrived at the cathedral in Piacenza with a request to provide Byzantium assistance in the fight against the Seljuks.

On November 26, 1095, a council was held in the French city of Clermont, at which, in front of the nobility and clergy, Pope Urban II made a passionate speech, calling on those gathered to go to the East and liberate Jerusalem from Muslim rule. This call fell on fertile ground, since the ideas of the Crusade were already popular among the people of Western European states, and the campaign could be organized at any time. The pope's speech only outlined the aspirations of a large group of Western European Catholics.

Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire had many enemies on its borders. So, in 1090-1091 it was threatened by the Pechenegs, but their onslaught was repulsed with the help of the Polovtsians and Slavs. At the same time, the Turkish pirate Chaka, dominating the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Bosphorus, harassed the coast near Constantinople with his raids. Considering that by this time most of Anatolia had been captured by the Seljuk Turks, and the Byzantine army suffered a serious defeat from them in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert, then the Byzantine Empire was in a state of crisis, and there was a threat of its complete destruction. The peak of the crisis came in the winter of 1090/1091, when the pressure of the Pechenegs on the one hand and the related Seljuks on the other threatened to cut off Constantinople from the outside world.

In this situation, Emperor Alexei Comnenus conducted diplomatic correspondence with the rulers of Western European countries (the most famous correspondence with Robert of Flanders), calling on them for help and showing the plight of the empire. There have also been a number of steps to bring the Orthodox and Catholic churches closer together. These circumstances aroused interest in the West. However, by the beginning of the Crusade, Byzantium had already overcome a deep political and military crisis and had been in a period of relative stability since about 1092. The Pecheneg horde was defeated, the Seljuks did not conduct active campaigns against the Byzantines, and on the contrary, the emperor often resorted to the help of mercenary detachments consisting of Turks and Pechenegs to pacify his enemies. But in Europe they believed that the situation of the empire was disastrous, counting on the humiliating position of the emperor. This calculation turned out to be incorrect, which subsequently led to many contradictions in Byzantine-Western European relations.

Muslim world

Most of Anatolia on the eve of the Crusade was in the hands of the nomadic tribes of the Seljuk Turks and the Seljuk Sultan Rum, who adhered to the Sunni movement in Islam. Some tribes in many cases did not recognize even the nominal authority of the Sultan over themselves, or enjoyed broad autonomy.

By the end of the 11th century, the Seljuks pushed Byzantium within its borders, occupying almost all of Anatolia after defeating the Byzantines in the decisive battle of Manzikert in 1071.

However, the Turks were more concerned with solving internal problems than with the war with Christians. The constantly renewed conflict with the Shiites and the civil war that broke out over the rights of succession to the Sultan's title attracted much more attention from the Seljuk rulers.

On the territory of Syria and Lebanon, Muslim semi-autonomous city-states pursued a policy relatively independent of the empires, guided primarily by their regional rather than general Muslim interests.

Egypt and most of Palestine were controlled by Shiites from the Fatimid dynasty. A significant part of their empire was lost after the arrival of the Seljuks, and therefore Alexei Komnenos advised the crusaders to enter into an alliance with the Fatimids against a common enemy.

In 1076, under Caliph al-Mustali, the Seljuks captured Jerusalem, but in 1098, when the Crusaders had already moved to the East, the Fatimids recaptured the city.

The Fatimids hoped to see in the Crusaders a force that would influence the course of politics in the Middle East against the interests of the Seljuks, the eternal enemy of the Shiites, and from the very beginning of the campaign they played a subtle diplomatic game.

In general, Muslim countries underwent a period of deep political vacuum after the death of virtually all leading leaders at approximately the same time. In 1092, the Seljuk wazir Nizam al-Mulk and Sultan Malik Shah died, then in 1094 the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadi and the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir died.

Both in the east and in Egypt, a fierce struggle for power began. The civil war among the Seljuks led to the complete decentralization of Syria and the formation of small, warring city-states there. The Fatimid Empire also had internal problems.

Christians of the East

The Catholic Church vilely propagated the cruel treatment of Christians by Muslims.

In fact, many of the Christians in the East, contrary to the opinion of the church, did not become slaves (with some exceptions), and were also able to maintain their religion. This was the case in the possessions of the Seljuk Turks and cities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Therefore, the arguments of the Catholic Church about the plight of their “brothers” in the East are partially incorrect.

This is evidenced by the fact that when the first detachments of the crusaders entered the territory of the Turks, the majority of the local population were Christians, while Muslims preferred to coexist peacefully with Christians.

Chronology of campaign events

Peasants' Crusade

Urban II set the start of the crusade on August 15 (the Feast of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary) 1096. However, long before this, an army of peasants and small knights independently advanced to Jerusalem, led by the Amiens monk Peter the Hermit, a talented orator and preacher.

The scale of this spontaneous popular movement was enormous. While the Pope (Roman Patriarch) expected to attract only a few thousand knights to the campaign, Peter the Hermit in March 1096 led a crowd of thousands - consisting, however, for the most part of unarmed poor people who set off on the journey with their wives and children .

This is huge (according to objective estimates, several tens of thousands (~ 50-60 thousand) poor people took part in the Campaign in several “armies”, of which more than 35 thousand people concentrated in Constantinople, and up to 30 thousand crossed to Asia Minor) unorganized The horde encountered its first difficulties in Eastern Europe.

Leaving their native lands, people did not have time (and many simply could not because of their poverty) to stock up on provisions, since they set off too early and did not catch the rich harvest of 1096, which occurred in Western Europe for the first time after several years of drought and famine.

Therefore, they expected that the Christian cities of Eastern Europe would provide them with food and everything they needed free of charge (as was always the case in the Middle Ages for pilgrims going to the Holy Land), or they would supply provisions at a reasonable price.

However, Bulgaria, Hungary and other countries through which the route of the poor ran did not always agree to such conditions, and therefore conflicts broke out between the local residents and the rampaging militias who forcibly took away their food.

