Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Yaroslavich was a grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest who became Prince of Novgorod in 1236. He won his lasting nickname - Nevsky, granted in the 15th century - after defeating Swedish forces at the Battle of the Neva in 1240, then crushed German crusaders on frozen Lake Peipus in the Battle on the Ice two years later. While he fought the West, he chose submission to the east: he agreed to pay tribute to the Golden Horde, a deal that preserved the Eastern Orthodox Church under Mongol rule. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow, canonized him in 1547. His reputation as savior from Catholic conquest made him useful long after death - Peter the Great invoked him building Saint Petersburg, Stalin deployed him in World War II propaganda, and Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 film locked the myth in place. Some historians now argue the battles were smaller than legend claims and that his Mongol accommodation locked Russia into generations of subjugation.