|
|
The Lithuanian Crusade was perhaps the longest war in European history, although for much of the time it largely consists of raids carried out both by the militant knights of the Teutonic Order and the initially pagan Lithuanians. However the conflict did include a series of major battles and sieges, and this book looks at three of them.
We start with a look at the two sides, comparing the state built up by the fighting monks of the Teutonic Order with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the last major Pagan power in Europe. This chapter also includes a matched pair of illustrations showing Teutonic and Lithuanian knights of the 15th century, demonstrating that the two sides were actually rather similar in armour and weapons.
The section on recruitment makes some interesting points. The general image is of the armies of the Teutonic Knights being made up of members of the order and visiting knights visiting to take part in a crusade. However the Teutonic Order was also a territorial state, and many of its soldiers were local landowners, serving as anything from light infantry to fully armoured knights, depending on their wealth. On the Lithuanian side we see a mix of the tribal warbands raised by the local leaders and the retinue of the Grand Duke, which more resembled the knights found elsewhere in Europe.
We look at two battles and one siege – the Teutonic victories at Voplaukis and the siege of Kaunas and the Lithuanian victory at Grunwald (or Tannenberg). The inclusion of a Teutonic siege of a Lithuanian fortress demonstrates that the Lithuanians were a much more organised opponent than their earlier Pagan foes around the Baltic. The Lithuanians were also expanding east and south-east in this period, and by 1377 ruled an area that spread south-east past Kiev and east towards the approaches to Moscow.
The battle of Grunwald was on a much larger scale than the earlier conflicts. The long term future of the Teutonic Knights had been put in doubt when the Lithuanians officially converted to Christianity (for the second time, but with more genuine enthusiasm than on the early and rather short-lived first occasion), ending the official justification for the conflict between the two powers. The personal union of Poland and Lithuania meant that the Teutonic Knights were outnumbered and almost surrounded by their enemies. Not only were the Knights badly defeated, at least 203 of the 270 full brothers at the battle were killed, including the Grand Master, Grand Marshal, Grand Commander, Treasurer and Marshal of Supply.
This book gives us a good overview of the nature of the clash between these two powers, using these three battles to demonstrate how the balance of power between the two changed over time.
Chapters
The Opposing Sides
Voplaukis – 1311
The Siege of Kaunas – 1362
Grunwald – 1410
Analysis
Aftermath
Opposing Leaders
Author: Mark Galeotti
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 80
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2023