Descending the Danube, the participants of the campaign plundered and devastated the Hungarian lands, for which they were attacked by a united army of Bulgarians, Hungarians and Byzantines near Nis.

About a quarter of the militia were killed, but the rest reached Constantinople by August without any losses. There, the followers of Peter the Hermit were joined by armies that advanced from Italy and France. Soon, the crusader poor who flooded the city began to organize riots and pogroms in Constantinople, and Emperor Alexei had no choice but to transport them across the Bosphorus.

Once in Asia Minor, the participants in the campaign quarreled and split into two separate armies.

The Seljuks who attacked them had a significant advantage - they were more experienced and organized warriors and, moreover, unlike Christians, they knew the terrain very well, so soon almost all the militia, many of whom had never held a weapon in their hands and did not have serious weapons, they were killed.

This 1st battle in the north-west of Asia Minor at Dorileum, “in the Valley of the Dragon”, can hardly be called a battle - the Seljuk cavalry attacked and destroyed the first smaller group of poor crusaders, and then fell on their main forces.

Almost all the pilgrims died from the arrows or sabers of the Seljuk Turks; the Muslims did not spare anyone - neither women, nor children, nor the elderly, of whom there were many among the “would-be crusaders” and for whom it was impossible to get good money when sold on the market as slaves.

Of the approximately 30 thousand participants in the Beggars' March, only a few dozen people managed to reach the Byzantine possessions, approximately 25-27 thousand were killed, and 3-4 thousand, mostly young girls and boys, were captured and sold to Muslim bazaars of Asia Minor. The military leader of the Poor People's March, knight Walter Golyak, died in the battle of Dorileum.

The spiritual leader of the “would-be crusaders” Peter the Hermit, who managed to escape, later joined the main army of the 1st Crusade. Soon the approaching Byzantine corps was only able to build a hill up to 30 meters high from the bodies of fallen Christians and perform the funeral ceremony for the fallen.

German Crusade

Although anti-Semitic sentiments reigned in Europe for many centuries, it was during the 1st Crusade that the first mass persecution of Jews occurred.

In May 1096, a German army of about 10,000 people, led by the petty French knight Gautier the Beggar, Count Emicho of Leiningen and the knight Volkmar, went north through the Rhine valley - in the opposite direction from Jerusalem - and carried out massacres of Jews in Mainz, Cologne, Bamberg and other cities in Germany.

The preachers of the crusade only fueled anti-Semitic sentiments. People perceived calls to fight Jews and Muslims - the main enemies of Christianity, according to churchmen - as a direct guide to violence and pogroms.

In France and Germany, Jews were considered the main culprits in the crucifixion of Christ, and since they were incomparably closer than distant Muslims, people wondered - why go on a dangerous journey to the East if you can punish the enemy at home?

Often the Crusaders gave Jews a choice - convert to Christianity or die. The majority preferred false renunciation to death, and in the Jewish communities, which received news of the tyranny of the crusaders, there were frequent cases of mass renunciation and suicide.

According to the chronicle of Solomon bar Simeon, “one killed his brother, the other killed his parents, wife and children, grooms killed their brides, mothers killed their children.” Despite attempts by local clergy and secular authorities to prevent the violence, thousands of Jews were killed.

To justify their actions, the crusaders cited the words of Pope Urban II, who at the Council of Clermont called for punishing with the sword not only Muslims, but also everyone who professed any other religion other than Christianity.

Outbreaks of aggression against Jews were observed throughout the history of the Crusades, despite the fact that the church officially condemned the massacres of civilians and advised not to destroy non-believers, but to convert them to Christianity.

The Jews of Europe, for their part, also tried to resist the crusaders - they organized self-defense units, or hired mercenaries to protect their neighborhoods, and tried to negotiate protection with the local hierarchs of the Catholic Church.

Also, the Jews warned about the advance of the next detachments of crusaders of their brothers and even Muslims in Asia Minor and North. Africa and even collected funds that were sent through Jewish communities to increase the economic power of Muslim emirs, who actively fought against the invasions of Christian Europeans and tolerated Jews.

Nobility Crusade

After the defeat of the army of the poor and the massacre of Jews in August 1096, knighthood finally set out on a campaign under the leadership of powerful nobles from different regions of Europe.

Count Raymond of Toulouse, together with the papal legate Adhémar of Monteillo, Bishop of Le Puy, led the knights of Provence.

The Normans of Southern Italy were led by Prince Bohemond of Tarentum and his nephew Tancred. The brothers Godfrey of Boulogne, Eustache of Boulogne and Baldwin of Boulogne were the military leaders of the Lorraineers, and the soldiers of Northern France were led by Count Robert of Flanders, Robert of Normandy (eldest son of William the Conqueror and brother of William the Red, king of England), Count Stephen of Blois and Hugh of Vermandois (son of Anne of Kiev and younger brother of Philip I, King of France).

Road to Jerusalem

The guide of the crusaders through Asia Minor was the Armenian prince Bagrat, brother of the ruler of the largest Armenian principality in the Euphrates region, Vasil Gokh. Mateos Urhaetsi reports that with the departure of the Crusader army from Nicaea, letters informing about this were sent to the ruler of Mountain Cilicia, Constantine Rubenides, and the ruler of Edessa, Thoros. Crossing Asia at the height of summer, the warriors suffered from heat, lack of water and provisions. Some, unable to withstand the hardships of the campaign, died, and many horses died.

From time to time, the crusaders received help with money and food from brothers in faith - both from local Christians and from those remaining in Europe - but for the most part they had to get food on their own, ravaging the lands through which their path ran.

The leaders of the crusade continued to challenge each other for leadership, but none of them had enough authority to take on the role of a full-fledged leader.

The spiritual leader of the campaign was, of course, Adhémar of Monteil, Bishop of Le Pu

When the crusaders passed the Cilician Gates, Baldwin of Boulogne left the army. With a small detachment of warriors, he set out on his own route through Cilicia and at the beginning of 1098 arrived in Edessa, where he won the trust of the local ruler Thoros and was appointed his successor.

