Alexander Nevsky, The Little Known Hero of Russia
2009
Alexander Nevsky — May 30, 1220 – November 14, 1263Little known in the West, widely known in Russia.
The thirteenth century prince, Alexander Nevsky was the Grand Prince of Novgorod which is in the north-west part modern day Russia, near Scandinavia. Because of the schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches and, more recently, the Cold War, many people in the Western World have may not have heard of him, but he was a great hero for the Russian people.
Born the fourth son of the Grand Prince, Nevsky was never expected to sit on the throne, but fate, and a powerful Khan of the powerful Golden Horde, had different ideas. In 1252, he was eventually place on the Grand Throne.
During the early part of Alexander’s adult life, he had to deal with threats from all sides of his territory. To the West were the Finnish and Swedes who were Catholic and held Novgorod in disrespect because of its Orthodox faith. To the East was the Golden Horde, the Mongols who held Russia under its yoke.
Alexander held the latter at bay by paying tribute to the Khan which worked out well for both Alexander and the Horde. The Catholic invaders to the West, he fought of with sword and spear.
On July 15, 1240, Alexander and a small army crossed the Neva river and attacked the Swedes who were at his border. This battle, later known as the Battle of Neva, was a victory for Alexander and was later the impetus for his name, Nevsky. Even though this battle made him popular with the people, the Russian nobility, called the boyars, found Alexander’s growing influence threatening and had him exiled from the city.
Less than a year later, Alexander would be called back from his exile when a fringe wing of the Teutonic Knights, known as the Livonian Knights, invaded the city of Pskov. The tribute he paid to the Horde payed off during this time; his army had been reinforced with a Mongol contingent from the Khan since both the Horde and the Russians had stake in the victory.
Alexander and his army drove the Livonian Knights from the city and would later meet them again on the icy battlefield of Lake Peipus. During the battle, the heavy armour of the crusading knights combined with the spring thawing of the lake caused the ice to crack and break. Many knights and horses fell through and drowned in the depths of the lake. The victory of Alexander during the Battle on the Ice would become an image of national identity and legend for the Russian people up to this very day.
Alexander had played his cards right. Paying tribute to the Golden Horde strengthened his standing as the Prince and weakened the position of the boyers. It also strengthened his foreign position as the Battle of the Ice demonstrated. There are many theories as to why he paid a tribute to the Horde and, at the same time, fought off the Scandinavian forces but the most likely scenario is that the Horde was much stronger than Russia at the time; it could, on a whim, wipe out the entire region. It is most likely for this reason, and the political gains to Alexander, that he intentionally kept Russia as a vassal state to the Golden Horde.
There is also a theory out there that Alexander saw the Catholic church as more of a threat to his people than the Golden Horde. For the most part, the Horde did not interfere with the internal politics of the Russians. More importantly, they did not care about their religion and were satisfied by the tribute they were receiving. Alexander believed that the Catholic church would take both away. As an example of his faith in the Orthodox church, Alexander took monastic vows in it shortly before his death.
Alexander’s legacy lives on to this very day. Several military awards bear his name as does a very famous patriotic film, Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Eisenstein and the musical score by Sergei Prokofiev that accompanied the film. It was little more than propaganda to raise the spirits of the Russian people at a time when the Third Reich of the German Empire was on the rise just before World War II. This is evidenced by the crusading knights who, in the film, were made out to be German. Ire was greatly inflamed among the Russian populous who watched the film when it depicted the German knights throwing Russian babies into large bonfires.
In addition to the awards and the films, there has been a long tradition in the Soviet and, later, Russian navies to name warships after Alexander. The most recent example being a nuclear submarine currently being built.
In December of 2008, Alexander Nevsky was voted the greatest Russian in the Name of Russia television poll, not bad for a prince that most of us in the Western world have probably never heard of.
Alexander Nevsky – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Concise Biography of Alexander Nevsky
Aleksandr Nevskiy (1938)
alexander nevsky – Google Search
