One disaster was to be followed by another. While Batu was marching on the scattered Russian princedoms from the East another mighty enemy appeared in the north-west and marched on Novgorod. German knights began to advance towards former Kievan state lands, eager to seize new lands and peasants to work them. They enslaved the Baltic peoples and seized their land. In Livonia, at the mouth of the Dvina they built the fortress of Riga, which was to become the main stronghold of the cruel oppressors, the Order of the Brothers of the Sword.

 Another alliance of knights, the Order of the Teutonic Knights, started to threaten the Lithuanians from the West. Soon the Teutonic Knights joined forces with the Brothers of the Sword and together they turned on Pskov and Novgorod. 

Taking note of this state of affairs aggressive factions among the landed nobles of Sweden were also stirred to action. They were overjoyed to hear of the Mongol invasion, thinking that now that Rus was being overrun from the East by the Tartars they could march in from the North and gain more land while the countrv was in such a vulnerable position.

 In 1240 the Swedish ruler Jarl Birger landed on the banks of the Neva with his troops. The Rus army rallied on St. Sophia Square in Novgorod and the Prince's soldiers were joined by part of the city guard. Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich (1220-1263) led the Novgorod army out to meet Birger's forces. The two armies met at the Neva: the Slavs took the Swedes by surprise and wholesale slaughter ensued. In the course of the battle Prince Alexander came face to face with Birger and "made a mark on his face by his sharp spear". The young warrior Savva made his way to Birger's goldroofed tent and cut down its pole, the tent collapsed before the assembled armies and the Slavs rejoiced. The fierce battle on the river Neva ended in a Rus army victory, in honour of which Prince Alexander was hailed from then on as Alexander Nevsky. 

Meanwhile the German knights were not sitting idle. They marched on Rus with an enormous army. In April 1242 the famous battle on the ice of Lake Chudske (Lake Peipus) took place, to go down in history as the "Slaughter on the Ice". The Germans deploved their forces in a narrow wedge formation so as to pierce the Rus line of attack and cut their army in two. At the head of the German army heavily-armoured cavalry advanced; behind them came infantry with spears and swords flanked by cavalry. 

Alexander Nevsky saw through the enemy's plan, and concentrated his main forces not in the centre but on the flanks. He lured the enemv on to attack his army in the centre and then closed in on them from the flanks with his main forces. A massacre ensued and the ice was soon red with blood. The German knights were routed, the few survivors being taken prisoner. 

These victories under Alexander Nevsky were of great significance and kept north-west Rus intact, saving it from enslavement by the German and Swedish barons. 

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