(1.6) Ancient Black Ops - The Varangian Guard

[@MrRooibos123]

The thing I love about history is when you have people like Harold Hardrada who was born in Norway, exiled, went to serve in the Varangian guard for the Byzantine Emperor and became the commander of it and amassed a considerable fortune before returning to Norway, taking back his Kingdom only to be killed whilst invading England. Now that's one hell of a career.

[@iamtruth2447]

Harold was born a warrior & he died as a warrior. Now, he is feasting in the halls of Valhalla.

[@joshuaestrada6042]

Man's been all over Europe.... And parts of Asia....

[@brianfuller7691]

Later, The Anglian Guard due to a an influx of Anglo-Saxons after Norman conquest. By late 11th century, mostly Anglo-Saxon. Definitely a fearsome group worthy of respect, the Varangians are still iconic today. The Varangian Guard was both dependable and loyal in a world of Byzantine politics.

[@robbyrobrob1]

I would not want to anger some one who just rowed 3 000 miles,

[@theMyouknow]

I remember when the vikings was in Constantinople, splurging in the casinos and the nightclubs, and then forming the iron ring around their contributor.

[@willjames1124]

I wonder if the Varangian shield wall had another impact. These strange soldiers with spears and locked shields...I suspect a lot of soldiers remember Grandpa's horror stories of legions and Greek hoplites...

[@axebearer]

They talk a lot of shit about the Vikings, acting like they were bloodthirsty barbarian thugs who had to learn to be civilized and think strategically. But if you read the Sagas of Icelanders you'll quickly find that clever ruses and daring plans were the norm rather than the exception. They all tell stories praising the men with sharp minds rather than the ones with brute power. The Norsemen certainly never saw themselves as particularly uncultured, they saw themselves as poets and men of great moral character, peerless warriors, sailors, and renowned explorers. If you were to play an RPG and one of the class choices was _"Hero"_ then the Norsemen would pick that one every time. That's what they aspired to be. Legendary warriors. That was their very reason for existence in this life.

[@cognitivedisability9864]

Indeed, there is a reason the byzantines valued them.

[@haakonkjellesvik7689]

Yes. This is our bloodline.⚔️

[@92archeryboy]

I've had Turisas stuck in my head the whole time this played.

[@thekaasmaster8172]

92archeryboy WE ARE THE VARANGIAN GUARD!!!

[@breaden4381]

Guards of glory and of might.

[@thekaasmaster8172]

92archeryboy red as blood and black as night

[@magnusjonsson7714]

Varangian guard = Väringavakten in swedish. Götar (from Swe) went East.Novgorod, Kiew and to Särkland.

[@iem7252]

1. Spartans 2. Varangian Guard 3. Samurai best Black ops teams

[@anttityykila9384]

We have many songs of this age. What i know.. if you aproach this guys you should show your hand palms :) greetings from Finland. You can search "Suurin" Karelian (Finnish tribes) war chant.

[@islandblind]

The incendiary birds remind me of Project X-ray, a plan developed by the US Army Air Corps to attach miniature napalm bombs to Mexican free-tail bats and release them over Japanese cities, producing similar results. The project was ultimately cancelled in favor of the Manhattan Project, however the fact that some armed bats escaped and managed to burn a US air base makes me think that it might have worked.

[@isaacsaffold6505]

The accounts of Harald's two most devious stratagems sound awfully like the ones used by the Norman conqueror Robert Guiscard in his conquest of Southern Italy.

[@jamesthetrue]

+Isaac Saffold The fake death was also supposed to have been used by Bjorn Ironside in his taking of Luni and the use of birds to burn the town is supposed to have been used by Olga of Kiev. Funny how legends always seem to spread around.

[@sebastianpye9328]

+Isaac Saffold The bird strategy was probably inspired by Olga of Kiev:Now Olga gave to each soldier in her army a pigeon or a sparrow, and ordered them to attach by thread to each pigeon and sparrow a piece of sulfur bound with small pieces of cloth. When night fell, Olga bade her soldiers release the pigeons and the sparrows. So the birds flew to their nests, the pigeons to the cotes, and the sparrows under the eaves. The dove-cotes, the coops, the porches, and the haymows were set on fire. There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught on fire at once. The people fled from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them. Thus she took the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the other captives she killed, while some she gave to others as slaves to her followers. The remnant she left to pay tribute.[3]

[@noela.rodriguezjr1169]

Eerily similar to tactics used today

[@jacoblitsinberger37]

Herold Hadrada is one of the inspiration for my character Daniel Thornfinna the Arminian in my upcoming books

[@craighagenbruch3800]

nice hopefully these will bring me back to wows..