In the same year, Thoros, as a result of a conspiracy with the participation of Baldwin, was killed.

The goal of the crusade was declared to be the fight against the “infidels” for the liberation from their power of the “Holy Sepulcher” in Jerusalem, and the first victim of the crusaders was the ruler of Christian Edessa, Thoros, with whose overthrow and murder the counties of Edessa were formed - the first crusader state in the Middle East .

Siege of Nicaea

In 1097, the crusading troops, having defeated the army of the Turkish Sultan, began the siege of Nicaea.

The Byzantine emperor, Alexius I Komnenos, suspected that the crusaders, having taken the city, would not give it to him (according to the vassal oath of the crusaders (1097), the crusaders had to give the captured cities and territories to him, Alexius).

And, after it became clear that Nicaea would fall sooner or later, Emperor Alexius sent envoys to the city demanding that it surrender to him.

The townspeople were forced to agree, and on June 19, when the crusaders prepared to storm the city, they were distressed to discover that they had been greatly “helped” by the Byzantine army.

Siege of Antioch

In the autumn, the Crusader army reached Antioch, which stood halfway between Constantinople and Jerusalem, and on October 21, 1097, besieged the city.

On Monday, June 28, the crusaders, ready for battle, left the city - “the phalanxes, lined up in formations, stood opposite each other and were preparing to start the battle, the Count of Flanders dismounted from his horse and, prostrating himself three times on the ground, cried out to God for help.”

Then the chronicler Raymond of Agilsky carried the Holy Spear in front of the soldiers.

Kerboga, deciding that he could easily deal with the small enemy army, did not heed the advice of his generals and decided to attack the entire army, and not each division in turn. He resorted to cunning and gave the order to feign a retreat in order to lure the crusaders into a more difficult terrain for battle.

Dispersing across the surrounding hills, the Muslims, by order of Kerboga, set fire to the grass behind them and showered a hail of arrows on the pursuing Christians, and many warriors were killed (including the standard-bearer Ademar of Monteillo).

However, the inspired crusaders could not be stopped - they rushed “at the foreigners, like fire that sparkles in the sky and burns the mountains.”

Their zeal flared up to such an extent that many soldiers had a vision of Saints George, Demetrius and Maurice, galloping in the ranks of the Christian army.

The battle itself was short - when the crusaders finally caught up with Kerboga, the Seljuks panicked, “the advanced cavalry units fled, and many militias, volunteers who joined the ranks of fighters for the faith, burning with the desire to protect the Muslims, were put to the sword.”

The assault on Jerusalem began at dawn on July 14th. The Crusaders threw stones at the city from throwing machines, and the Muslims showered them with a hail of arrows and threw tarred nails from the walls.<…>pieces of wood, wrapping them in burning rags.”

The firing of stones, however, did not cause much harm to the city, since the Muslims protected the walls with sacks filled with cotton and bran, which softened the blow.

Under incessant shelling - as Guillaume of Tire writes, “arrows and darts rained down on people from both sides like hail” - the crusaders tried to move siege towers to the walls of Jerusalem, but they were hampered by the deep ditch surrounding the city, which they began to fill up on July 12.

The battle continued all day, but the city held out. As night fell, both sides remained awake - the Muslims feared that another attack would follow, and the Christians feared that the besieged would somehow manage to set fire to the siege engines.

On the morning of July 15, when the ditch was filled in, the crusaders were finally able to freely bring the towers closer to the fortress walls and set fire to the bags protecting them.

This became a turning point in the attack - the crusaders threw wooden bridges over the walls and rushed into the city.

The knight Letold was the first to break through, followed by Godfrey of Bouillon and Tancred of Tarentum.

Raymond of Toulouse, whose army was storming the city from the other side, learned about the breakthrough and also rushed to Jerusalem through the southern gate.

Seeing that the city had fallen, the emir of the Tower of David garrison surrendered and opened the Jaffa Gate.

From the very beginning, the crusades, the goal of which was declared to be the liberation of Christian shrines from infidels, presupposed the presence of serious opponents. Moreover, when it became obvious that the nature of the crusades had changed, as aimed primarily at conquering new lands and obtaining rich booty, the fight against the crusaders became even more fierce. The work of Alexander Nevsky is considered a classic example of the fight against the crusaders. . Moreover, it is characteristic that the crusaders acted as opponents of Nevsky in both of his famous battles.

The crusaders came not only from the west, but also from the north

It is well known that large European feudal lords and the Catholic Church used the Crusaders to advance eastward into the lands of the East Slavic and Baltic tribes. However, the threat from the crusaders to the northwestern Russian lands, to Novgorod and Pskov, came not only from the west, but also from the north. Since the end of the 12th century, there was a struggle between the Russians and the Swedes to establish influence over the Izhora lands. In the 13th century, this struggle intensified: the Swedes used the ideology of the Crusades for a military invasion of the Izhora lands (ostensibly for missionary purposes, to convert local pagan tribes to Christianity) and repeatedly ravaged the Novgorod lands themselves. One of these campaigns of the Swedish and Norwegian crusaders took place in the summer of 1240. The moment was chosen well: Rus' had just experienced a terrible invasion of the Mongol-Tatar army, and even the Novgorod and Pskov lands, where the invasion did not reach, were seriously weakened both from an economic and military point of view - in the event of an external danger, there was no help for them troops of other principalities could come.

The plot of the Battle of the Neva is known: the young Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich, who was in Novgorod as the plenipotentiary representative of his father, Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, having received news of the appearance of a detachment of crusaders, decided to act quickly. Usually in such cases, a lot of time was spent collecting a full-fledged militia, and the crusaders often relied on this in their predatory raids: they managed to loot and escape before the Russian troops reached the scene of events. Alexander decided to act quickly and go on a campaign only with the princely squad. The preparations were so rapid that, according to the chronicle, not even all the rich Novgorod citizens who wanted to join the campaign managed to do so. As a result, on July 15, 1240, Alexander and his squad suddenly attacked the crusaders’ camp at the mouth of the Izhora River and, thanks to the effect of surprise, the skillful actions of the soldiers and personal courage, defeated the enemy. Russian losses amounted to several dozen people, while the killed Swedes and Norwegians numbered hundreds. After this, the crusaders' campaign ended ingloriously.

