The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 13: 1410 Tannenberg—Cataclysm of Knights

vulnerable condition they could then be counterattacked.

This was a classic move used by steppe horsemen, and the

Lithuanians were well acquainted with it from their experience

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o Others maintain that it was a genuine retreat and that the

Lithuanians were forced to fall back under pressure from the

heavily armored Knights. Whether real or feigned, the allied

army’s right wing withdrew, and the guest Crusaders surged

forward.

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and on the left, battling the Teutonic Knights. Some of the Poles

now even drove into the gap created by the advance of the guest

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x At this crucial stage of the battle, Ulrich mounted his horse, gathered

the reserve force of the Knights around him, and led a thundering

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at the Polish royal eagle banner, under which he assumed he would

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x Had they broken through the Polish ranks and killed Jagiello, this

charge might well have won the battle, but Vytautas saw it coming

and, collecting a force of his best-equipped knights, moved to

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and faltered just short of Jagiello.

x The battle now turned decisively against the Germans. The

remaining Knights were assaulted from the rear by Polish light

cavalry, while on the right, the Lithuanians swept back onto the

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victorious Poles.

x By the end of the day, between 10,000 and 15,000 on the German

side were dead, with about the same number captured. It was a

crushing defeat; the full-ranking Teutonic Knights were almost