[@tobyjenny7622]

These dueds sound so cool!

[@cultusdeus]

I love wild history like this.

[@jerdenmobley6934]

Proud to be Scandinavian ancestry

[@paulsmith5752]

19:00 slight problem - you can't use a 2-handed Dane-axe and carry a shield at the same time...

[@x-rhoden-x6477]

Two handed weapons can be wielded in one hand as well. Real life isn't a video game where you're limited by weapon types.

[@paulsmith5752]

Have you tried wielding a Dane axe in 1 hand? If so I'll respect your opinion, otherwise no.

[@x-rhoden-x6477]

+Paul Smith Have you? Dane Axes built for combat weigh between 3-6 lbs. Wielding such a weapon in one hand is child's play. Actually using it with one hand in real combat however isn't very effective and you'd do more damage by using both hands. In summary dispel the hollywood myth from your head that two handed weapons are all heavy and unwieldy. Even the Zweihanded Swords used by Doppelsoldners weigh less than 14 lbs. And they're some of the biggest and heaviest weapons around. Weapon weight isn't opinion. It's fact.

[@paulsmith5752]

Fair enough.

[@jimmywayne983]

Vikings can do what normal puny mortals cant.. Come taste our Scandinavian Greatness!!!!

[@mikhailvasiliev6275]

"It means the Varangians, unlike the typical vikings, have to learn discipline." Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't the vikings far more disciplined than most others that were considered old world 'barbarians?'

[@adomalyon1]

Not really. The Vikings tended to lose larger scale battles, due to lack of military structure and discipline.

[@WastelandSeven]

The problem is that most of the histories are distorted at best. Things were far less cut and dried than that. There are a lot of things we've been led to believe about the period between the fall of Rome and the rise of modern nation states have been proven false. For instance we have been told that medicine in the Medieval period was useless, but, they found a man at the battle of Visby who had survived a massive sword cut to the jaw years before his death that had healed fully. According to most "history" experts, that should have been impossible. It wasn't. Mind you, in 1066, the Vikings might have taken king Harold at the battle of Stamford bridge if they'd had their armor with them. As it was their shield wall held for hours against the fully armored and armed Anglo Saxons. So this nonsense about Vikings being undisciplined is just that. Nonsense. They weren't at Roman or Spartan levels of discipline or skill, but, that could be said of most of Europe at the time. So...don't believe everything a modern historian tells you.

[@davidroberts7282]

Wasteland Seven Even if Harald's Viking army had won Battle of Stamford Bridge and taken Harold prisoner, it would've been a short-lived victory. Even as Harold and Vikings armies were fighting near York in summer of 1066, a larger, more professional Norman invasion force was in it's last stages of preparation in northwestern France, led by a man who had earned his own reputation as a feared, brutal, but intelligent military commander, William the Conqueror, and the Normans had adopted the use of heavy cavalry, heavily armored knights and a rigid, highly disciplined command that probably would've defeated Harald's forces easier then they did with Harold the Confessors army at Hastings. What's usually left out about the battle of Hastings is that the tide of the battle turned when Williams forces feigned retreat and one of Harolds rear guard took the bait to chase him against their commander's orders to stand firm, after that the Saxons rear guards got decimated in the open by Normans cavalry and archers hidden from view as part of William''s fake retreat. It was cunning, intelligent military strategy that helped the Normans win Hastings and essentially establish unchallenged dynastic rule for the next 300 years. The Normans eventually conquered or negotiated client-king relationships in Wales, Scotland and Ireland after conquering England first in 1066, and then crushing several revolts from Edwards sons and foreign invasions from the 1060s-mid 1070s. William the Conqueror is one of my self-made men in history, the bastard, illegimate son of a Norman duke whose mother supposedly was told by a female seer after his birth that her son would grow to eventually be one of the most powerful, successful Norman kings ever. Many military historians have said that Williams invasion plan of England in 1066 was so outrageous and unrealistic in it's chances to succeed that only a "Viking could have planned it". Ironic commentary considering William's Normans were descendents from 10th-century Norwegian Vikings led by a charismatic chieftain named Rollo.

[@jimmywayne983]

Indeed. Vikings had dicipline and followed orders during raids and wars.

