*Battle On The Ice

Sergei Prokofiev - Battle On The Ice

The Battle on the Ice (Russian: Ледовое побоище, Ledovoye poboish'ye); German: Schlacht auf dem Eise; Estonian: Jäälahing; German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee) was fought between the Republic of Novgorod led by prince Alexander Nevsky and the crusader army led by the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights on April 5, 1242, at Lake Peipus. The battle is notable for having been fought largely on the frozen lake, and this gave the battle its name.

The battle was a significant defeat sustained by the crusaders during the Northern Crusades, which were directed against pagans and Eastern Orthodox Christians rather than Muslims in the Holy Land. The Crusaders' defeat in the battle marked the end of their campaigns against the Orthodox Novgorod Republic and other Slavic territories for the next century.

The event was glorified in Sergei Eisenstein's historical drama film Alexander Nevsky, released in 1938, which created a popular image of the battle often mistaken for the real events. Sergei Prokofiev turned his score for the film into a concert cantata of the same title, with "The Battle on the Ice" being its longest movement.