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| Viking Warriors |
Viking Warriors
At the end of the eighth century, on board ships in the shape of dragons, the Vikings emerged from the frozen seas of the North to strike terror in Europe. They were explorers, traders, and settlers who reached locations as far away as Scandinavia and Russia, the Middle East, and America. They were ferocious, astute, and ruthless warriors who overlooked nothing in their pillaging. because of this, they were considered devils and from this idea arose the myth that their helmets had horns.
The Vikings did not have a professional army; they were farmers, traders, carpenters, blacksmiths, and so on, who took up arms in combat when the occasion demanded it. They familiarized themselves with the use of weapons from adolescence, by hunting, fighting, and playing sport. Many of the main weapons used were derived from their working tools such as the hatchet and the hammer. However, they had tremendous discipline and great courage, based on the belief that Paradise (Valhalla) was waiting for those who fell in combat.
The Vikings only created armies of several thousand men when they fought each other. During the looting raids their numbers did not exceed a hundred. The Viking warrior's forte was in individual combat, where he could take advantage of his physical strength, and his skill in handling weapons.
