The Teutonic Knights were powerful and ferocious advocates of holy war. Their history is suffused with crusading, campaigning, and destruction. Feared by their enemies but respected by religious authorities, the knights and their order maintained a firm grasp over the Baltic region and established a dreaded regime that flourished across Central Europe during the late Middle Ages. Christianity blossomed during the times which the Teutonic Knights controlled a vast part of Europe. Begun many years ago, the Italian mafia started as a small group of poor, immigrant families trying to support one another. It grew to become a large, rich, and corrupt organization feared by many. Like the Italian mafia, the beginnings of the Teutonic Order were aimed at bringing religion to an unreligious people. Again, like the mafia, the knights became corrupt, greedy, and more interested in killing the nations they conquered than at exposing them to...