History Memes

hideshow 7 child comments

[–] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Only rapists.

It's kind of silly to give a pass to the literal "rape and pillage" civilization.

hideshow 6 child comments

parent

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 28 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I mean, if we're being serious, then the Vikings would've regarded much of Nazi ideology as inexplicable and utterly foreign in concept, but probably not offensive in the same way we view it.

In any case, the Viking reputation for 'rape and pillage' is much more because they were seen as 'foreign' and 'pagan' than because of any exceptionally cruel behavior by the standards of the time.

hideshow 4 child comments

parent

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

By the standards of the time (and also kinda still today...), yes. They sacked villages and buildings and the angry violent men raped anything they felt like. That was, and is, war.

The big difference is that Viking culture was built around very regular raiding and war.

Just about everyone was a monster when they went to war. Some cultures were at war a hell of a lot more than the others.

hideshow 3 child comments

parent

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The big difference is that Viking culture was built around very regular raiding and war.

I mean, if you look at the endemic warfare of Christian Europe in the same period, the main difference is that the Vikings, as a seafaring culture, had a wider range. The brutality and frequency of warfare amongst squabbling aristocrats and clan structures in Christian Europe was not particularly better, just generally limited to literal neighbors, on account of the difficulty of traveling across a neutral party's land.

hideshow 2 child comments

parent

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Because most wars were more about land and revenge. So you had a "good" mix of offensive and defensive.

Vikings were generally about money until they truly realized how much home sucked and started long term occupations. So it was almost purely offensive for much of their (meaningful) existence.

The barbarians at the gate was very much rooted in xenophobia. But it was sometimes also rooted in violent mother fuckers at the gate.

parent

hideshow 1 child comment

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 7 points 1 year ago

I mean, the Vikings had plenty of defensive wars against their neighbors

It’s just that most of their neighbors were other Vikings

… Northern Europe is a bit isolated if you aren’t big on boats.