On July 15, 1410, the alliance between the Lithuanian forces, led by Grand Duke Vytautas, and the Polish army fought and defeated the German–Prussian Teutonic Knights in one of the largest battles in medieval Europe.
The Lithuanians call the battle Žalgiris, which has gained huge prominence, as the name is now being used in the titles of sports clubs and other brands. But the famous battle name could have also been different.
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The battle in mid-July 1410 took place in the territory controlled by Teutonic Knights between the villages of Grunwald, Tannenberg (now Stębark), and Ludwigsdorf (now Łodwigowo), today’s northeastern Poland.
The location of the battle has always been known. But the nations that were involved in the battle assigned different names to it, which is a reflection of the varying interpretation of events of the early 15th century.
The road to Žalgiris
In Germany, where the battle is not well-known, it goes by the name of Tannenberg.
“Sometimes, it is called the First Battle of Tannenberg. There was also a second Battle of Tannenberg that the Germans fought and won during the First World War. Although it is not a widespread narrative, it was like a revenge for the first Tannenberg in the early 15th century,” said Darius Staliūnas, a senior fellow at the Lithuanian Institute of History.
In Polish, the battle is called after another nearby village, Grunwald.
Among Lithuanians, Jonas Vileišis, prominent 19th century lawyer and politician, referred to the battle place as Grunwald, while the first Lithuanian history, written by Simonas Daukantas, called it Tannenberg. In later works, various Lithuanian derivations from the German ‘Tannenberg’ were used, including Žaliagiris (literally, ‘green woods’), Eglykalnis and Eglėkalnis (both mean ‘fir mountain’).
The name ‘Žalgiris’ to refer to the battle was first used in an 1891 textbook by the famous Lithuanian poet Jonas Mačiulis Maironis. He sealed the name with a poem that is today recited throughout the country’s classrooms. Over time, this word was consolidated as the name of the battle in the Lithuanian language.
But as the historian Tomas Baranauskas wrote in the magazine Istorija (History), even on its 500th anniversary celebrated a decade ago, the battle was still sometimes referred to as Grunwald in the Lithuanian media.
According to him, interwar historians criticised the term Žalgiris (‘green woods’), arguing it was a translation from an inaccurate Polish name for a German location. They believed that a better name for the battle would have been Žalialaukis (‘green field’).
According to Staliūnas, the rejection of the names Grunwald and Tannenberg in the Lithuanian language represented a quest for a more ‘Lithuanian’ interpretation of history which would emphasise the Lithuanian nation as separate from Poles.
“The Lithuanian interpretation stresses the role of Vytautas, who is like a personification of the nation, and aims to downplay the Polish role in the battle. Lithuanians and Poles fought in the battle together, but the Lithuanian historical narrative is a little bit anti-German and even more anti-Polish,” said the historian.
The battle also has a prominent role in the Belarusian national history. By contrast, the event that spelled the beginning of the end for the German Teutonic Order is familiar to few outside professional historian circles in Germany, according to Staniūnas.
“There was this anecdote [...] that during a basketball game, Lithuanian fans unveiled a banner, threatening the German team with ‘a new Tannenberg’. No one among the Germans understood what the Lithuanians meant,” Staliūnas said.
On Wednesday, the Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, along with the Polish president Andrzej Duda, are taking part in the celebration of the 610th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (Žalgiris) in Poland.
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