Viking raid warfare and tactics

In this era, Viking activity started with raids on Christian lands in England and eventually expanded to mainland Europe, including parts of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

[1] While maritime battles were very rare, Viking bands proved very successful in raiding coastal towns and monasteries due to their efficient warships, and intimidating war tactics, skillful hand-to-hand combat, and fearlessness.

[2] What started as Viking raids on small towns transformed into the establishment of important agricultural spaces and commercial trading hubs across Europe through rudimentary colonization.

[2] Vikings' tactics in warfare gave them an enormous advantage in successfully raiding (and later colonising), despite their small population in comparison to that of their enemies.

[5] In the early Viking Age, during the late 8th century and most of the 9th, Norse society consisted of minor kingdoms with limited central authority and organization, leading to communities ruled according to laws made and pronounced by local assemblies called things.

[6] Personal reputation and honour was an important value among Norsemen, and so actionable slander was also a legal category, in addition to physical and material injuries.

"[8] The necessity of defending honour with violence, the belief that time of death was preordained, adventure and fearlessness were core values to the Viking Age.

[11] This was one reason that monasteries and churches were often targeted, due to their wealth in relics and luxury goods like precious metals, fine cloths, and books such as the Codex Aureus which was stolen by a Viking and then sold to an Anglo-Saxon couple later on (a note was written inside the book after its recovery "I ealdorman Alfred and Wærburh my wife obtained these books from the heathen army with out pure money, that was with pure gold, and that we did for the love of God and for the benefit of our souls and because we did not wish these holy books to remain longer in heathen possession"[12]) The Vikings regularly attacked coastal regions due to the difficult nature of defending such regions, as well as utilising rivers and stolen horses to raid deeper inland by the mid 9th century.

With the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Baltic and North Sea bordering southern Scandinavia, seafaring proved to be an important means of communication for Scandinavians, and a vital instrument for the Vikings.

[13] Despite reports since the 5th Century of the presence of seafaring Germanic peoples both in the Black Sea and in Frisia, and archaeological evidence of earlier contact with the British Isles, the Viking Age proper is characterized by extensive raiding, entering history by being recorded in various annals and chronicles by their victims.

While there is evidence that Viking arson attacks did occur, more recent scholarship has cast doubt on quite how severe the physical damages (rather than their psychological impact) truly were.

Regino of Prum’s Chronicle records that the palace of Aachen was burned to the ground[11] but there is no archaeological evidence of destruction on such a scale at the site.

This was mainly due to Rollo, a Viking leader who seized what is now Normandy in 879, and formally in 911 when Charles the Simple of West Francia granted him the Lower Seine.

[26][27] The Vikings were also able to establish an extended period of economic and political rule of much of Ireland, England, and Scotland during the Norse Ivarr Dynasty that started in the late 9th century and lasted until 1094.

[28] In Ireland, coastal fortifications known as longphorts were established in many places after initial raidings, and they developed into trading posts and settlements over time.

[36] Viking longships were built with speed and flexibility in mind, which allowed Norse builders to craft strong yet elegant ships.

For instance, in the sacking of Frisia in the early 9th century, Charlemagne mobilized his troops as soon as he heard of the raid, but found no Vikings by the time he arrived.

Travelling in small bands, they could easily go undetected, swiftly enter a village or monastery, pillage and collect booty, and leave before reinforcements arrived.

These very small fleets effectively scared locals and made it difficult for English and Frankish territories to counter these alien tactics.

Sprague compares these tactics to those of contemporary western Special Forces soldiers, who "attack in small units with specific objectives.

[48] Viking armies also monitored the political situations in the English and Frankish territories and made strategic alliances in order to find the best times to attack.

These fabled Viking warriors are said to have spiritual magical powers from the god of war Odin[54] that allowed them to become impervious to injuries on the battlefield.

[55] While these stories are exaggerated, the term berserks is rooted in truths about Viking warriors who were able to enter an intense, trance-like state whereupon they would "engage in reckless fighting.

The taking over of towns was sometimes accompanied by wholesale destruction and slaughter in order to create a terrified population, which was more likely to provide the Vikings with hostages and loot.

[61] Additionally, 'overwintering' was a widely used form of short-term occupation by Viking warbands in which they would descend on "monasteries, towns and royal estates"[11] after the harvests had been gathered and then use the sites as fortified hubs from which they launched raids deeper inland.

"[64] One bow found in an Irish grave was of yew with a rounded rectangular cross section flattened toward the tips, which had been heat bent toward the belly's side.

They required less swinging power than expected, as the heads, while large, usually weighed only 0.8–0.9 kg, and as such were light and fast weapons, not depending on gravity and momentum to do most of the work.

They had hilts made of bone, antler, or precious metal, and textiles of wool, fleece, or leather were used for scabbards and sword grips.

[63] This would continue until someone was injured; if blood fell on the animal hide then that person was required to pay three marks of silver to be set free and have his honour restored.

[54] Fragments of chain mail have been uncovered in particularly wealthy Viking graves[71] and in the 9th-10th centuries such armour would have been incredibly expensive due to the material, time, and labour costs that would have been required to manufacture.