Battle of Grunwald 1410 AD - Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic Wars

the battle of grunwald july 15 1410   the alliance of the kingdom of poland and the  grand duchy of lithuania face off against the   german teutonic order in one of the largest  battles of medieval europe the polish lithuanian   forces were led by the polish king ladislaw ii  and the lithuanian grand duke vitaltis the great the teutonic knights were led by  grand master eller kavon young again   and grand marshal friedrich von valen road the teutonic order founded in 1190 an ocker  in the kingdom of jerusalem was created to   aid and protect christian pilgrims traveling  to the holy land in 12 30 the teutonic order   launched the prussian crusade against  the pagan prussian clans of the baltics   after the explosion of the  crusaders from the holy lands   the teutonic knights fully committed  themselves to the crusade in prussia   with support from the pope and the holy roman  emperor the crusade was eventually a success as   by the 1280s the teutonic knights had conquered  or converted all of the prussian territory next the order shifted their attention to the  last pagan territory in europe the grand duchy   of lithuania raiding lithuanian lands and  eventually gaining control over samuel gideo   by 1384. the order also came into conflict with  poland ironically it was originally a polish duke   conrad the first duke of masovia  who over a century earlier in 1226   appealed to the teutonic knights to help  defend his borders against the pagans   inviting them to settle in the region  thus beginning the prussian crusade although the polish were originally allies  with the teutonic knights the polish saw the   rapid territorial expansion of the order as  concerning now with the prussian crusade over   and the pagans on their borders defeated  poland and the order no longer had common cause   and the two nations soon went to war in 1308  the teutonic knights took control of the city   of danzig and by 1326 annexed the territory of  pomerellia making poland a landlocked nation   in 1385 grand duke yogela of lithuania  agreed to marry queen yadwiga of poland   yogala converted to christianity and  was crowned as larislaw the second   yagaewo king of poland creating a personal union  between poland and lithuania this was significant   because the lithuanian conversion to christianity  symbolically removed the religious rationale for   the teutonic orders crusading activities in  the area the teutonic grand master responded   by publicly contesting the sincerity of the  conversion bringing the charge to papal court in may 1409 the samu gideons launched a rebellion  supported by lithuania against teutonic rule   poland announced its support for the  lithuanians and samuel gideons and   threatened to invade prussia as prussian troops  evacuated samogitia the teutonic grand master   ulrich von youngin declared war on poland and  lithuania on august 6th 1409 and invaded poland   the order burned the castle of dabrin captured by  brauniki and bromberg and sacked several towns the   poles organized counter attacks and recaptured  big gosh while the samogitians attacked memel   however neither side was ready for a full-scale  war and a truce was signed on the 8th of october   both sides used this time to prepare for war  gathering troops and engaging in diplomacy   sending letters and envoys accusing the other side  of various wrongdoings and threats to christendom   by december 1409 vladislav and vitaltus had  agreed on a common strategy their armies would   unite into a single massive force and march on  marion byrd the capital of the teutonic order   meanwhile the teutonic knights took a defensive  position expecting a dual invasion by the poles   along the vistula towards danzig and the  lithuanians along the neyman river towards   ragnet therefore in order to counter this ulrich  von youngin elected to concentrate his forces   in schwetz a central location from where troops  could respond to an invasion from any direction   quickly to keep their plans secret and mislead the  order larisla and vitatus organized several raids   into border territories thus forcing  the order to keep their troops in place the polish lithuanian troops gathered at chervinsk  a designated meeting point about 80 kilometers   50 miles from the prussian border where  the joint army crossed the vistula over   a pontoon bridge this maneuver was accomplished  in about a week from the 24th to the 30th of june   on july 3rd this massive  force began to march north   towards marionberry and crossed the  prussian border on the 9th of july as soon as ulrich von youngingen caught word  of the presence of the polish lithuanian force   he left three thousand men at schwetz under  heinrich von plowen and marched the main   force to organize a line of defense on the  drivens river near cowernick on the 11th of   july after meeting with his war council ladislaw  decided against crossing the river and instead   bypassed the river turning east towards its  source the teutonic army followed the drevens   river north crossed near lubao and then moved  east in parallel with a polish lithuanian army in the early morning of the 15th of july both  armies met in an area between the villages   of grundwald tannenberg and ludwig's dwarf  according to polish historians stefan krasinski   the polish lithuanian army consisted of  39 000 men and the teutonic army 27 000   while outnumbered the teutonic army had advantages  and discipline military training and equipment   especially due to the order's heavily armored  knights the teutonic army was also equipped   with bombards that could shoot lead and stone  projectiles both armies were composed of troops   from several states and lands including numerous  mercenaries primarily from salesia and bohemia   the silesian mercenaries were led by duke conrad  the seventh the white of oles who was supported   by knights from the silesian nobility including  dietrich von kotelen and hans von martial nets   men from 22 different states and regions mostly  germanic joined the orders army teutonic recruits   and guest crusaders included men from westphalia  frisia austria suavia bavaria and staten two   hungarian nobles nicholas the second guerrer and  deborah of steeperts brought 200 men for the order poland brought mercenaries from moravia and  bohemia the czechs produced two full banners under   the command of john so-called of lamberg serving  among the czechs was possibly john siska future   commander of the hussites while alexander the  first of moldavia commanded an expeditionary corps   phytatus