>>Flags/National Symbols of Europe<<
About the EHL/The Staff/Contact Us
Submit Articles & Content
Online Language Translation
Join our Mailing List
Donate to the EHL
Bookmark the EHL to Favourites!   

In English Auf Deutsch In heet Nederlands En Francais In Italiano Em Português  En Español Russkij Ellenika
Click a Flag to Translate



• History of Christianization of Europe
• Soviet Union, Communist influence
• Map of European ethnic groups
• Map of Fascism in Europe (1922-75)
• History of Islamic conquest in Europe
• Religions & ethnic groups in Russia

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--



• Muhammad cartoon crisis in pictures
• Stalin's private summer home
• Ravenna: capital of Gothic empire
• Czar Nicholas II's Ukrainian palace
• European traditional costumes/dress
• Inside the Vatican, house of all wealth

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Islamic Mujahidin vs. Spain & El Cid
• Poland-Lithuania vs. Teutonic Order
• Nevskiy's Russia vs. German Crusaders
• Mussolini vs. Libyan Islamic fighters
• Qadafi: Europe will soon be Islamic
• Ivan the Terrible vs. Muslim Tatars 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

• Inside Albania, Europe's only Muslim culture (with rare pictures)
• History of Jihad in Chechnya
& Caucasus vs. Russians

• History of the Muslim Tatars in Russia
• Ethnic & religious history of Serbs, Croats, & Bosnians
• History of Italy: from Roman rule to Germanic barbarian
• The cost & bloodshed of the Serb-Albanian conflict in Kosovo
• Inside Bulgaria, 1st Slavic nation,
land of Thracian masters of gold

• Visual history of Yugoslavia
• Inside Muslim Turkey: right for the European Union? 

--MORE & NON-ENGLISH--

 

Video: Nevskiy's Russians vs. German Crusaders
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)

Print this Article    •    About the Author    •    Bibliography/Sources

This video is an excerpt from the Russian classic "Aleksandr Nevskiy" produced during the Soviet era to inspire Russians with ethnic nationalism and hatred for Germans (Nazis to them) as barbarians.

For a brief historical walkthrough, what can be called "Russia" existed since the early 10th century, centered at Kiev, and is thus often called "Kievan Rus" (Kiev of the Rus[sians]). The state was firstly founded by Viking invaders from Sweden, though the native Slavs would quickly create for themselves a massive empire stretching from the White Sea to the Black. In the 11th century, Wladimir the Great adopted Orthodox Christendom from the Greeks (though in a uniquely Slavic form), thus forcibly converting all Russians and Ukrainians to Orthodoxy. This state gradually fell into disrepair until it was completely abolished and obliterated by the Mongol hordes in the 13th century. The many Russian statelets (Pskov, Novgorod, Muskowy, Ryazan, etc.) either were completely controlled by the Mongols and their Muslim Turkic soldiers throughout the occupation or were subservient to them. One Russian tax collector for the Mongols, Aleksandr Nevskiy, encountered a greater threat coming from the west. In the 13th century, the German Empire began to craft crusading armies and polities throughout Europe to expand Germany's coffers, to protect its borders, and to convert the pagans. Few Russians were pagan at this time, but most Lithuanians and Prussians (not the German Prussians we know today) were not. Germany and Denmark Christianized and annexed much of Lithuania, Estonia, and the coast of the Baltic. Here, the Germans attempt a conquest of Russia to convert them from their heathen faith (Orthodox Christendom instead of Catholicism). Uniting the Slavs against yet another invader, Nevskiy leads the resistance, which is ultimately successful, and little Russian soil remains under German control for the time being. One reason for the opposition to the Germans other than ethnic difference was the religious aspect. The Mongol leaders of the Slavs (though their armies were in this area of the world mostly Muslim Turks) had a tradition of religious tolerance, not out of any equal or democratic causes but out of pragmatism. The German crusaders were the opposite. Thus, the revolt against the Germans ultimately was a protection of the true faith, Orthodoxy, in the eyes of the Russians.

 

 

________________________________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Mayfield is the owner and Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I am working for a doctorate in history, with a specific emphasis on Islamic and European histories. I am well versed in all world cultures, ethnicities, religions, languages, politics, and historical evolution in relation to and against each other.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES USED:

The film "Aleksandr Nevskiy", produced as Soviet propaganda at the demand of Joseph Stalin, with the copyright now expired due to age.


Copyright 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.