Battle on the Ice (German Teutons vs Russian Novgorod)

The Battle on the Ice (Russian: Ледовое побоище; German: Schlacht auf dem Eise) was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by prince Alexander Nevsky and the crusader army of the Teutonic Knights led by Hermann of Dorpat on April 5, 1242, at Lake Peipus, Present day Russian Border with Estonia & Latvia. Hoping to exploit Novgorod's weakness in the wake of the Mongol and Swedish invasions, the Teutonic Knights attacked the neighboring Novgorod Republic and occupied Pskov, Izborsk, and Koporye in autumn 1240. When they approached Novgorod itself, the local citizens recalled to the city 20-year-old Prince Alexander Nevsky, whom they had banished to Pereslavl earlier that year. During the campaign of 1241, Alexander managed to retake Pskov and Koporye from the crusaders. On April 5, 1242. Alexander, intending to fight in a place of his own choosing, retreated in an attempt to draw the often over-confident Crusaders onto the frozen crusader forces likely numbered around 2,600, including