The Teutonic Knights fought a difficult conquest of the Baltic region
When the Teutonic Knights are mentioned, most people think of their handsome black and white burqas, exaggerated large-winged horned helmets, and their fighting power.
In fact, in numerical comparison, the Teutonic Knights were no more effective than any conventional Continental military force, including their early conquering opponents, the polytheistic pagan Prussians and Lithuanians. In November 1249, the Teutonic Knights' first expedition to Natangia included an entire army of 54 brother knights who were captured and killed. The winter expedition to Sambia in the winter of 1252/1253 ended with a similar result, and it was only in 1254 and 1255 that Czech reinforcements under King Przemyńl II Otoka were able to complete the conquest of these lands and lead to the Christianization of the local population.
The small number of Teutonic Knights could not rely solely on their own armed forces to achieve their conquest goals in offensive warfare, and the early conquest of the Baltic Sea and Livonia relied on the Polish Crusaders, then the Czech Crusades, and then the Western European (German) Crusades launched by the Pope of Rome and the Holy Roman Emperor. With the foreign Crusaders far outnumbered themselves, the Teutonic Knights' greatest advantage was that they were responsible for defending the territory, establishing strongholds, and handing over the task of advancing to the Crusader brothers. Coupled with the appeasement and connivance of the Polish and Hungarian rulers, as well as the brutal burning and looting of the conquered areas by the Teutonic Knights, several official plundering attacks were organized every year to weaken the local resistance, which allowed the Knights to gain a foothold on the Baltic coast and became a major problem for Rus', Poland and other countries.
