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[[File: Nevsk 2.jpg|300px250px|thumbthumbnail|left|An icon of St Alexander Nevsky]]
Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky or St Alexander Nevsky (1221-1263), is one of the great heroes of Russian history. He was a member of a Princely House and a great military commander, one of Russia’s greatest. Nevsky is revered to this day, yet he collaborated with the Mongol conquerors and he actively helped them to maintain their rule in Russian lands. What did Nevsky achieve and what were his contributions to Russian history and society? Nevsky halted the eastern expansion of the Germans and Swedes, preserved the Russian Orthodox faith and did much to ameliorate the rule of the Mongols. Additionally, protected the ordinary people from their cruelty. He also laid the foundation for Russia’s revival and eventual independence from Mongol rule.
====Career of Alexander Nevsky====
[[File: Nevsky four.jpg|200px250px|thumbthumbnail|left|A drawing of the Battle of the Ice from a medieval manuscript]]
Alexander was the son of Yaroslav II, grand prince of Vladimir, the leading Russian ruler. In 1236 Alexander was elected ruler of the city-state of Novograd which dominated a huge area of Northern Russia. Soon later a large Swedish force invaded Novgorodian territory. When he was only nineteen. Alexander gathered together a small army and defeated the Swedes at the River Neva (1240), which earned him the epithet of Nevsky after the river where he routed the invaders. However, Alexander argued with the wealthy merchants of Novograd and he was expelled.<ref> Isoaho, Mari. The Image of Aleksandr Nevsky in Medieval Russia: Warrior and Saint. (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006), p. 14</ref>
Alexander also protected northern Russia from attacks from pagan Lithuanian tribes who attempted to seize territory. He later defeated several later German and Swedish incursions. Alexander’s father the Grand Prince served the Mongols and cooperated with them until he was assassinated. Alexander who was on good terms with the Khan was appointed as Grand Prince with the understanding that he would rule in the interests of the Golden Horde. He was to prove to be an effective collaborator and very loyal to the conquerors. When his own brother along with other Russian Princes conspired against the Mongols he denounced them to the Khan. He made sure that the local rulers in Russia did not rebel against the Mongols. For example, when the people of Novgorod installed a Prince who wanted to resist the ‘Tartars’ he attacked the city and installed his son as ruler.<ref> Isahao, p. 114</ref> He even forced them to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Alexander urged the Princes and the Boyers to accept the ‘Tartar Yoke’ as he knew that resistance was futile.
Alexander feared that the Mongols would devastate the Russian lands and that the Russian peoples would disappear. Alexander was a patriot, but he was also a pragmatist and he knew that any Russian revolt would be crushed and that the ordinary people would suffer most. He forced much of Russia to comply with a Mongol census and the exactions of Muslim tax collectors Janet Martin, From Kiev to Muscovy: The Beginnings to 1450, in Russia: A History (Oxford Press, Oxford, 1997, edited by Gregory Freeze), p. 72.</ref> Alexander tried to reduce the burdens that were placed on the ordinary Russians. He was by and largely successful, for example, he persuaded the Mongols not to draft Russian levies into the Mongol army for an invasion of the Middle East.<ref> Isahao, p. 145</ref> Alexander was able to maintain peace and to secure the acceptance of Mongol rule by the force of his personality and the alliance he created between the local princes, church, and nobles. Prince Alexander Nevsky died in Vladimir in 1263 and he was succeeded by his sons. In the aftermath of his death, the various Russian principalities began to feud with each other and occasionally rebelled against the Golden Horde, at this time the ordinary people suffered greatly.
====Alexander Nevsky and the west====
[[File: Nevsk.jpg |200px250px|thumbthumbnail|left|A military decoration named after Alexander Nevsky]]
It seemed that after the Mongol invasions that Northern Russia would come under the sway of western states and become Catholic. However, Alexander’s defeats of the Swedes and the Germans ensured that the Russians in the North remained free of western interference and were able to retain their own distinctive identity. By far the greatest threats to the Russians were the Livonian Knights. They and their brethren in the south the Teutonic Knights had conquered large areas of the Baltic in the name of the Pope. If Alexander had not defeated the Livonian Knights at the Battle on the Ice they could have advanced deep into Northern Russia.<ref> Andrejs Plakans, A Concise History of the Baltic States, (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 44 </ref>
