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| Kossack's Battle of Grunwald, 1921 |
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The Battle of Tannenberg (or Grunwald) was a battle between the Germanic Religious Military order the Teutonic Knights and their allies and a large coalition of their enemies (including Russians, Tartars, Poles, Lithuanians and among others). The background was that the Catholic Teutonic Knights were a military order that was campaigning in Eastern Europe against Orthodox Christians and the local Pagan tribes. The Knights were successful enough to carve out a state in the modern day Baltic region (
link to maximum extent of Teutonic control). Naturally, the aggressive nature of the Teutonic Knights created many enemies among the local populations and kingdoms. The Smogations, one of the Pagan tribes that the Knights manged to conqueror successfully revolt against the Knights. Inspired by the Smogation uprising, the Polish and the Lithuanians along with other enemies of the Teutonic Knights formed an alliance. Estimates for the forces involved in the battle (like all medieval and ancient battles) are impossible to estimate, but most likely about 11,000-27,000 men for the Teutonic Knights and 28,000 for the coalition forces. After a brutal battle, the Teutonic Knights were routed. About 8,000 men killed and an additional 14,000 men were captured from the side of the Teutonic Knights. However the surviving Teutonic forces fled to their fortress Marienburg and withstood the siege by the coalition forces. Soon the Knights were losing the war, and the Peace of Thorn of 1411 was signed. Despite the defeat suffered by the Knights, they lost relatively few territory. This was partially due to fears by the coalition forces that the uneasy alliance between the coalition would be shattered by the balance of power issues of the new land captured from the Knights. Although the Knights lost relatively little territory, the Battle of Tannerburg marked the decline of the once mighty Teutonic Order. After internal conflicts, economic instability, and embarrassing defeats in external wars, the Knights soon declined into nothing more then an obscure entirely religious order with no military capabilities whatsoever. The shell of the former Teutonic Knights still exist to this day.