Battle on the ice - maybe not an ice battle, but a battle

If we talk about the fact that the Swedish and Norwegian soldiers who took part in the Battle of the Neva , were crusaders, is not so widely known (usually these knights are portrayed simply as robbers), but everyone knows that in the Battle of the Ice Alexander Nevsky fought precisely with the crusaders. In 1240 - 1242, the newly formed Livonian Order, which became a division of the powerful Teutonic Order, undertook a large-scale campaign against Russian lands. At that time, the Novgorod ruling circles expelled Alexander Nevsky, fearing his excessive strengthening. In the absence of a talented commander, the Novgorod and Pskov military leaders were unable to adequately resist the crusaders, who captured Izborsk and Pskov and really threatened Novgorod. In 1241, Alexander Nevsky was again called to reign and began a military campaign against the Livonian Order.

Nevsky again managed to use the speed of decision-making and partly caught the crusaders by surprise - they did not expect such rapid actions from him and did not have time to send reinforcements to Pskov, which was again taken by Russian troops. However, then it was necessary to gather significant forces, because a general battle was approaching, and the forces of the Livonian Order and their allies were a more serious opponent than the Swedish and Norwegian crusaders of 1240. Alexander gathered an impressive Novgorod militia, and also waited for the arrival of his brother Andrei with the troops of the Suzdal principality. As a result, the number of Russian troops participating in the Battle of Lake Peipus is estimated by experts at 15-17 thousand people. The Livonian Order also gathered an impressive army - up to 12 thousand soldiers.

The general battle of the “Northern Crusade,” as the campaign of 1240–1242 was called in the official sources of the crusaders, took place on April 5, 1242 on Lake Peipus. Or rather, apparently, it took place on the shore, and not on the ice of the lake. Since the ideally flat “relief” of the lake was better suited for the battle formations of the crusaders, and the weight of a heavily armed Russian warrior was not inferior to the weight of a crusader "in full uniform." In addition, the chronicles of the crusaders indicate that the battle took place on earth. Most likely, the battle got its name, the Battle of the Ice, due to the fact that the defeated crusaders retreated on the ice of the lake and were overtaken by the Russians there. The exact losses of the Russian army are unknown, but they were comparable to the losses of the crusaders: Russian chronicles speak of 400 Germans killed and 50 captured. The chronicles of the Crusaders mention 20 killed and 6 captured, but this should not be misleading: this means full members, the elite of the Order, brother knights, excluding ordinary warriors.

Alexander Babitsky

Further campaigns to the East (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th campaigns, the last of which took place in 1270) were of little importance and did not lead to any territorial gains. The decline of the military-colonization movement of Western European feudal lords in Syria and Palestine in the 13th century. were determined by the persistent and unceasing struggle of the peoples of Western Asia against foreign conquerors, as well as by the economic and political changes taking place in Western Europe itself. The resistance offered to the crusaders by the bulk of the population of the countries they captured was growing all the time. The temporary consolidation of a number of Muslim countries in the fight against the crusader states had as its immediate result the death of these states and the expulsion of all crusaders from Syria and Palestine.

The Egyptian-Syrian Sultanate, which had a relatively strong central government, a strong feudal militia and large economic resources, managed to secure the support of the Seljuks of Rum (Asia Minor) and some other Muslim states in the fight against the crusaders. The crusaders of Syria and Palestine, realizing that they could not hold out if Egypt was not weakened, tried, with the support mainly of France, to organize several expeditions to conquer Egypt, but each time they suffered severe defeats. In the second half of the 13th century. The crusaders, however, had an unexpected ally. The Mongolian Ilkhans Hulaguids, who established themselves in Iran and the Transcaucasian countries, took Baghdad and executed the Abbasid caliph Mustasim (1258), and planned to conquer Syria. Knowing that the Egyptian Sultanate had taken on the role of the main defender of Islam against the Crusaders, the Hulaguids decided to take advantage of the struggle between Christians and Muslims by concluding an alliance with the Crusader states in Syria and Palestine. At the same time, the Hulaguids viewed the crusaders not as independent and equal allies, but as their vassals. The Hulaguids also sought to use Western European states and the Catholic Church for their own purposes. Since the 60s of the 13th century. The Hulaguids entered into diplomatic correspondence with the popes of Rome (sequentially with Clement IV, Gregory X and Nicholas III), exchanged diplomatic embassies with them and at the same time negotiated with Genoa, the kings of England and France. The Ilkhans had the same goal in all these diplomatic negotiations: to achieve joint military action between Western states and the Mongols of Iran (Hulaguid ulus) against the Egyptian Sultanate.

The Hulaguids, in their relations with the West, especially with Genoa, also tried to expand trade relations. Genoa was considered an ally of the Hulaguids and enjoyed preferential treatment in trade matters in Iran, while its rival Venice was mostly on friendly terms with Egypt.

In the second half of the 13th century. (1260-1303) the Hulaguid Mongols undertook a series of campaigns in Syria and Palestine and tried to establish themselves there. The armed forces of the Crusaders in this struggle turned into an appendage of the Mongol troops, and the war in Syria and Palestine took on an even more brutal nature. When taking cities (for example, Damascus), the Hulaguid Mongols mercilessly destroyed Muslims, but spared Christians and Jews, considering them as their supporters. When these cities passed into the hands of the Egyptian troops, they in turn killed or took captive Christians and Jews. But in the war between the Hulaguid Mongols and the Egyptian Sultanate, the advantage was on the side of the latter. Therefore, the defeat of the Mongols led to the final death of the Crusader state. In 1268, Egyptian troops took Antioch, in 1289 the same fate befell Tripoli in Syria, and after some time Beirut, Tire, Sidon and Acre (1291). No help from the West was provided to the crusaders.

