View Full Version : Vikings, vikings, everywhere, vikings..
Just curious, been reading up on the Viking eras, again, and have anyone else noticed that those peeps went just about to everywhere in the known, and unknown world, had a small part in alot of Empires history and really managed to do alot despite being a rather small group?
Just fascinated by them.. =)
Brutal DLX
02-17-2003, 10:49
Yes.
Yup. I used to laugh at the Scilians when they sometimes play an unexpectedly large role in MTW and then I found out, they were Normans, descendants of Vikings, and gave the Byzantine Army a bloody nose.
Longshanks
02-17-2003, 11:10
It is really significant also when you consider that the Vikings who attacked and settled in Northern France, later mixed with local Frenchies and became the Normans.
The Normans conquered England, and the Kings of England were descended from them...as well as many of the nobility. England went on to conquer Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It also conquered much of France.(although France conquered it back in the end)
The Normans adventurers also conquered Sicily, and set up the nation that appears in MTW. The Kings of Sicily were Normans. The Norman Sicilians also carved out duchies for themselves in Southern Italy. They even spanked the mighty Byzantine Empire.
The bulk of the troops who made up the armies of First Crusade were Normans, and they founded the first Crusader Kingdoms.
For a people who only made up a small province in France, they really got around and carved out alot of kingdoms for themselves.....after spilling copious amounts of blood of course.
Rosacrux
02-17-2003, 11:29
Don't forget that them seafaring Vikings were the first to discover the Americas, long, long before Colombus was even born.
Teutonic Knight
02-17-2003, 21:31
Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ Feb. 17 2003,03:49)]Yes.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
Hakonarson
02-17-2003, 22:24
Quote[/b] (Rosacrux @ Feb. 17 2003,04:29)]Don't forget that them seafaring Vikings were the first to discover the Americas, long, long before Colombus was even born.
I thought that walking Asians got there first?
BlackWatch McKenna
02-17-2003, 22:29
If the Walking Asians were so cool, then you would think they would have sailed a boat to America, like the Manly Vikings, instead of walking, like a bunch of girlie-wussy cavemen.
deejayvee
02-18-2003, 00:34
Don't forget the beloved Varangian Guard.
Also, the Russians were of viking descent.
Longshanks
02-18-2003, 01:14
Quote[/b] (deejayvee @ Feb. 17 2003,17:34)]Don't forget the beloved Varangian Guard.
Also, the Russians were of viking descent.
Thats not true actually. The Russians are Slavs, not Scandanavians.
Russia did gets its name from Vikings though. Viking raiders set up a kingdom called Rus there.
deejayvee
02-18-2003, 02:17
So the vikings were just the ruling people in Russia?
Cheers for the correction.
Rosacrux
02-18-2003, 07:59
Correct. That seems like a pattern with the Slavs, though; precisely the same thing happened in Bulgaria, where the Bulgars (of Turkic origin) came in, established themselves as rulers over the Slavic majority and after a while got assimilated to the local Slavic population, leaving practically only the name behind.
Apparently, they also were in touch with the Steppe people who turned into the Mongol hordes.. and they went as far inland, or atleast a few items of theirs did, as Tennessee on the American continent.
Coolies ppl, coolier history.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
Knight_Yellow
02-18-2003, 09:27
ill admit they played a large part of history, but in reality if they had always faced an army not militia from a vilage then they wouldnt have been so succesful.
but kudos to them for doing as mutch as they did.
Just to give life-support to this thread…
It is true that the Viking settlement in Kiev founded the Russian state.
Who went where?
The Norwegian Vikings went west to the British Isles; North England, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, the North Sea isles, Greenland and even Vineland (America).
The Danish to the south; Friesland, France and South England
The Swedish eastward; the Russian rivers and down to the Caspian Sea.
Where did the Viking stories come from? Western Europe… oh yeah, we where the bad ones. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif
Of all the bad guys rampaging Europe around 793 – 1000AD we are the ones that are remembered.
Must because we where the worst… http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Toda Nebuchadnezzar
02-26-2003, 20:14
Did the Vikings leave their mark on the Americas at all?
No, except for the Greenland Colony which lasted into the 1500's, the Norse had little impact on North America. Various stories claim that they went here or there from Minnesota to Tennessee but hard evidence of their presence is only found in the Maritimes of Canada and even there some question whether the settlements were permanent or summer work stations that would get used annually. They probably did go further but again their "mark" on the enviroment and native cultures was limitded primarily to Greenland.
The problem was the Norse were out numbered by the native peoples and lacked the tech edge (guns) of later colonists.
That’s right Dojo, A Norse settlement was found on L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland; it contained 12 Norse houses like unto the ones found on Iceland and Greenland.
Some tools where found and a C14 shows that it’s all from around 1000 AD
The sagas here in Norway (mainly written in 1100th century) tell of problems with the native people (Eskimos or American Indians).
They called them skraelingene, probably because of the sound they made when they attacked. (American-Indian movies come to mind).
All Norse was not Vikings (the term for a raider). Most possibly the American settlers where ordinary farmers and as Dojo suggested they farmed the place for food and shipped it back to Greenland.
They called it Vineland though, which suggest grapes of some sort. I don’t know Newfoundland, but I think it has no grapes. No?...
The world of the Vikings:
http://www.caplex.net/media/magasinbilder/9803/vikinger.jpg
deejayvee
02-27-2003, 06:04
It may have no grapes or vines now, but remember that Greenland was a lot more hospitable before 1450 than it is now. At about 1450 the Earth had a minor axis shift and we entered a mini-ice age, so today's climate is vastly different in some of the northern regions.
BlackWatch McKenna
02-27-2003, 21:15
Marketing Ploy:
I've read the Icelander Sagas - very nice book, indeed. One of the things mentioned is that ICELAND was very nice, whilst GREENLAND was quite barren.
Seems they wanted to steer folks AWAY from the good stuff and TO the bad stuff.
Also - if you get a chance, meet some Swedish folks - they are very nice and won't lop your head off at all My best friend is a Stockholmer and he is a very good person...
of course, I would not like to see him get angry at me...
~BW
Back in the Scandis Norwegians and Swedes are sort of archenemies and we take the mick out of each other whenever an opportunity presents itself.
But as soon as we meet in another country, we join forces and are best friends…
I would guess this was true even back in the Viking age.
Erik the Red (a convict deported from Norway), the one who discovered Greenland called the place Greenland for marketing purposes as Black Watch suggests.
It was not a very hospitable place with little resources. The trick worked though.
It is suggested that over 3000 people lived in Greenland at one time.
Yes the climate was better but it worsened as suggested in the 13th century, forcing the settlers to rely more on hunting than raising livestock.
About 1450 AD it all ended. They all mysteriously left the great island.
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