[@MrRooibos123]

It depends on the Vikings as well. Some of the raids were wild and disorganised because there was no real opposition in the area. Some were tactical and clever. Probably what the documentary meant by discipline was becoming more accustomed to the Byzantine way of fighting and incorporating the traditional Viking style and weapons into that.

[@erikbostrom3717]

The 'boars snout' reminds me of Canadain (American) football. 0

[@sventer198]

Harold the Viking was best until he got too arrogant at York 😂

[@mukhumor]

Catching sparrows to set alight and burn the town down? I guess if you haven't got a bow and some arrows to fire at the thatch, sparrows will have to do.

[@TheMrhycannon]

Those must have been super-sparrows to have withstood the pain and wind-fed flames and continued on to the town.. As fast as feathers burn they would have been bald corpses by the time they got there..

[@comanchio1976]

That's when I stopped paying attention, to be honest. I've heard more plausible alien rectal probing stories than that.

[@marcelo-oc6rs]

this has been done, by queen volga from kiev, the town refused to pay taxed and rebelled, she asked for all the birds from the town, and then put straw on their feet and set them alight, setting the whole town alight.

[@mukhumor]

@@marcelo-oc6rs yeah, and her dutiful minions managed to catch all the birds who happened to have a nest in town... cool.

[@jimmywayne983]

And to this day, Any allied army going into battle still calls on the Danes for support! One thing that isnt mentioned in this clip is that the viking warriors that went there, did so because the viking culture changed to trading and didnt have large use for raiders and warriors anymore, those warriors that had no homestead and no wife/children, followed the mercenary lifestyle to the byz empire. And the byz empire was far from the only realm to hire and use Scandinavian mercenaries when the Scandinavians turned to trading from raiding. "them showing off riches when they returned", was actually not al lthat big a deal, remember that for hundreds of years vikings raided all along the medeterranian sea, nothing that a vanrangian guard brought home, hadnt been seen before. Scandinavians were wealthy and Scandinavian Amber was worth more than gold many places the vikings went. Also.. The vikings favorite valuable metal was Silver, The danegeld that the English had to pay was demanded paid in ONLY silver. When Americans try to formulate how history was outside America, they often americanize it, either due to ignorance or some insane idea of Americans being the greatest people in the world, though with a very short history.. same goes for several shows in this series.

[@jackeduptruck]

You went from educating people to attacking americans. Pretty fucked up dude

[@jaanushiiemae2164]

After serial ''Vikings'' about ''first viking'' king Ragnar Lothbrok will end they should make new one about last viking king Harald Hardrada's life. It is strange that this character was never made into movie before.

[@stayhungry7166]

yes his life really was something quite spectacular you are right!

[@chibidakis1]

Quite the traveler 😂

[@TheMrhycannon]

I would also like to see something about Ivor the Boneless.. He was quite amazing too..

[@simonbroberg969]

But that series is useless, they didn't do their research You'll have noticed that as Ragnar was over 130 years old in the series, If he was supposed to be have at the attack in Lindesfarne, and at the siege of Paris. That Ragnar only did one Paris raid, (845). We think he fostered some of the sons of the King of Kings Harald (Finehair) Halfdanarson. Rothbrok gets one mention in the Heimskringla. It was one of Haralds sons who did the second raid on Paris and flattened it, Ragnar was not there, as for the siege 885-6 AD), well that was in Rollos era, Sigfred and Sigmund were running that operation Rothbrok would have been dead by then we think (Being a Swede, and we think he chose the wrong side in the war between Denmark and Norway, many did, all died except one or two in that battle, all captives were executed). The Ragnar you saw in England was Ragnar Rykill, He was one of Haralds sons too, half brother of Ivar, and Bjorn and many other half brothers and sisters

[@Bubajumba]

@Simon Broberg its not a Historical accurate series. and they have never claimed it to be, rather they have called it fiction many times. With stories taken from real life. Its like discussing if Game of thrones is real or not. Just stop its sad to read xD

[@charlescortez3544]

Mate I can't take this documentary serious since I saw the Spartan from 300 in their intro. Why Must ABO use the Graphic novel Spartans.

[@g0atboy207]

Heh, weird. Watched two "inspired by history" series this year, one being Vikings and the other Marco Polo. In Vikings the main dude (Ragnar Lothbrok) uses the "pretend to be dead so he can be smuggled inside a coffin" trick to conquer Paris and in Marco Polo Genghis Khan (in a flashback) is seen using the bird thing to set fire to a city - but both of those things were actually done by Harald Hardrada?