After the fourth campaign in the West there were almost no people willing to take part in distant and dangerous enterprises. For the period from the XI to the XIII centuries. in Europe there was an undoubted increase in the productive forces, agricultural technology improved, and cities grew. In this regard, the reasons that prompted various layers of Western European society to participate in the crusader movement largely disappeared. The peasants, who found only death in the East, after the first experience with the campaign of the poor, made more attempts at such a massive escape from the feudal lords to the East.

The merchants now did not strive to organize new conquests. It was satisfied with the results of the first four campaigns, which undermined the mediating role of Byzantium in trade between the West and the East and ensured freedom of trade routes along the Mediterranean Sea for merchants from Western European cities. In addition, the domestic market was expanding in Western European countries.

The former ardor also cooled down among the main force of the crusader detachments - the feudal knighthood. It was able to find application in the mercenary royal troops, the importance of which was increasingly increasing in connection with the gradual strengthening of royal power. At the same time, knighthood “discovered” new areas of colonization in the Baltic states and lost interest in distant campaigns to Syria and Palestine. The Catholic Church and the Pope, in turn, turned to organizing predatory campaigns in the Baltic states, seeing in them only the beginning of the implementation of a general plan for the conquest of all the Baltic and Slavic peoples and the subjugation of Rus' to Rome. The struggle of the Russian and Baltic peoples against the invaders did not allow these plans to come true.

21 years after the Eighth Crusade, the last possession of Western Christians in Syria, the city of Acre, fell. Therefore, 1291 is considered the end of the Crusades in Western Asia. In the East, only the island of Cyprus, conquered by Richard the Lionheart during the Third Crusade, was preserved by the crusading knights in the East. Thus ended the military-colonization movement of Western European feudal lords in Syria and Palestine. The ruin and economic decline of these countries - this was the final result of the crusades for the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Crusader aggression on the territory of Rus', which reached its peak in the first quarter of the 13th century, dates back to the 12th century. It was then that German knights settled on the lands of the Western and Pomeranian Slavs, of whom, at first, they mainly consisted of detachments of “crusader” invaders; they moved further to the east, invading, on the one hand, Prussia, and on the other, the Baltic states.

Since the late 80s of the 12th century. “Crusading” detachments of “missionaries” are increasingly carrying out armed attacks on the territory of northwestern Russia, mainly on the lands of the Polotsk and Smolensk princes, on the lands of the Livs, first of all.

The ancient Livonian chronicle of the end of the 13th century, known as the “Rhymed Chronicle,” contains a clear indication that the lands inhabited by the Baltic tribes belonged politically to the Russians and the Russian princes received tribute from them: “The land of the Zelovs, Livs, and Lets was in the hands of the Russians until the appearance of the “brothers” who took these lands by force.” Our chronicle also confirms this news. The chronicle more than once mentions the names of a number of these tribes, telling how they, together with the Slavic tribes, built the Russian state.

Since ancient times, the peoples of the Baltic states have been linked by historical destinies with Russia. These relationships were strengthened by constant trade ties and significant cultural influence. In the language of Estonians and Latvians, these ancient Russian influences have been preserved to this day. Already in the X-XI centuries. Christianity also penetrates into the Baltic states from Rus', as evidenced by ancient burials and religious objects (crosses, etc.) found during excavations. From the middle of the 12th century. German merchants from Bremen, Lübeck and other northern cities, trading various goods, reached the mouth of the Dvina and established occasional connections with the Baltic states. Soon these ties acquired a more permanent character, as a result of which the desire of German merchants to create a strong base for themselves in the Baltic states grew and became stronger. From the Baltic states, merchants sought to penetrate further into the Russian lands proper. In 1184, a German-Latin merchant court was built in Novgorod, named after St. Peter, and the church. This court entered into intense competition with the trading post of Gotlandic merchants that already existed here, which bore the name of St. Olaf.

At first, the invaders in the Baltic states were the clergy themselves, represented mainly by Cistercian monks. They acted following the example of the robber knights of that time. Soon, the usual forms of Western European feudalism were established on the occupied lands: the local population was turned into serfs, lands were given as beneficial grants to vassals, churches and monasteries were built. This was done not only on the lands of the Livs, but also on the lands of the Kurs, Semigals and other tribes.

A vivid picture of this unceremonious management of the lands of the Baltic states was left by Henry of Latvia, the author of the lengthy “Chronicle of Livonia”, who himself was one of the participants in the “crusader” offensive to the east.

The first steps of the “missionaries” were usually of a “peaceful” nature. So, around 1188, the Catholic monk of the Augustinian Order, Maynard, approached Prince Vladimir of Polotsk so that he would be allowed to preach Christianity in the land of the Livonians. Henry of Latvia writes about Maynard that he “began to preach to the Livs and build a church in Ikeskol.”

The actions of the “missionaries” did not meet with sympathy among the local population; on the contrary, they aroused strong hatred. As Henry of Latvia says, the Livonians almost sacrificed their assistant Maynard-Dietrich (Theodoric) to their gods, and Maynard himself was not released from his land, fearing that he would lead a Christian army. Maynard chose the Ikeskole (Ikskul) castle on the Dvina, which he rebuilt, located slightly above its mouth, as the center of his activities.

Attaching great importance to Maynard’s activities, Bishop Hartwig II of Bremen appointed him in 1186 “Bishop of Ukskul in Russia,” and two years later Pope Clement III approved this appointment and issued a special bull on the founding of a new bishopric under the authority of the Archbishop of Bremen. Thus, an outpost of German-Catholic aggression was created in the east, from where a systematic invasion of the lands that were part of Rus' and subject to the Russian princes began.

The Papal Curia directed this “activity, giving it considerable importance in its general policy. Maynard sent reports to Rome about his “mission,” and the pope did not skimp on blessings, praise and other verbal “gifts” and “mercies”: the pope could not help the newly-minted bishop more significantly. Only a few years later, when the unexpected death of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa freed the hands of the new Pope Celestine III and when, on the other hand, the Third Crusade suffered a complete failure, the Roman Curia made an attempt to provide Maynard with more effective assistance.