gathered troops from lithuanian and  ruthenian lands among them were three banners from   smolensk led by lotus law's brother lang venice  and the tatar contingent of the golden horde   under the command of the future khan jalal adin  the supreme commander of the polish lithuanian   force was king ladislaw ii yagaewo however he  did not directly participate in the battle the   lithuanian units were commanded directly by  grand duke of itatus who was second in command   vitalitis would actively participate in the  battle managing both lithuanian and polish units the armies formed opposing lines  along our northeast southwest   axes the polish-lithuanian army was positioned  in front and east of ludwigsdorf and tannenberg   polish heavy cavalry formed the left flank  while lithuanian light cavalry and various   mercenary troops made up the center and  right flank their men were organized and   three lines of wedge-shaped formations about 20  men deep the teutonic forces concentrated their   elite heavy cavalry commanded by grand marshal  frederick von wallenrod against the lithuanians   the order hoped to provoke the poles  or lithuanians into attacking first   their troops wearing heavy armor had to  stand in the scorching sun for several hours   waiting for an attack while the polish and  lithuanian troops deployed their men in a forest   the order attempted to use artillery  to bait the allies into an attack   but a light rain dampened their powder  and the artillery was not very effective as ladislaw and vitality's delayed the  grand master grew impatient and sent   messengers with two swords to quote assist  vladislav and vitaltus in battle close quote   known as the grunwald swords these swords  meant as a provocative insult would later   become a national symbol of poland the battle  finally opened when vitaltus supported by the   polish banners launched an assault of light  cavalry on the left flank of the teutonic forces after more than an hour of heavy fighting the  lithuanian light cavalry began a full retreat   according to one account the order  assumed that victory was theirs   broke their formation for a disorganized pursuit  of the retreating lithuanians and gathered much   loot before returning to the battlefield to  face the polish however other accounts describe   the retreat as a planned maneuver a tactic a  feigned retreat learned from fighting the mongols while the lithuanians were retreating  heavy fighting broke out between polish   and teutonic forces commanded by  grand comptor kuno von lichtenstein   the teutonic forces concentrated on the  polish right flank six of von wallenrod's   banners did not pursue the retreating lithuanians  instead joining the attack on the right flank the fighting was intense and raged on for  several hours it seemed that the order was   gaining the upper hand and at one point the royal  standard bearer marcin of rajimomicha lost the   banner of krakow however it was soon recaptured  and fighting continued as ladislaw deployed his   reserves the second line of his army to join the  battle grand master ulrich von young again then   personally led 16 banners almost a third of the  original teutonic strengths to the right polish   flank and aladosa the second jagewo deployed  his last reserves the third line of his army   the melee reached the polish command and one night  identified as leupold deopold of cockrits charged   directly against king ladislav ii and ladislaw's  secretary bignu al-zaniki saved the king's life finally the reorganized lithuanians  returned to the battlefield   they attacked von youngingen from the sides  and the rear the teutonic forces by then were   becoming outnumbered by the mass of polish  knights and advancing lithuanian cavalry   as von jungen attempted to break through  the lithuanian lines he was killed surrounded and leaderless the  teutonic order began to retreat   part of the routed units  retreated towards their camp   the knights attempted to build a wagon fort as an  improvised fortification however the defense was   soon broken and the camp ravaged the battle was  over and it was a heroic polish lithuanian victory a papal bull from 1412 mentioned 18 000 casualties  and two letters written immediately after the   battle ladislav mentioned that polish casualties  were small only 12 polish knights had been killed   a letter by a teutonic official mentioned  that only half of the lithuanians returned   the defeat of the teutonic order was resounding  according to teutonic payroll records only 1427   men reported back to marienburg to claim their pay  of 1 200 men sent from danzig only 300 returned   between 203 and 211 brothers of the order  were killed out of 270 that participated   in the battle including much of the teutonic  leadership grand master ulrich von younginian   grand marshal friedrich von valen road grand  compter kuno von lichtenstein grand treasurer   thomas von merheim marshal of supply forces  albrecht von schwarzberg and ten of the compters   after the battle the polish and lithuanian  forces delayed their attack on the teutonic   capital of marienburg remaining  on the battlefield for three days   the battle of grunwald is regarded as one of  the most important battles in the history of   poland and lithuania in lithuania the victory  is synonymous with the grand duchy's political   and military peak in poland it is a source  of national pride and inspired resistance   to the germanization and russification  policies of the german and russian empires   in the eastern and slavic world the teutonic  order was portrayed as bloodthirsty invaders   and grunwald a just victory achieved by a small  oppressed nation while germans generally saw   the teutonic knights as heroic and noble men who  brought christianity and civilization to the east   most of the teutonic order's leadership  were killed or taken prisoner at the battle   although defeated the teutonic order  withstood the siege of marionberry castle   and suffered minimal territorial losses  at the peace of thorne in 1411 with other   territorial disputes continuing  until the treaty of melmo and 1422   the order however never recovered their  former power and the financial burden of   war reparations caused internal conflicts and an  economic downturn in the lands controlled by them   the battle of grundwald shifted the balance of  power in central and eastern europe and marked   the rise of the polish lithuanian union as the  dominant regional political and military force

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Length: 24min 9sec (1449 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 21 2022