[@aztecaddress6356]

I think it's safe to assume that Harald Hardrada is an excellent or rather impressive commander.

[@sarahgray430]

I think the coffin thing was originally thought of by Ragnar's son Bjorn, and the thing with the sparrows was first attributed to Olga of Kiev....but these stories tend to borrow from one another, so nobody really knows who did what first!

[@TheMrhycannon]

Just how many special forces did Harald Hardrada have.. You just told us the Berserkers were them or are they the same group under a different name.? It's confusing..

[@comanchio1976]

Well he had the SBS (Sparrow Burning Service) for starters

[@jarkoer]

"Prototypical"? As in the first chronological example? Two better choices would have been "stereotypical" (average example) or "archtypical" (best example).

[@gradyvanness9646]

Weirdest pronunciation of the Byzantine empire I've ever heard

[@tweedlebong3933]

"Bye-ZAN-teen" actually the correct pronunciation. The modern "BIZ-an-teen" pronunciation is wrong. I was corrected on this a few years ago by an expert on the Empire's history.

[@gradyvanness9646]

@@tweedlebong3933 I know the correct pronunciation just never heard anyone use it that way, it's similar to hearing the name Caesar as "KY-sar" even thought it's believed to be the correct version no one uses it

[@The_Honcho]

The term Byzantine shouldn’t be used regardless tbh they’re still the eastern Roman Empire

[@Tomahwk7]

@@tweedlebong3933, that expert should know that they referred to themselves as Rhōmaîoi, and that Byzantines was created after 1453.

[@cognitivedisability9864]

@@Tomahwk7 everyone wanted to claim the roman title, cant have the real thing in the way ,)

[@rstallworth5349]

I heard a couple songs from madden!!!

[@vaporz109]

10:03 Why is this guy speaking with so much force. He sounds like Daffy duck without the lisp, just spraying all over the place.

[@mikkelnpetersen]

14:57 Dannebrog

[@calebtimes453]

if I was a varagarian and I got that pay check I don't know if I will ever want to go back home. Maybe just to get a select amount of members of my family and friends to immigrate their.

[@calebtimes453]

To the empire

[@mihanich]

Vladimir descended from varangian ruler Ryurik (Hrœrikr) but he wasn't any "viking" himself. the ryurikid dynasty has already been slavicized by 988 and Vladimir worshipped Slavic pagan gods. and viking is a name for poor Scandinavians whi ravaged shores of Europe and no for a ruler. Vladimir was NOT a viking.

[@jimmywayne983]

The "Rus" was of Scandinavian ancestry.

[@elbentos7803]

True indeed : leaders of Kiev's rus' became quickly far more slavs than scandiavians, having been quickly assimilated among the much larger slavic population. The same phenomenon also appeared among the normans who, though being of very partial scandinavian ancestry, were already totally french in the 11th century, through mass intermarriages and the quick disapperance of norse culture in Normandy.

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

Vladimir Swedish?It's just a theory,as well as a huge impact of the Scandinavians on the establishment of the Rus

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

***** The Slavs, not Scandinavians,but many of the Slavs were Vikings

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

***** Viking sea raider,not necessarily Scandinavian,in one of the sagas were the Vikings-wends(Slavs) and Balts Vikings

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

***** It is a myth,Viking is not an ethnonym,it's the profession

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

***** You could say that,but they are not pagans

[@ВладимирКовалев-д4щ]

***** Yes

[@gaiusmariusj]

What the fuck is a 'prototype' viking doing in the 11th century when vikings been raiding since the 7th century?

[@gsgaidan10]

prototypical, in this case a more artful way of saying that that feller was the condensed essence of "Viking" as in checking all the boxes viking.

[@ΜηναςΜαλλιαράκης-β5β]

i really enjoy whatching 2 foreigners fighting for how exaactly should be used an absolutely Hellenic word . In your disposal if you want my lights.Both of you are wrong but i am really grateful for using my language

[@gsgaidan10]

Μηνας Μαλλιαράκης butt out sunshine. English is our first language. The origins of the word won't matter for much if he got the word wrong in the first place.

[@ΜηναςΜαλλιαράκης-β5β]

Well if you insist no problem . But for me it sounds a little bit weird . Like for insnance someone who wears shiny pijamas (not jumpers) the other one made of silk in Church just because they are shiny

[@gsgaidan10]

Μηνας Μαλλιαράκης *face palm* words are not limited to their definitions. You need to understand their connotation when used in context. For example, calling some a genius and calling them a "genius" can mean either a compliment or an insult.