The Pope called for a “crusade” into the land of the Livs to forcibly convert them to Christianity. Everyone who took part in such a campaign was promised remission of sins. However, the masses of the people in the land of the Livonians unanimously opposed all attempts at “conversion” to Catholicism. Quite rightly, they associated it with the inevitable final loss of the remnants of their freedom. The crusaders managed to use only those groups of the local population that had already begun to stand out as the dominant social elite: tribal leaders, clan elders. Sources report that Maynard relied on them and before his death, in the fall of 1196, he convened them and made them promise to continue his “missionary” activities. However, the calculations of Maynard and the representatives of the local nobility who supported him did not come true.

Maynard's successor was the German monk Berthold, formerly the Abbot of Lokkum, who was appointed Archbishop of Bremen. He intended to forcefully convert the Livs to Christianity, but in the first bloody clash caused by his actions, on July 24, 1198, he was killed. His crusaders, however, forced a significant part of the Livonians to agree to the “conversion,” but, as the source reports, before the triumphant victors had time to disappear from sight on their ships, the Livonians rebelled, rushed first to the Dvina to wash away the baptism they hated, and then began to exterminate the equally hated monks and priests. Churches built over the previous 14 years were burned. All traces of Christianity imposed by force were destroyed in a short time.

Berthold was replaced from Bremen by the archbishop's nephew Albert, whom Marx called the “lousy canon of Bremen.” For Albert, his entire activity among the Livs was, from beginning to end, an enterprise of a military-robber nature, in which “sermon” and “conversion” no longer played a role at all. A young scion of the noble feudal family of the Counts of Buxhoeveden von Appeldern, he, in the spirit of that time, hoped to acquire wealth and glory with weapons.

In whose interests Albert of Appeldern acted is clear enough from the fact that out of the 30 years of his bishopric he spent 12 years in Germany. Through family and social ties he was closely connected with the feudal aristocracy (secular and spiritual) of northern Germany.

Albert managed to secure more real support than his predecessors from the pope, especially from Innocent III, who ascended the Roman throne in 1198, and gave Albert’s predatory enterprise against the Livs the character of a “feat of piety.” By a bull of October 5, 1199, the pope declared participation in the campaign against the Livonians tantamount to the fulfillment of a vow, for which full remission of sins was granted, and 5 years later, during the IV Crusade, he with another bull equated the crusaders in the Baltic states with the crusaders going to Palestine, allowed, if a vow was made to participate in a campaign “to the holy land,” to replace it with a campaign to the Baltic states. Thus, the pope officially recognized the so-called “Livonian mission” as a military enterprise and himself called to arms, addressing a special message to the Bremen clergy and to the “Christians of Lower Germany,” offering to take wide part in Albert’s campaign, which was declared a “great cause.” faith."

Bishop Albert acted in concert with the Danish king Canute VI and Duke Waldemar of Schleswig, who during the same years devastated the lands of the Estonians, which lay north of the land of the Livonians. Henry of Latvia also mentions the German Emperor Philip of Swabia, from whom Albert apparently also enlisted support.

After such thorough preparation, which testified to the great importance the rulers of feudal Europe attached to Catholic expansion to the east and the campaign against Russian lands, Albert began his invasion in the spring of 1200. Despite the relatively large army that Albert brought with him on 23 ships, the population offered stubborn resistance to the aggressors. The cunning canon was able to settle in these places only when he took advantage of inter-tribal enmity and set the neighboring tribe of Semigalls against the Livs, whose resistance he himself was unable to cope with, and also, following the example of Maynard, attracted the Liv and Curonian nobility to his side.

A major role was played by the seizure of the mouth of the Avina by the crusaders and the construction here in 1201, on the site where a settlement had long existed, of a fortified city called Riga. From here it was easy to organize effective control over Podvinye, on the one hand, and over the Baltic, on the other. The Pope did not leave these actions of the aggressors without his help. Henry of Latvia reports that the pope forbade, under pain of ecclesiastical excommunication, anyone from henceforth to visit the harbor of Semigals. This was supposed to ensure a trade monopoly of Riga captured by the Germans and worsen the trade that the local population had long conducted from their own, some other, harbor. Another thing is interesting: Russian merchants, who constantly maintained trade relations with the Livonians and other local tribes, did not consider it necessary to follow this papal prohibition and tried to trade as before, going to the Semigallian harbor for this. Then the Germans “attacked them, and after two, namely the pilot and the captain, were captured and put to cruel death, the others were forced to return.”

Subject: “Difficult times on Russian soil. Resistance to the Crusaders."

Goals of the teacher: Create conditions for familiarization with the heroic pages of the history of our Motherland - the Battle of the Ice and the brilliant commander A. Nevsky; defining the boundaries of knowledge
and “ignorance”; contribute to the formation of students’ ideas about military affairs in Rus'; initial skills in searching for the necessary information and analyzing the information received; developing interest in the subject “The World around us”

PLANNED EDUCATIONAL RESULTS: Subject: will have the opportunity to learn how to work with a textbook, historical map, fiction related to the topic of the lesson, and organize a workplace.

Metasubject: master the abilityunderstand the educational task of the lesson, answer questions, generalize your own ideas;listen to your interlocutor and conduct a dialogue, evaluate your achievements in the lesson;engage in verbal communication, use a textbook.

Personal: assimilate the humanistic, democratic and traditional values ​​of the multinational Russian society; show a sense of responsibility and duty to the Motherland

m Methods and forms of training: Oexplanatory-illustrative, partially search; individual, group, frontal

Equipment: cards for individual questioning, contour maps, painting by P. D. Korin A. Nevsky, cantatas “A. Nevsky" by S. Prokofiev, diagram of the Battle of the Ice, multimedia projector, presentation, computer.

During the classes:

Org moment.

