The hill of Balga had been the site of an
Old Prussian (
Warmian) fortress called Honeda. The fort had been unsuccessfully besieged by the
Wettin margrave
Henry III of Meissen on his 1237
Prussian Crusade, but was eventually conquered in 1239 by the forces of the
Teutonic Order, led by
Grand Marshal Dietrich von Bernheim. Balga was the oldest
Ordensburg constructed by the Teutonic Order in the region of present-day
Kaliningrad Oblast, and was built from 1239 to control naval traffic on the
Vistula Lagoon. With the assistance of Duke
Otto I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Teutonic Knights defeated the Old Prussians along the coastline of
Warmia and
Natangia. The subjugation of these
pagan peoples led Duke
Świętopełk II of Pomerania to declare war against the Teutonic Order during the 1242
Prussian uprising, although he was eventually forced to abandon his participation in the uprising. From 1250, Balga was the administrative centre of
Kommende Balga and the seat of a
Komtur of the
Teutonic Knights. Many Komturs at Balga like
Winrich von Kniprode or
Ulrich von Jungingen later rose to the office of the
Grand Master, the highest position in the Teutonic Order. In 1499, Grand Master
Friedrich von Sachsen had the Kommende dissolved, and upon the
Prussian Homage, Balga was part of the Polish
Duchy of Prussia in 1525, and the castle became the residence of
George of Polentz, Bishop of
Samland. From 1627, parts of the castle were broken down at the behest of King
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the
Polish–Swedish War in order to gain building material for the construction of the
star fort in Pillau (now
Baltiysk), a strategically important
port town occupied by the Swedes. Balga was located in the
Duchy of Prussia from 1525 and the
Kingdom of Prussia from 1701, where between 1772 and 1829 it belonged to the
province of
East Prussia. The province was unified with
West Prussia into the
Province of Prussia until 1878, when it separated once again and Balga remained in East Prussia until 1945. During
World War II the castle ruins were the site of one of the final battles between the German
Wehrmacht and the Soviet
Red Army, with the latter advancing during the
East Prussian Offensive. The German defenders destroyed numerous vehicles by sinking them in the lagoon next to the ruins, and the battle extensively damaged the castle remains. Following the war Balga was in the section of East Prussia allocated to the
Soviet Union at the
Potsdam Conference, and included in the area that was organized into
Kaliningrad Oblast of the
Russian SFSR. The area around Balga became a popular site for
grave robbers and
treasure hunters hoping to dig up valuables left behind by the castle's previous occupants and the German and Soviet soldiers who died in World War II. Balga was also the name of a nearby village, which after Soviet sovereignty over the area was renamed Vesyoloye. It is now abandoned. ==See also==