Prussian Crusade: Battle of Grunwald | Animated History

on a low ridge in northern Poland two great armies are about to do battle as Nobles donned their armor men-at-arms on both sides offer up silent prayers for deliverance and for victory they all know that in the coming fight no quarter will be asked and none shall be given then the cavalry of Lithuania begin to track forward as heavily armored western Crusaders watch the oncoming horde of light pours they wonder how the Knights of the Teutonic order could possibly lose one of the largest battles of the medieval world is about to begin [Music] hi I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair historian today's video a German defeat so infamous and decisive that centuries later during the First World War the German Empire saw the need to avenge it in the aptly named Battle of Tannenberg fought mere miles from the site of the medieval battle of grunwald or the First Battle of Tannenberg but first a word from our sponsor Squarespace in the medieval period merchant guilds controlled nearly every aspect of commerce and communication fortunately today's internet is a much more open space where anyone can make a website or an online business Squarespace is a unique user-friendly one-stop shop solution to build your ideal online store whether you're looking to start a business or create an online portfolio Squarespace is a dream come true stay tuned until the end of the video for an exclusive offer from Squarespace just for fans of the armchair historian but for now the crusade awaits the seeds of the great battle which would decide the fate of medieval Poland had been sown in the Holy Land 200 years earlier the numerous Crusades of the early Middle Ages gave rise to a number of holy orders religious and military companies originally formed to protect Christians on their pilgrimage to the Holy Land however following the unsuccessful Third Crusade many were forced to look elsewhere for glory on the battlefield one of these orders was that of the German House of st. Mary and Jerusalem better known as the Teutonic Knights these devout warriors were notoriously troublesome and often created unease in countries that hosted them as they were always looking to carve out their own sovereign state in 1230 the order was residing in Poland after their most recent eviction this time from Hungary searching for an opportunity to shout Deus vult they joined the so-called northern crusade to Christianize the old Prussians a pagan people inhabiting portions of present-day Poland Latvia Lithuania and by the beginning of the following century pagan Lithuania posed the only remaining serious threat to Christian domination of Eastern Europe having defeated a crusade launched by the livonian brothers of the sword yet another group of warrior monks this defeat was so thorough that the livonians joined with the Teutonic order whose conquest of the Baltic coast was so successful that within a century the indigenous Prussian beliefs and mythology had been largely suppressed but although the problem of Prussian paganism had been solved the Polish were now faced with a group of heavily armed extremely religious squatters sitting right on their doorstep refusing to leave the order's territory now included some of the most lucrative trade routes in northern Europe and they operated independently of the Polish aristocracy paying neither tithes nor taxes as their wealth increased the order established formidable castles like the fortress of malbork and Marienberg and Koenigsberg castle in 1306 the polish king called on the order to enforce his claim to the contested Duchy of pommes irelia the Knights quickly secured the Duchy but then used their wealth to buy the rival claim for themselves incensed at this blatant betrayal the king of Poland declared war however neither side gained the upper hand after two entire Wars the Treaty of Kulish in 1343 saw minor territorial concessions by the Knights but enforced their claims on Palmer Elia helm Noland and Danzig and from here on Eastern Europe would remain stable and secure except that it didn't for the next half century the two E's poles Lithuanians and even the Golden Horde found themselves in a perpetual state of petty wars with enemies closing in from all directions the Lithuanian Grand Duke yo Kyla hoping to strengthen his position signed the union of crevel with the poles in 1385 the stipulations included an agreement to convert his people to roman catholicism and a marriage to the female king of poland yot viga establishing Co rulership once he was baptized in 1386 he went by the name of yoga WA shortly thereafter a civil war was started in Lithuania and one faction led by Yaga was cousin Vito to us entered into an alliance with you guessed it the Teutonic order to secure the Alliance they nominally ceded the coastal territory of samogitia to the order after compromising with Vito to us the Civil War ended in 1392 however doopty Ogawa wasn't too pleased seeing the Teutons still lingering in his territory during the turn of the century the newly Christianized Lithuania declared support for a pagan revolt in samalisha in 1409 against the Teutonic Knights Poland announced her support for Lithuania shortly thereafter while neither Lithuania nor Poland directly attacked the order fearing retaliation from the Holy Roman Empire were hungry no such concerns faced the Teutonic order who openly launched its invasion led by Ulrich von Union the order's Grandmaster the Germanic Knights over and several towns and castles before things could escalate the King of Bohemia stepped in to mediate the dispute what followed was an episode of intrigue and corruption that would impress even a Game of Thrones fan after receiving a pledge of support from Hungary the Teutonic Knights bribed the King of Bohemia into upholding their claim on samogitia the poles meanwhile contacted the remnants of the livonian Brotherhood and obtained a pledge of neutrality both parties also engaged in liberal accusations of heresy blasphemy and just about anything else they thought would tarnish the reputation of the other party in the eyes of Christendom eventually however things calmed down long enough for an official truce to be recognized of course rivalries never die with an armistice in late June of 1410 the poles and Lithuanians gathered their levies into a single army of nearly 40,000 their intention was to utterly break the power of the Teutonic Knights by capturing marienburg the capital of the monastic state caught off-guard by this massive concentration of enemy troops Ulrich von union decided to meet this army with all the forces he could muster Western European mercenaries adventurers and Crusaders were rallied all eager to defeat the poles and