This video is an excerpt
from the Russian classic "Aleksandr Nevskiy" produced
during the Soviet era to inspire Russians with ethnic nationalism
as a bulwark of resistance against foreign German encroachment.
In the 13th century, the
first pan-Russian state (plus much of Ukraine) called Kievan
Rus was destroyed by the Mongol hordes with their Muslim Turkish
mercenary armies, leading to centuries of Muslim and Mongol
domination until the 16th century, when Ivan the Terrible
cemented the rebirth of Russia (in Moscow). Novogorod, an
ancient Russian state, was not absorbed into the Tatar-Mongol
yoke. It was merely forced to pay tribute to the Mongol overlords.
Aleksandr Nevskiy, a prince of Novogorod, was a tax collector
for the Mongols. In the 13th century, the German Empire and
Danish Kingdom began to organize Christianizing crusades,
mainly against the Lithuanians, Old Prussians, and Finns of
Estonia. In this film, the German Teutonic Order attacks the
Russian Slavs of Novogorod. Prince Nevskiy rallies the Slavs
against this common foe, ultimately succeeding, and humiliating
the Germans in Eastern Europe for centuries. Edited from the
Soviet classic film "Aleksandr Nevskiy". Stalin
chartered this film as a propaganda piece to depict the Germans
as cruel and savage at the same time as it sought to portray
the Russians as mighty heroes who repelled an invading army.
When Stalin declared non-aggression with Hitler in the 1939
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the film was banned from Soviet theatres.
When Hitler broke the pact, it was returned.
________________________________________
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Mayfield is a historian
and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have
a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies
(language and history), am presently working for my Masters
in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate.
I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic
identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles
of native European and immigrant minority identities. See
my staff entry for more information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES
USED:
The film "Aleksandr
Nevskiy", produced as Soviet propaganda at the demand
of Joseph Stalin, with the copyright expired.
Copyright ongoing since 2008-,
European Heritage Library®. www.euroheritage.net.
All Rights Reserved. The European Heritage Library is a non-profit academic
organization owned by
Chairman James Mayfield.
No email addresses or personal information is redistributed. No articles
or content on this site may be redistributed without approval or a
full citation and credit to the EHL as the original source.