[@slingshotwarrrior8105]

Clever strategy

[@magnusjonsson7714]

The pagan city went hell later hehe

[@cartoonjerk]

Suicide bombing by bird medieval style!

[@LK-cp8re]

Well, attempting to present sagas as historical documents isn't precisely the best idea, is it? For one, Harald's story somehow **mysteriously** reminds of parts of "Ironside" Bjorn's story and parts of Kiev princess Helga's story of revenge against her husband's murderers (only in that story the clearly fabricated part about the birds makes at least some sense), both stories aren't something surprising to be known to Norse men who had visited Kiev at that age (but somehow unlikely to be actually done, I mean, really, Arabs letting in the coffin with a Norse leader to their town makes so much less sense than Italian priests letting in the "dying" viking chieftain to be baptized)

[@markjeheaton2691]

King hoarld reminds me of Valhalla

[@chasehofmann6874]

Harald uses Pantene

[@weiyuan20]

34:20 - "Bamboozeled"

[@sarahgray430]

Is it just me, or does that Vladimir the Great dude sound a lot like Putin?

[@67km67]

Yeahhhh

[@thomaseddiedijamco1922]

Is it just me or is his pronunciation of "Byzantine" off? Or is it me that's pronouncing it wrong

[@r00nly]

its him

[@dirkdiggler2933]

Sweden have loads of runestones, carved in memory of men who took service in the varangian guard. For all to see to this day. So plz, spare me the russian bs. Norse runic carving in 'Hagia Sofia itself - "Halvdan was here". Enough said.

[@jzefeirlan8165]

misconceptions and flat out lies

[@natoalvarez5762]

I thought they were from scandonavia bs they were from scandonavia not originally this is bs

[@victoryang1843]

How can you call this a documentary while showing reenactors with such inaccurate and anachronistic clothing?

[@thesword2380]

Plenty of Hell to go around for all those destined to it. Where the punishments they meted out as sport without mercy will seem as a splinter in the skin compared to the suffering they will never cease from.

[@gregntavlis6521]

greece , mecedonia? wtf u call yourselfs historians?

[@sergheitirsu4948]

13:10

[@bluthammer1442]

i have yet to come across a bird species that will fly to their nests when set alight...

[@marcelo-oc6rs]

well read up on olga of kiev

[@bluthammer1442]

@@marcelo-oc6rs I know of the references. It's just not going to hold up to animal behavior studies really.

[@magnusjonsson7714]

I'm a west göt

[@babysealclub11]

False information.

[@AngloSaxon1]

What a load of old rubbish, there were as many Anglo Saxons in the Varangian guard as there were Northmen

[@jonasn8628]

+The Original English Martial Arts Channel Right....... ?

[@pauldavies5655]

+The Original English Martial Arts Channel I REALLY DON T THINK SO , AS TO GET TO CONSTANTINOPLE , IN THOSE DAYS ( oopa sorry capitols ) you had to make sea and river journeys . at that time the british ( as i think you are refering to as anglo saxons ) did not have the seafaring capacity to travel that distance in their boats , so any anglo saxons in the varangian guard ( if there were ) must have been slaves to start with and somehow became free !!

[@AngloSaxon1]

It is a matter of history that the Anglo Saxons were a large opart of the Varangian guard, just do the research ? I am not talking about the British as there was no such thing at the time.

[@pauldavies5655]

The Original English Martial Arts Channel AS you said . there may have been a large contingent of angles and saxons ,, or were they of scandinavian decent who lived in saxony etc ?? , just like the normans were in france and the vikings ( rus ) were in kiev . an example of scandinavian heritage , is the prevalence of ginger hair( mainly a scandinavian gene ) in places like scotland , ireland , isle of man .northern france , chechnia , the caucasus and georgia in southern russia . my family are half irish half english and half of us have ginger hair ,,lol,

[@AngloSaxon1]

+paul davies no they were from England, many of the Warriors left after the Norman invasion and joined the Varangian guard! Charlemagne knew how the English wiped out the biggest Viking army ever to be assembled under Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, so he took more of them than he did vikings

[@angrycommunist4318]

Russia is the new Byzantine empire

[@thomaseddiedijamco1922]

Byzantine*

[@umarmanzoor4621]

By that do u mean it is ready fall to muslims?

[@guzelataroach4450]

we will nuke your and countries into glass