their despised allies the fact that these pagans were getting considerably less pagan by the day didn't seem to matter this combined force numbered some 30,000 men and checked the advance of the Polish Lithuanian army between the villages of Tannenberg and greenwall on July 15th 1410 while the Crusader is baked in their armor under the hot Summer Sun in the open the Polish and Lithuanian troops were deployed in a forest the two sides could not be more different in a tactical outlook the Knights and Crusaders were heavily armored and their forces consisted mostly of shock cavalry and heavy infantry while the Polish Knights were heavily armored their lithuanian allies were not as they primarily used mounted bowmen or light cavalry to assail their enemies the Knights had brought with them to bomb barns heavy cannon usually reserved for sieges which immediately opened up on their adversaries unfortunately the Bombardier's consistently failed to hit anything of know throughout much of the bombardment at the poles remained in the forest which was flanked by marshes on either side desperate to lure the Polish host into battle upon Union sent two swords to goad the baptised and Lithuanian born King Ogawa of Poland and his cousin Grand Duke vetoed us of Lithuania into battle stating that the weapons should prove useful if the two leaders actually chose to fight Yaga WA responded to von unions ploy by saying we accept the swords you send us and in the name of Christ before whom all stiff necked pride must bow we shall do battle shortly thereafter the Allied hosts marched out of the woods to face their foes the Grand Duke proceeded to send forward his entire contingent comprised mostly of light cavalry against the Teutonic left flank this attack took nearly an hour to fight off but the Lithuanian life horse was no match with a heavily armored Knights and soon fled [Applause] inspired by the site of their pagan foes in full retreat the Teutonic Knights lost all discipline and charged forward with all of their cavalry on both flanks with the exception of some of their Eastern troops the Lithuanian Light Horse continued to flee from the field of battle into marshes and woods drawing away many of the orders Knights in the meantime the rest of von union's army fell on that of the Polish King hitting him in the front and right flank the Teutonic Knights nearly annihilated the Polish right wing but a unit from Smolensk held them back at great cost after fighting had continued for several hours it looked like the poles could be beaten with one last mighty effort von union through forward more heavy cavalry in the hopes of smashing the Polish line for a while this seemed to work as the banner of Krakoff the King's personal standard was captured by the Germanic troops then at this critical juncture the Polish reserves rushed forward checking the charge of the Knights and recapturing the banner von Union kept fighting throwing in his remaining 16 banners of heavy cavalry but the Polish infantry and cavalry armed to the teeth with Spears and Lance's prevented them from making any clear breakthrough by this point the Lithuanians made an unexpected return to the battle having both exhausted and defeated their pursuers they immediately crashed into the teutonic left plant which was still bogged down attacking people - confused by the sudden return of their pagan foes the Knights began to break from the field in a panic on Union rallied his troops to make one last stand out in the open deploying them in a full battle line where he hoped to outflank the Allies but the polls checked his move once again then counter attacked using their superior numbers to roll up both flanks of the order in the ensuing chaos most of the orders High Command was killed but the absolute leader of their fortunes came when the brave Oregon Union was struck down falling amongst the bodies of men he had fought with all day long utterly demoralized his troops fled back to camp where they attempted to circle their supply wagons into a makeshift fortification but this was swiftly overrun and the slaughter continued until darkness finally allowed the Tattered Remnants of the order to slip away the king of poland entity Grand Duke of Lithuania were doubtless pleased with their joint victory some 8000 Teutonic soldiers and their allies had been killed and to nearly double that number been captured the polls have lost less than four thousand matter although the Polish victory had been stunning the Teutonic Knights managed to hold on to Marienberg the strategic objective of the campaign the Knights also lost little territory in the subsequent peace treaty in 1411 due to in part the belated arrival of their livonian vassals and fee threat of intervention by the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary before we conclude today's video we have one more word from our sponsor Squarespace Squarespace provides everything you need to build a website online storefront or community hub including easy links to all common social media platforms integrated analytics and support for podcasts personalized email campaigns and mailing lists these are just some of the features you'll need in order to go on a crusade with the boys no matter what your skill level Squarespace helps you design something appealing for your audience go to squarespace.com to start a free trial today and once you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com slash armchair historian for 10% off of your first purchase of a website or domain nevertheless the orders military power had been shattered and the polish soon expanded their territory by incorporating Lithuania proper eventually the order simply became obsolete in the early 16th century the last Grand Master of the order in Prussia converted to Lutheranism and became a Polish vassal but the Knights may have had the last laugh as this vassal would eventually help form the most powerful state in Germany Prussia [Music] you

Channel: undefined

Views: 527,822

Rating: 4.9105763 out of 5

Keywords: Tannenberg, Grunwald, The Battle of Tannenberg, The Battle of Grunwald, Polish History, Teutonic History, Prussian History, Prussian Crusade, Eastern Crusade, Medieval History, Middle Ages, Medieval Battle, The Teutonic Order, The Teutonic Knights, Polish Winged Hussars, Lithuanian History, Poland-Lithuania, Polish-Teutonic War, Holy Roman Empire

Id: WWmmXVZcSqY

Length: 15min 25sec (925 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 06 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your submission, please remember to adhere to our rules. Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/CbMGpTn

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/[deleted]]

Oh yea, concentration camps. The Teutons are rising