Comments by "Nattygsbord" (@nattygsbord) on "Why did the Vikings Collapse?" video.

The Norwegian vikings had a huge party when they arrived at Iceland. Now they had a new island to exploit! So they did cut down all trees. And suddenly life was not so great for centuries to come. There was no timber to build boats with. No timber to build homes with. So people had to live in underground mudhuts - which sunk and fell apart, so there are almost no archaeological remains to be seen for Iceland's inhabitants ancestors. Fishing boats from Europe began to fish outside Icelands waters in the 1800s. But the Icelanders could not catch any fish of their own because they did not have have boats. So the island was stuck in complete poverty until British troops arrived there in World war 2.
7
Warfare back in medieval times were different. It was very costly to keep a large army for a very long time- So conquering lands were difficult. It demanded a new type of warfare - as the crusades did show. One of the biggest problems with the crusades was that as soon as Jerusalem was conquered, people began to go back to Europe. They had no money left to spend in the holy land and needed to go home. And they had also gained forgiveness for their sins by conquering Jerusalem, so now they had what they wanted and had no reason to stay. But when no Christians stayed, then Jerusalems defence became weak and easily fell for any muslim invasion army coming its way, so that a new costly difficult crusade had to be launched to take it back. The vikings plundered because that's was all they could do. They could not keep an army standing for years to guard the population in the land they had conquered. So if they tried to invade a land, plunder and then force Christianity down peoples throats and then sailing home, then would the people just go back to their own old religion as soon as the viking ships had sailed away. So it was not until the crusades and the Teutonic Knights there was any organizations capable of occupying enemy lands for years and force religion down peoples throats and controlling their lifestyle. Warfare was no longer profitable like plundering. But that didn't matter. Serving God was now more important than getting rich.
4
Not much is known. And the little that is known is boring.
4
They were explorers and settlers. Norwegian vikings discovered Iceland, Greenland and North America centuries before Spain did. Danish vikings took over England and France and have heavily influenced the English language. And Swedish vikings created Russia. They connected all of Europe with trade - from Spain in the west to Russia and the Byzantine empire in the East. Their shipbuilding was revolutionary. Scandinavian men often washed themselves and was cleanly while continental Europeans bragged about never taken a bath during a lifetime, because Jesus had bragged that "it is more important to have a clean soul, than a clean body". Scandinavia was also a society of high degree of gender equality - which was not very common the middle ages. They were religiously tolerant - unlike the muslims and Christians. And they were pioneers in democracy. Iceland is an example of this since they got the oldest surviving parliament in the world.
2
@Raantas The muslim rulers did leave Jerusalem open to other religions. They got so much money from Christian tourism and taxes that they welcomed other people into their city. The problem did not lay in Jerusalem. It laid in Syria. In the road between Europe and Jerusalem. Most Europeans were too poor to pay for boat ticket to Jerusalem - despite travelling by ship was faster and easier. So poor people had to walk on foot all the way from France or Germany to Jerusalem. But that was not possible after 800 AD. Because then had Syria collapsed into a civil war and the land had been divided up into 300 different Kingdoms which all were at war with each other. Peace and order broke down and criminals and plunderers got unpunished. So both muslim criminals and muslim armies of the many states in the civil war started to plunder anyone who set their foot on Syrian land. And many Christians got plundered and murdered and the road to Jerusalem had basically been closed down. So it was now people began to feel a crusade was needed. And the muslim pirates at sicily, the muslim invasion of Spain and the attack on Byzantium also contributed to fear of the muslim threat. And also for a bunch of other reasons were the crusades started. The problems in the Baltic sea and in the holy land were that it was difficult to keep a strong army holding the land for years, and get settlers and build fortresses so the land could be kept in Christian hands.
2
Leif Eriksson and his men went there. He traveled months across frozen waters and stormy seas. When Leif arrived at the coast of Canada, he went ashore, looked over the ground, and remarked, "Come on, boys, let's get out of here!"
2
The vikings took East Europeans. Then they sold them to Italians (Genoa, Venice etc). And the Italians sold the slaves to Mamelucks in Egypt and other muslim slave states. The Italians cared more about money than about God. The happily sold millions of East European Christians into slavery in muslim lands. They even choose to trade with the muslims during the Crusades when European rulers were at war with islam and wanted to blockade muslim ports. But the Italian city states rather helped their muslim enemies because trade was so profitable, and therefore more important to them than taking the holy city.