A prepared student reads a poem.\

Rus

Under the big tent of blue skies -

I see that the distance of the steppes is turning green.

Wide are you, Rus', across the face of the earth

Unfolded in royal beauty!..

And in all corners of the white world

There is great fame about you.

There is a reason for this, mighty Rus',

To love you, to call you mother,

Stand up for your honor against your enemy,

I need to lay down my head for you in need!

– This poem was written by a famous poetIvan Savvich Nikitin . What thoughts and feelings about the Russian land do you think the poet wanted to convey to readers?

– ToWhen the enemy attacked, what were the times like for the Russian people, the Russian land?

– Owhat will be discussed in class? (Children answer)

teacher goal . Today in class we will work on the topic: “The struggle of the Russian people against the Swedish and German invaders.”

Today we are talking about the very difficult days of our country, which did not end with the Mongol-Tatar invasion. We will continue the conversation about the no less easy times of the Fatherland - our great Motherland. We will talk about the son of the Fatherland, a true patriot, a citizen who defeated the enemy who encroached on Russian lands. And at the end of the lesson, you will find out why he has an unusual surname and why, seven centuries later, a high award, the Military Order of A. Nevsky, was established in the USSR. It will be difficult for us to understand new material without the events that we studied in the last lesson. They are the ones who will make it easier for us to perceive new material.

ii . Checking homework.

1. (individual 1 student per card)

1.Answer the question:

What was the dependence of Rus' on the Golden Horde?

2. Show on the map the territory of the Golden Horde and its capital.

2. Frontal survey.

How do you understand the word “invasion”?

What enemies enslaved Rus' at that time?

Why were they called that?

Why can’t a single Mongol-Tatar be called a skilled tiller?

Show on the cards what year the Mongol-Tatars attacked Rus'? What century?

Show on the map the path of the Mongol-Tatars. Who led their army?

How to say it in another way: “The enemies passed through the Russian land with fire and sword and left new mounds on rural churchyards.”

Why did the Mongol-Tatars manage to conquer Rus'?

3. Testing.

1 ). During the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus', which city was captured first: a) Kyiv;

b) Vladimir;

c) Ryazan.

2) How many days did the residents of Kozelsk defend themselves?

a)50;

b) 7 weeks;

at 7.

3) In what year did the Mongol army under the leadership of Batu Khan go to Rus'?

a) 1237;

b) 1240;

c) 1238;

4) About whom they said “the courage of a lion, the patience of a dog.”

a) Mongol-Tatars;

b) defenders of Kozelsk.

(Mutual check. Key slide)

Give as many points as there are correct answers.

Stand up, those who made 1-2 mistakes, those who made no mistakes.

4) Checking the student who worked using the card.

So what did the conquerors leave behind in the memory of people of many generations?

(Nothing except painful memories of rivers of shed blood, destroyed cities and an ocean of tears shed for the dead).

Bottom line. So, this is a serious, terrible misfortune that will continue to experience our people for a long time.

III. Working on new material.

1) Teacher's story.

A Russian proverb says: “When trouble comes, open the gate.”

What kind of trouble is this at this time?

(Invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and the troubles caused by them.)

The Russian land experienced a difficult time of Tatar pogroms and enmity between the princes.

The invasion from the east coincided with the onslaught on the western borders of Rus'.

(Show on map).

The campaigns of the Knights-Crusaders, who settled in the Baltic states, began. (Map).

Why were they called that?

Sweden joined the fight for new lands. (Map).

Now, from this side too, a serious danger looms over Russia.

Why did the crusaders decide to take away part of the Russian lands during this period?

(Rus was bleeding from the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and lay in ruins.

Rus' was divided into many principalities and lands, and the princes fought with each other for rich principalities.)

Having learned about the Swedish invasion, the Novgorod prince Alexander Yaroslavovich did not wait for the enemy to approach Novgorod, but hurried to meet him. Slide

The Swedes were defeated in the battle on the Neva River. Since then they began to call the prince Alexander Nevsky.

(Work with an outline map. Children mark the place and date of the battle.)

(I am hanging a painting by P. D. Korin A. Nevsky)

But not only the Golden Horde and the Swedes wanted to profit from Russian lands. The hands of the German knights were itching; they looked at our Russian lands with envy. And soon after the Neva victory, the crusaders appeared in the Russian lands. They took the border fortress of Izborsk. (Map), headed towards Pskov and captured it. (Map). Some traitors, the boyars, helped the crusaders in this. At night they secretly opened the city gates. Having captured Pskov, the enemies moved towards Novgorod. (Map). A terrible threat loomed over the city. But the winner of the Swedes, Prince Alexander Nevsky, was not there at that time. After the Battle of the Neva, he quarreled with the willful Novgorodians and left for his possessions in the Vladimir land. (Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. Map). Frightened by the crusaders, the Novgorodians decided to ask the prince to return. Alexander did not hold a grudge against them. He, first of all, thought about the Russian land and immediately returned to Novgorod with his squad. (Vocabulary work)

Druzhina

Princely army. Slide

Have you ever been bullied? What feeling did you have?

We must learn from A. Nevsky, forgive in the name of the common good.

Trumpets thundered in Novgorod. With banners and banners he went out to meet the people of Prince Alexander. And there was noise all over Novgorod, the likes of which had not been heard for a long time. Prince Alexander began to gather an army.

(Boy in a suit)

A. Nevsky: Listen! Listen, good people,

Heed the prince's word!

Khan Batu is cruel and fierce,

Destroys the lands.

The damned enemy is destroying us,

He robs us shamelessly

But from the Khan, after all,

You can buy back:

We'll pay the tribute. No doubt

Let's pull the belt tighter

But the Livonian is our neighbor, -

Things are getting worse here!

Now don't take it away

Among the Livonians of Pskov, -

They will get to Tver,

Suzdal, Rostov.

And they will take over the cities

And they will begin to settle,

And forgive me - goodbye then,

Russian land!

We don't need their lands

We would like to get ours back

After all, we have now been given

All the Fatherland's destiny!..

