Sven Ekdahl. The Battle of Tannenberg and its Importance in the History of the Teutonic Order’s State

There are historical events of such profound significance that they remain in the consciousness of a people for centuries. They also perform an important cultural and political function long after their occurrence. The Battle of Tannenberg (Grunwald, Žalgiris, Grjunval’d, Hrunval’d) in Teutonic Prussia, which took place on 15 July 1410, is one such. This article is a Belarusian translation of a conference paper which was published in Lithuanian and German in Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis, vol. 1, Vilnius 1993. It gives a synopsis of the political and military situation in Prussia before, during and after the ‘Great War’ between the Teutonic Knights and Poland-Lithuania in 1409–1411, the peak and turning-point of which was the overwhelming victory of the joint armies of the Lithuanians and Poles with their auxiliary troops at Tannenberg. Traditional interpretations of that famous battle are in many respects called into question by the author who proposes new approaches to this important topic. A supplementary article lists further literature about Tannenberg published by him after 1993 till today.