Battle of Tannenberg

One of the largest cavalry skirmishes of the age, the Battle of Tannenberg featured the combined forces of the Poles and Lithuanians against the Order of the Teutonic Knights. The Poles and Lithuanians brought to the field an enormous army that included Moravian, Wallachian, Tatar and Czech fighters, while the Knights were primarily aided by German mercenaries. Despite initial success, the Knights were ultimately defeated, resulting in the loss of its impetus as a crusading force. When German armies defeated the Russians at Tannenberg in 1914, it was portrayed as revenge for the defeat of the order five hundred years earlier.