Well one thing is for sure, rowing a longboat back and forward from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean or the Black sea must have given them ungodly upper body strength, enough to swing some pretty big axes. Not sure about legs though.
These guys still had to make their own ships it's not like they had elaborate shipyards with prefabricated parts like Carthage. They had to cut down trees and shape it all bit by bit, all custom made.
You are not correct at 6:18 regarding the use of runes. They were not ever used to record serious documents like epics. they were only used to record very small simple messages. I don't know of any "epics" that were written with runes. Both Eddas and the Sagas were all written in the modified Latin alphabet.
Viking comes from the word 'Vík' which means 'Creek' in English. And it was called "going viking", not an identity, but a thing one did. And though they don't directly mean the same. The English equivalent to "Viking" would then be something like "coastal raider".
Wow. I just had a vision: the single bladed axe (the hewing axe) might've been used as one element of a group tactic. Swing that axe overhead and the enemy soldier must interpose his shield. That likely ends with the axe embedded . . . so, now that he's attached to it through his grip on the axe, the axeman can haul on that shield, pull it out of battery, allowing his friends to stab and otherwise harass the enemy. Could be part of a regular tactic, dispersing specialist axemen out to groups armed with spears, swords, and bows. That could go far to explain the viking superiority in small unit tactics.
Hey you wont see this, but the medieval warm period Greenland was green. It was mostly grass hence the green. The medieval warm period was much warmer than today
Totally agree with your assessment. The Vikings stopped being Vikings because they could only be Vikings to those weaker than they were. They were the quintessential bullies. And I will never ever understand why in God's name anyone admires them for any reason whatsoever
The Nordic peoples had since thousands of years been trading with central Europe and the Mediterranean, before the viking age. They knew the geography and the peoples and would not have interrupted the tradings without reason. They don't came out of a vacuum. They ware well known. But Charlemagne declared war on them and they had to defend themselves, which was done by attacking the enemy. The Catholic church was enemy, as was charlemagne. Compare the war against Europe waged by Islam. The vikings was not against the Byzantine orthodox Church. There was no lack of food or land in Scandinavia, except for Norway, which always have had too little agricultural soil. The climate was much warmer than now, even on Greenland, which had forest and supported agriculture. The American viking colonies is well proven archaeology. The little ice age ended 400 years of Nordic settlements in Greenland and America. We should be thankful to be out of the little ice age now, but some people want it back.
@MENTAL doesn't match up to the fact that most viking raids were nothing at all like a state or tribe army defending itself. It was more of an occupation, something that most Norse weren't involved in. I fail to see how slitting throats of monks in England and stealing their valuables dozens of years after Charlemagne has anything to do with retaliation for an invasion that those vikings weren't even a victim of. Another way to put it is: are there any parallels in history that match the persecuted pagan Viking theory? It just doesn't really make sense... Only as an agenda based handwavy argument. Current biases against pagan Europeans of centuries ago is a separate issue.
thralls was slaves .then you had bonde that was the farmer ,the the karls that was the soldiers .and then the jarls that was nobelmen that did rule a part of the land for the king
Not true. No conversion took place at Verden. Those were pagan rebels led by widukind of denmark. The Saxons gave up 4500 of their own nobility to quash the revolt, Charlemagne simply carried out the massacre of the pagan leaders according to the Saxons that gave them up. Why would you go the the lengths to convert if you had no intentions of ruling over them? Not to mention the historical inaccuracy of tying charlemagnes treatment of what were technically his own royal subjects to the wider viking invasions.
20 35 the greatest accomplishment Of the vikings HAS TO BE. The discovery of north america which changed the history of the world after cristobel colon undoubtedly used their maps to rediscover the new world. Sorry natives
Excellent. Good content, well-paced and straightforward presentation, easy to understand. Simple formula, but exceedingly rare on UA-cam. Bravo!
Well one thing is for sure, rowing a longboat back and forward from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean or the Black sea must have given them ungodly upper body strength, enough to swing some pretty big axes. Not sure about legs though.
Leg day, neglected again. I bet the Spartans never skipped leg day.
Maybe the thighs would be lacking but the calf's sure weren't
These guys still had to make their own ships it's not like they had elaborate shipyards with prefabricated parts like Carthage. They had to cut down trees and shape it all bit by bit, all custom made.
If you're interested in Viking/Norse language and mythology, I highly recommend Dr. Jackson Crawford here on UA-cam.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Arith Harger is better
You are not correct at 6:18 regarding the use of runes. They were not ever used to record serious documents like epics. they were only used to record very small simple messages. I don't know of any "epics" that were written with runes. Both Eddas and the Sagas were all written in the modified Latin alphabet.
Best channel ever thank you!!!
Do you have new videos? I live your stuff! Smart and down to earth!
I do. Most of my more recent stuff is on famous Romans and World War I, but there is still more stuff that I'm working on.
