Events Which led to the Battle of Grunwald

The Teutonic Knights Face the Alliance of Poland and Lithuania

Apr 24, 2009

The battle of Grunwald, the Teutonic Order's greatest defeat, was a result of political intrigue and religious fervor which brought two rival kingdoms to arms.

Grunwald would prove to be a disaster from which the Order would never recover, and a source of unity and nationalism in Eastern Europe. It is known by a different name by all of those who fought it: The Poles call it Grunwald, The Germans call it Tannenberg, The Lithuanians call it Zalgiris, and the Belorusians call it Dabrowno.

The Teutonic Knights in Eastern Europe

Among the Teutonic Order at the time there was a feeling of what was called "Drang nach Osten" (literally "Push to the East"), or that the brethren should carve out a kingdom for themselves among the lands of the pagan tribes which existed there. In 1236 the order absorbed another Christian knightly order, the Sword Brethren of Livonia, into their fold. The Christian Kings and princes in Eastern Europe seemed all too eager for them to come. In fact, in 1226, Konrad Mazowiecki, Duke of Mazowsze in Poland, asked the Teutonic Order to crusade in his lands against the pagan Prussians.

These crusades were successful, and in the process the Teutonic Order established a kingdom for themselves among the kingdoms of Eastern Europe. Some fo their neighbors were Christian, like Poland, and some still held to their old Pagan beliefs, like Lithuania. By the middle of the Thirteenth Century, the Teutonic lands spread from Germany all the way to Russia. The order was a powerful political force in the region, after having established a reputation for expediency and military prowess.

Vladyslav Jagiello

By the end of the century the Lithuanians had been resisting the advances of the Teutonic Knights into their territory. In 1385 the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vladyslav Jagaila married the Queen of Poland and entrusted the rule of Lithuania to Vytautas the Great, who would command a wing of his army at the battle. He changed his name to Jagiello, and converted to Christianity--a step which he saw as necessary to unite Poland and Lithuania.

Jagiello saw an invasion of the Teutonic Kingdom as the only way to check the knights' advances. He was correct in assuming the worst. After years of attempting to win the lands politically, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen, declared war on the Polish kingdom. Both sides began marshaling their forces.

Varvounis, Miltiades and Ziogaite, Saiva. "The Battle of Grunwald" at www.kresy.co.uk.

De Markov, Demitrius Dvoichenko. "The Battle of Tannenberg(Grunwald) in 1410" at

Turnbull, Stephen. Tannenberg 1410: Disaster for The Teutonic Knights. New York: Osprey Publishing

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