(Listening to the cantata “A. Nevsky” by S. Prokofiev).

The army grew, weapons were prepared.

What weapons did the Russians have?

Look at the illustrations depicting Russian soldiers.

What weapons and what protection did Russian soldiers have?

Weapon: Slide

Sword

Protection:

Helmet

And the crusading knights were shackled in a steel shell that covered their bodies -armor Knocked out of the saddle, the knight became clumsy. Russian armor was much lighter (16kg versus 50kg) and more comfortable (steel helmet and chain mail).

Having led the Novgorod regiments, the prince moved to Pskov. (Map).

The Russian army suddenly approached the city and liberated it. The enemy didn’t even have time to come to his senses.

(Staging. Camp of the Crusaders. Children in costumes).

Master: Speak!

1 crusader: Russian soldiers have a large army!

2crusader: They are well armed!

1 crusader: They skillfully lay siege to the city walls!

2crusader: They are brave and strong!

Master: Who is at the head of their army?

1 crusader: Prince Alexander.

Master: The same one who defeated the Swedes on the Neva!

And now he has come against us? And won again? What

is this the case? Or is this Alexander really

smart and brave commander? Have you seen him?

2 crusader : Yes!

Master: What is he like?

1 crusader: High.

2nd Crusader: Broad in the shoulders, loud voice.

1 crusader: And young.

Master: Young... Young, not experienced. And his victories are random

Good luck. He had not yet seen a formidable force. Well, no

saw it, so he will see it!

In the spring of 1242, the crusaders moved to Rus'. And towards

Through the blue valley

Snowy road

Keeping with each other

The routine is strict,

A large army was marching

Prince-commander,

To protect from the Germans

The land of Novgorodians.

The house is left behind

And human warmth,

Ice sparkled ahead

Lake Peipus. (Map).

(Work from the textbook. Explanatory reading. Vocabulary work.)

What is Uzmen? Slide

Uzmen

What name did the famous battle get?

Massacre

Why is the massacre called Ice?

Ice

Give the date of the battle.

(Work with an outline map. Students mark the year 1242 and the location of the event).

(Scheme of the formation of German knights. 1 student, prepared at home, talks about the formation). Slide

How were German knights built?

What did the Russians call this formation?

Among the vocabulary words, find knights on horses.

(Slide:

Cavalry

(diagram of the Battle of the Ice. Children in costumes of Russian soldiers, pointing on the map, dramatize the course of the battle Slide).

Chronicler: They went into mortal combat

On the damned enemies

And with the squad on a par

Men in sheepskins,

Some on foot, some on horseback,

Even with clubs.

Warrior 1: The Livonians have an advantage

The wedge of "boars" is terrible,

He's going to cut

To our infantrymen.

Warrior 2: Here he crashes into us

Into the “boar’s mouth” formation.

To cut in half

The army is divided into two parts.

And nothing can be done

With this wild power.

Warrior 3: The knight strikes with his sword from above

And pierces with a pike.

But when he infiltrated the rear

The scarlet cross is ominous,

The prince and his retinue surrounded

I took the Livonian in pincers.

Warrior 1: And she became confused

Knight Power:

"Fell off the ridge

Everything is a “boar’s snout.”

Alexander: Rumble, neigh, moan and scream

Ours are pressing harder

But the Livonian is not used to it

Get it in the neck.

How? Where to run now

In a pound shell?

Or, taking it off, tremble

On the ice path?

And on ice seven miles on foot,

Taken prisoner by the squad,

The Livonians walked barefoot

Having thrown away the armor.

Chronicler: These warriors in the fight

The land was defended!

After all, they saved then

Russian land -

Villages, arable lands, cities

And, therefore, the capital!

400 knights were killed and 50 captured. Some of the captured crusaders were undressed and barefoot, because during the battle they threw off heavy clothes and shoes, trying to escape. Now they forgot about their high titles and nobility, walked dejectedly along the road, kneading the melted snow with their feet. Slide

Title

The Livonian Order had never known such a defeat until that time. Since then, the knights looked to the east with fear. They remembered Lake Peipsi. Soon after the battle, the crusaders sent ambassadors to Novgorod to ask for peace. Alexander agreed to peace and said:

Alexander: Let them come visit us without fear.

But whoever comes to Russian soil with a sword will

sword and will die. It stood and will stand on that

Russian land!

(I include S. Prokofiev’s cantata “A. Nevsky”).

This music reproduces the patriotic spirit of that time, devotion and love for one’s Fatherland, for one’s people.

2) Consolidation

What do you remember from our lesson, and I will help you choose the main thing. And the turn has come to find out why Alexander Yaroslavovich has such a surname?

How many years have passed since the Battle of the Ice? Do the math.

How many centuries is this?

Why, seven centuries later, was a high award established - the Military Order of A. Nevsky?

(This is the value of the Russian people. The exploits of our ancestors are immortal, because they teach us to win and defend the Motherland and you and me).

What character traits does Alexander Nevsky have?

(First of all, he was a brave warrior and a talented commander).

Which of you wanted to be a commander? Make a diagram of an ice battle out of cubes.

Why are the events that took place important and relevant today?

What place would you occupy in them?

Why were Russian soldiers able to defeat a strong enemy?

(First of all, they loved their Motherland, a talented commander led them, and together they prepared to carry out any order).

Look back at our ancestors,

To the heroes of days past.

Remember them with kind words

Glory to them, the stern fighters!

Glory to our side!

Glory to our antiquity!

To learn more about the invasion of the crusader knights and the heroic struggle of Russian soldiers, you can read books from the “Russian History in Pictures” series “A. Nevsky", "Battle on the Ice"; O. Tikhomirov “On Guard of Rus'”; “The Youth of a Commander” by V. G. Yan. Poems by N. Konchalovskaya, they were performed today in class.

And having examined the painting “Battle on the Ice”,

you will learn many more interesting things that we didn’t talk about today in class.

IV. Lesson summary V. Homework