At the very beginning of the 13th century, German knights landed in the Baltic states, ready to plunder and seize new lands. It was the Order of the Swordsmen, which became the first wave of the military “onset to the East” of the German invaders. The name of the Order comes from the image on their cloaks of a red sword with a Maltese cross. The book by modern Russian historians Mikhail Bredis and Elena Tyanina is dedicated to the heroic resistance of Rus' and the Baltic peoples to the military and religious expansion of these “dog knights”. In it, the authors fascinatingly tell the reader about the unknown heroic pages of Russian history, when the interests of Catholic Rome and the Russian state collided on the Baltic coast. Fascinating details of the most unknown Russian-German war of the Middle Ages! Bloody battles, political intrigues. Mister Veliky Novgorod and the Principality of Polotsk against the Pope. and brothers of the sword! The book was also published under a different title: “The Crusade against Rus'.”