2
Don't worry people does not like China anyways. It gives out shark loans to other countries. Its human rights track record is shit. It tend to warmonger with all its neighbors (Tibet, India, Japan, The Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Russia etc). It steals technologies from other countries. It spreads one disease after another. This dog eating nation that sells us made in China junk will not become the dominant world power during our lifetime. The regime needs censorship and repression only to keep this multi-ethnic empire together. The country is over-populated and ageing. Its nature is being polluted and exhausted. Beijing is filled with smog and causing massive public health problems. The country is dependent on foreign resources like oil, African food, and Australian coal. And without it will the Chinese economy be halted. It is a country filled with corruption scandals, in everything from poisoned milk to China putting skin from executed prisoners into skin cream they sell to Europe. The last example says really everything you need to know about the barbaric regime that rules China.
2
Norwegian warlords were the first ones to settle the island. Icelandic people got Norwegian blood in their veins. But also a small dose of Irish female blood. Probably because the vikings took a trip to Ireland and took some women with them before going up north to Iceland. Iceland was a place were Norwegian warlords would settle after they had become unpopular in their Norwegian homeland. For example after losing a battle against another Norwegian chieftain, and having to flee the country.
2
Indeed. Sweden during the 1600s and 1700s is a more interesting period than the viking age.
1
Well I don't like viking culture or things inspired by it (Harry Potter, Tolkien) so maybe that's why.
1
@Ghost Ghost " The crusader kingdoms lasted in palestine and syria for 200 years" I was not talking about them. I was talking about Jerusalem. "they never came back" A few stayed in the middle east. But they were a minority and too few to permanently keep Jerusalem in Christian hands. "after the Muslim reconquered those places many latin settlers with time converted to islam" Christians were the majority population in Lebanon up until the 1970s, until muslims started to have crazy birthrates and outnumber them. Same thing have happened in places in the Balkans where orthodox serbs have strongly outnumbered the muslims. But because of crazy birthrates have the muslims now become majority in many places. And many Christians have also been kicked out from the MENA-countries with violence the last century or so. With the wars in Algeria, Lebanon and the genocide against Armenia. "the leavent was much richer land in resources and agriculture and trade than their own home" Going to the holy land was an economic loss for most crusaders. To a modern person this is hard to grasp. All crusaders had their own motives, but the most common was a genuine will to liberate the city of God for Christianity and get forgiveness for your own sins. And after the crusade has succeed or failed - then did like 80-90% of the men go home within the next 2 years. The mission had been accomplished and God got his city and the person got his sins forgiveness, and guarding the city was someone else's problem they thought. Most people wanted to go home and see their families and rich people needed to go back to secure their power in the homeland and such. So very few stayed in the middle east. And personally I don't think it was much economic profit to be made to start a farm there. Furthermore was it a dangerous place so I guess you needed lots of religious dedication to start such a project. If money was your greatest wish, then I would say that it would be much easier to make money in Europe. And a warlord could make more profits by attacking a weak neighbor than launching a costly expedition far away. So the economic reason for the crusades were weak. And the religious reasons were strong. As I said earlier, this is hard to grasp for a modern non-religious person. And in a way do think this type of war is awful, brutal and cruel. Vikings just wanted to steal peoples property and then leave them alone. But the crusaders wanted to convert people. And control what other people think and how they lived. They did not make swift raid and then sail away. No they were planning to do a permanent military occupation of an area until it had been converted. And the Christians did not kill people left and right because enjoyed murdering people. No they murdered people out of love. If people did not convert they got murdered. And the Christians saw this as an act of love. By killing a sinner you did him a favor. If he died he could not commit sins and burn in hell for them. This is of course a weird wicked reasoning. But that's how people back then thought. This is how Swedish, Danish and German crusaders in Finland, Russia and the Baltics thought. And I would guess that crusaders in the holy land thought the same.
1
No civilization (except for maybe the Portuguese) could compare with the vikings in navigation, shipbuilding and seamanship and maritime technology. But when it comes to land warfare would I say that the vikings were not very high technological. They did fight with axes and not with swords which were considered more advanced weapons. The vikings did not have those swords because they were too expensive and rare for most people to have. Ulfberht swords made from Indian high-quality steel were considered luxury items the same way as Ferrari luxury cars today. Expensive as f**k, and the ultimate object to display power, wealth and prestige. A great thing for a diplomatic gift. The vikings loved those swords, and considered them the best weapons which could be had, but they were always rare. Viking tactics was based on surprise attacks on villages - so their enemies could not make a well prepared defensive position and call upon reinforcements. They tactics were hit and run. Which also makes me believe that they were not military strong. Had their military strength been superior to anyone else, then I think they would have stayed and occupied the land. And they would not been avoiding attacking betterly defended positions and relying so much on surprise attacks to avoid getting into battle against an opponent which at least was able to defend themselves.
1