User:DmitriyShemyaka/sandbox

Battle of the Voronezhka River — battle between the army of the Novgorod Republic and the army of the Sweden on the river Voronaya(now the Voronezhka River in the Volkhov District of the Leningrad oblast).

Backstory Ladoga was an important strategic point in the defense of Northwestern Rus'. The last ruler of the united Old Russian state, Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, attached great importance to the city. During his reign in Novgorod in 1116, a stone fortress was laid, which can still be seen in the village of Staraya Ladoga on the banks of the Volkhov River. Testing the strength of the new fortifications was not long in coming: the Swedish squads began to actively penetrate the territory of Ingermanland already several decades later.

Ladoga was besieged by the Swedes who invaded the Novgorod land. The first attack was unsuccessful, the Swedes suffered heavy losses and retreated to the Voronezhka River. After 5 days, Svyatoslav came with the Novgorodians and defeated the Swedes. According to chronicle: «а мало ихъ убежаша и ти ѣзвьни» (But few of them ran away, and even then they were wounded.)

The Novgorodians won a victory led by their posadniks Zakharia and Nezhata and the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav Rostislavich. Information about the siege of Ladoga and the battle on Voronezhka remained in the Novgorod First Chronicle. According to legend, in honor of this victory, the church of St. George the Victorious was built in the Ladoga fortress. After this defeat, the Swedes did not attack the Novgorod lands for 76 years.