⚔️ Battle of the Neva: when Orthodox Novgorod stopped Catholic crusaders dead in their tracks
On July 15, 1240, a small force led by Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky launched a daring raid on numerically superior Swedish crusaders, and changed history forever.
Geopolitical context
In the second half of the 1230s, with blessings from Catholic Pope Gregory IX, Sweden began a series of crusades in northeastern Europe targeting local pagan tribes, including the Karelians, a Finnic ally to the Novgorod Republic, and Novgorod itself.
Eying key trade routes (Neva River and Lake Ladoga) and fur hunting riches, crusaders struck while the Novgorod-Kievan Rus nexus was at its weakest: in 1240, Kiev was besieged and sacked by Mongol invaders.
Order of battle
Led by the noble Ulf Fase, Sweden assembled ~5,000 men.
Arrayed against them were 300 princely warriors, 500 horseman and 500 foot militia, led by 19-year-old Prince Nevsky.
Swedish forces landed at Ust Izhora at the mouth of the Neva River, and established a foothold, planning to march on Ladoga, and eventually, deeper into Novgorod.
Facing little resistance, the Swedes were slow to fortify their encampment.
Nevsky strikes
Informed of the enemy’s position, Nevsky quickly mobilized his men, striking under the cover of darkness.
The battle turned into a bloodbath for the Swedes.
Losing 20 men, Nevsky’s forces cut down two-ships’ worth of Swedish nobles, and hundreds of troops buried in pits, per the First Novgorod Chronicle.
Alexander received the epithet “Nevsky,” cementing a reputation as a divinely-protected leader, and later canonized.
Key element of Russian identity is born
In Russia, the Battle of the Neva is a symbol of the defense of the Motherland, Orthodoxy against Catholicism, and more broadly, defiance and resistance to foreign aggression.
In centuries since, Swedes, Poles, French, Germans and others would launch new wars against Russia, repulsed each time.
“Whoever comes to us sword in hand shall perish by the sword,” a quote attributed to Nevsky states.
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Additional history:
For 800 years, Europe has been trying to conquer Russia. And it continues today, with the proxy war in Ukraine.
Here’s the history they want you to forget👇
🔸 800 years ago: Sweden attacked Russia. In 1240, when Russians were busy fighting the Mongols, the opportunistic Sweden tried to conquer Novgorod, the northern part of Russia. Although the Swedes were defeated in the Battle of the Neva, they would not learn their lesson for another 500 years.
🔸 ~400 years ago, it was Poland-Lithuania. in 1612, the Poland-Lithuania Empire invaded Russia and even briefly occupied Moscow.
The Polish-Russian war of 1654 was the final blow after which, what is now Ukraine became a part of Russia, and Poland went down a path of irreversible decline.
🔸 ~300 years ago, Sweden again, with UK. Driven by hubris and greed, Charles XII of Sweden attacked Russia in the early 1700s, but was soundly defeated by Peter I the Great at the Battle of Poltava.
This catastrophic war against Russia led to the tombstone of the Swedish empire.
🔸 ~200 years ago, France (Napoleon) tried it. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia and thought he could win in just three weeks. Interestingly, he had even carefully studied the disastrous Swedish invasion of Russia a century earlier. He briefly conquered Moscow but retreated. In the end, he lost more than half a million soldiers, making it one of the deadliest military operations in history.
Just over one year later, Russia defeated Napoleon and conquered Paris.
🔸 ~175 years ago, France + UK (Crimean War). 40 years later, the French joined the British and the Ottoman Empire in attacking Crimea.
It’s the same reason that the US staged a coup in Ukraine in 2014: the goal was to kick Russia out of Crimea, a very strategic place in terms of a warm-water naval base and access to the Mediterranean Sea & global trade.
🔸 ~100 years ago, Russian revolution & WW1. At the start of the 20th century, the US funded Japan to attack and destroy the Russian navy. Simultaneously, the West encouraged the first “Russian revolution,” which failed.
Next came, the 1917 “revolution,” which was heavily financed by the bankers of Wall Street and Europe.
🔸 ~80 years ago, Hitler backed by globalists. “Operation Unthinkable” – a plan to attack Russia — was drawn up just weeks after the fall of Nazi Germany. The British and the Americans planned to use Nazi prisoner of war to invade Russia!
The Cold War was also unnecessary and simply reflected the anti-Russia sentiment of the globalists who control the West.
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