The True History of the Vikings Explained

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The predominant modern image of the mighty Viking warriors has become that of the warmonger and marauding berserker. In popular culture, the Norsemen, portrayed as giant, sword-wielding men with flowing hair and bushy beards, have been reduced to a one-dimensional tribe of ruthless warriors, who cared little for the communities they attacked and plundered.

Men like Ragnar Lothbrok, Eric Bloodaxe, Ivar the Boneless and Bjorn Ironside are portrayed as preying on unsuspecting communities and spreading fear across Europe as they laid waste to all that lay before them, taking what they wanted at the point of a sword.

It is true that the Vikings were, without a doubt, brutal men living in a brutal age. They did use their skills as warriors to relentlessly attack Europe and the British Isles to increase their wealth and territory, but that is not all the Vikings were, and their contribution to world history is far more than warmongering.

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[NielsenAstrid]

as a lover of Viking history, I really liked this video, definitely like it!

[legacyvanish]

I just wanna thank you, you have a very wonderful voice of narration. This is the first time i saw video

[TheMrGromit]

Anyone else here because they watch Vikings/excited for Assassins Creed Valhalla?

[rithwiksingh]

I want to learn more about Viking history and how they became one of the wealthiest people on Earth

[juanjosemedinazarate]

Please do a video on Guarani Mythology, greetings from Paraguay 🇵🇾

[nohad]

1:32 love that helluland Markland and Vinland are included in the map

[eiriksinclair]

The Aztec and Incan populations were brought to the Volga River to do battle with the Mongols, by the Indigenous Vikings of America. Toltecs to Baltic states. Mayans to Austria. Olmecs to the Netherlands. Vikingar 1450-1100BC. Vikingr 1100-250BC. Berserkers 250BC-791AD. Vikings 793-1066AD.

[NillerMandela]

Learned something I never knew about them! Great video. But I think I can talk for almost all Scandinavians that we hate when people include finland as a Scandinavian country. It's Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
(no hate though)

[spamlives]

Wait a minute…... Aggressive? Prone to drink? Liked to travel? Easily sunburned? Relentless and unknowingly MY PEOPLE.

[spamlives]

I’m going to say it. Skald is the origin of “burn”. As in “hey fork beard, need some ointment for that skald”? There’s more but I’ll leave it to the intellects to sort out.

[niktorrente]

Lodbrok does not mean „ dirty pants“, it means „furry pants“ if im not mistaken, and there is a section in the sagas that explain why he wore them.

[pooch]

The 1st raid recorded was 793AD not CE. And lođbrók means shaggy breeches, not dirty pants.... smh slow down and reread what your getting ready to tell the world

[guychase]

The Sámi, Finns were not Vikings, but some women did marry into the Vikings.

[johnbroadway]

First, thank you for mentioning ( Finland ).
Second, is it true that Finish people did repeal and defeated Vikings that tried to conquer the Areas of Finland.

[ben-jam-in]

He just slid past Canute the Great and his so called “north sea empire”. I wonder what could have been had it stayed together.

[claimzyclayton]

It has also come to my knowledge that william the conquerer is rollos great great great great grandson.

[nickolausafon]

And I thought it meant "heavy brooch" or breach for that matter XD. Vikings are turned into some mystical family of raiders and future-focused leaders. Mostly, they did not have that much centralized order, and infighting was legendary.

[veronicajensen]

Scandinavia is Denmark, Noway and Sweden they spoke a common language and still speak similar languages a branch of the Germanic languages, Finland however spak a completely different language it is in the Uralic language group like Hungarian and Estonian, Finland is a Nordic country like the Scandinavian but it is not a Scandinavian language and not a Viking country although some of them adopted the culture as other did

[tkenny]

@01:35 you forgot greenland

Also, not dirty pants, hut shaggy breeches

Ivar wasn't his son( that's from the netflix show)

[carp]

Mayor Viking kings are related with Kainuu kinghood (Iceland sagas. (Kajaani) even NOR (Norway) was named after finnish prince. Most Viking age weapons are founded in Finland. Romans, Vikings and Mongol empires wont dare to come here ;) There are you some history.