Swedish-Novgorodian Wars: A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.
The Battle of the Neva (Russian: , romanized: Nevskaya bitva; Swedish: slaget vid Neva; Finnish: Nevan taistelu) was fought between the Novgorod Republic and Karelians against Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Tavastian armies on the Neva River, near the settlement of Ust-Izhora, on 15 July 1240.
The purpose of the invasion was probably to gain control over the mouth of the Neva and the city of Ladoga and, hence, seize the most important part of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, which had been under Novgorod's control for more than a hundred years. The battle was part of the medieval Swedish-Novgorodian Wars and continuum to FinnishNovgorodian wars.
Swedish–Novgorodian Wars were a series of conflicts in the 12th and 13th centuries between the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden over control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital to the Hanseatic League and part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones, but before the 14th century there is no knowledge of official crusade bulls issued by the pope.