Viking comes from the word 'Vík' which means 'Creek' in English. And it was called "going viking", not an identity, but a thing one did. And though they don't directly mean the same. The English equivalent to "Viking" would then be something like "coastal raider".
These videos are great!!!
Surely the most badass people of all time - completely changed world history
Wow. I just had a vision: the single bladed axe (the hewing axe) might've been used as one element of a group tactic. Swing that axe overhead and the enemy soldier must interpose his shield. That likely ends with the axe embedded . . . so, now that he's attached to it through his grip on the axe, the axeman can haul on that shield, pull it out of battery, allowing his friends to stab and otherwise harass the enemy. Could be part of a regular tactic, dispersing specialist axemen out to groups armed with spears, swords, and bows. That could go far to explain the viking superiority in small unit tactics.
I think the superiority came from their size and the desperation of being poor. That plus alcohol soaked psychopaths called berserkers.
Varangian is usually pronounced with a hard G sound in english.
18:05 You need a correction. Iceland was not completely uninhabited.
Good video so far though.
What groups lived in Iceland at that time?
trolls
@@papageitaucher618 : Are you a troll?
@@LuisSierra42 It is said that Irish priests lived in Iceland.. Or some Irish settlers.. We may never know.
@@czarhollow4134 the real correction is iceland is 10 million not 10 thousand years old
That’s strange Iceland is green and Greenland is ice.
Hey you wont see this, but the medieval warm period Greenland was green. It was mostly grass hence the green. The medieval warm period was much warmer than today
Iceland formed 18 to 25 million years ago.
18 50 a frozen hell hole. Why didn t he name it. Niflheim
Totally agree with your assessment. The Vikings stopped being Vikings because they could only be Vikings to those weaker than they were. They were the quintessential bullies. And I will never ever understand why in God's name anyone admires them for any reason whatsoever
It's just racial romanticism, "look at how scary my ancestors were!", not to mention them being uneducated, poor, and dirty.
Ancient Norwegians: Conquered or raided a huge part of the world. Modern Norwegians: Don't Touch me There This is my No No Square
Where is Lagertha? She must be real.
Fran Tarkenton was the last of the true Vikings.
The Nordic peoples had since thousands of years been trading with central Europe and the Mediterranean, before the viking age. They knew the geography and the peoples and would not have interrupted the tradings without reason. They don't came out of a vacuum. They ware well known. But Charlemagne declared war on them and they had to defend themselves, which was done by attacking the enemy. The Catholic church was enemy, as was charlemagne. Compare the war against Europe waged by Islam. The vikings was not against the Byzantine orthodox Church. There was no lack of food or land in Scandinavia, except for Norway, which always have had too little agricultural soil.
The climate was much warmer than now, even on Greenland, which had forest and supported agriculture.
The American viking colonies is well proven archaeology. The little ice age ended 400 years of Nordic settlements in Greenland and America. We should be thankful to be out of the little ice age now, but some people want it back.
@MENTAL doesn't match up to the fact that most viking raids were nothing at all like a state or tribe army defending itself. It was more of an occupation, something that most Norse weren't involved in. I fail to see how slitting throats of monks in England and stealing their valuables dozens of years after Charlemagne has anything to do with retaliation for an invasion that those vikings weren't even a victim of.
Another way to put it is: are there any parallels in history that match the persecuted pagan Viking theory? It just doesn't really make sense... Only as an agenda based handwavy argument.
Current biases against pagan Europeans of centuries ago is a separate issue.
thralls was slaves .then you had bonde that was the farmer ,the the karls that was the soldiers .and then the jarls that was nobelmen that did rule a part of the land for the king
U speak s o s l o w I had to speed it up to 1.5x or fall asleep!
Sometimes he's fast and people complain....can't please everyone.
Harald Hardrada was in no way the last of the vikings
Torkel the Tall
The first non viking norwegian was vidkun the quisling
The vikings weren t the first people to think that the catholic church had TOO MUCH MONEY
erik the red lol
Charlemagne forced over 5,000 Saxons to convert to Christianity, then slaughtered them.
Other non-Christians took note... and action.
Not true. No conversion took place at Verden. Those were pagan rebels led by widukind of denmark. The Saxons gave up 4500 of their own nobility to quash the revolt, Charlemagne simply carried out the massacre of the pagan leaders according to the Saxons that gave them up. Why would you go the the lengths to convert if you had no intentions of ruling over them?
Not to mention the historical inaccuracy of tying charlemagnes treatment of what were technically his own royal subjects to the wider viking invasions.
20 35 the greatest accomplishment Of the vikings HAS TO BE. The discovery of north america which changed the history of the world after cristobel colon undoubtedly used their maps to rediscover the new world. Sorry natives
Did the explorers use Viking knowledge? Always been curious why their settlements were so forgotten.