“Nevsky” was Alexander’s war name, given to him after a victory over the Swedish on the Neva river. Nevsky was picked as the military leader of Novgorod, and his great leadership earned him several significant military victories in his 20s. His growing reputation also earned him some powerful enemies among his fellow countrymen, and Nevsky briefly went into exile. But he would be needed again soon after as the Teutonic Knights, a crusading force for the Pope, invaded to conquer the Eastern Orthodox lands.

On this day, April 5, in 1242, a Russian force of 5,000 composed of Novgorod militiamen and Nevsky’s own army met the heavily armored Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice, on the frozen Lake Ladoga.

The knights’ heavy armor may have been their ultimate undoing: as they tried to move around on the ice, many of them might have fallen through. Nevsky routed the 3,000-man invading army, and for that has been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.