The
Battle on the Raxa river was fought on 16 October 955 over control of the
Billung march (in present-day
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northeast
Germany) between the forces of
Otto I of Germany allied with the
Rani tribe on one side, and the
Obotrite federation under
Nako and his brother
Stoigniew (Stoinef, Stoinneg, Stoinegin, Ztoignav) with their allied and tributary
Slav neighbours on the other. The Raxa river is identified with either the
Recknitz or the
Elde river. The German victory over the Slavs followed up on the August victory at the
Lechfeld over the
Magyars and marked the high point of Otto's reign. A thirty-year peace followed, only ending with the
Slavic revolt in 983.