Did VIKINGS USE AXES? Untold history

[@heimdallsworkshop]

EPIC Vikings inspired luxury watches and loot dropped every month: heimdallsworkshop.com/password

[@bunnycold9898]

😢

[@swe113]

Maybe make a video with a real axe and get the history right next time. Sorry man but it's just very wrong, basically the whole video is some fantasy narrative you made up without any basis in facts. There's so many errors I can't even begin to list them.

[@Bunji2k6]

When you're talking about the axe design, you're showing a daneaxe. You should make a distinction between the one-handed axes they used, and the daneaxe.

[@Wick410]

Didn't see you wrote that I said the same thing right away, he's not differentiating bearded axes and long Dane axes.

[@Wick410]

I own some real ones lol. Not old but modern work and battle ready ones, being a Rus Viking myself according to my dna

[@dwarvenking9472]

Fun fact. Vikings preferred axes at the time swords were expensive to make but if a Viking had a sword their first go to weapon was a spear, the sword would be a secondary or axe.

[@shawntame45]

Most vikings in real life were not warriors they were farmers. Axes and spears would have been their main weapons. Swords take years of training and they only went raiding during the down time of their farming

[@tun0fun]

By definition, a Norse farmer is a Warrior once known as a Viking. The word Viking mean to go raiding in old Norse.

[@VuurBarbaar]

No vikings are per definition explorers, not farmers. And being explorer could mean to raid, trade or try to find new lands.

[@VuurBarbaar]

Oh and lots of vikings did train a lot tho. Special vikings who made it there job (like the jomsvikings. And huscarls)

[@MooSaidChicken]

Viking is the trade, not culture or race. The people were norse

[@mrbiscuits001]

Viking is just the old English word for pirate. Many Norse men would take up the viking occupation as English churches were seldom left guarded as no english army would dare attack holy sites.

[@Fronverjl]

Spears were the most common weapons for the vikings

[@fredpart8066]

Axe.. the spear was not used by them like you think.

[@Fronverjl]

@@fredpart8066 axes were the most favorable but spears were the most common weapon due to being the cheapest to make and easiest to maintain. Research archeaological records, you'll find majority of burials with spears in most cases.

[@fredpart8066]

@@Fronverjl kinda right.. yes spears were the most common weapon in most civs.. but they didn’t use the to raid because of their length. When raiding it was axes.. when defending it was spears

[@Fronverjl]

@@fredpart8066 you say this as if they had weapons of choice, spears make great for defense but through out history spears have been major game changers in offense as well, i'm pretty certain they took whatever they had with them prior to raids/campaigns since the Norsemen weren't excactly rich in resources to begin with...

[@fredpart8066]

@@Fronverjlthey did have weapons of choice crafting a axe head or spear head was about the same.. so as I said before, they would use axes for raids and spears and the like for defense. The Viking did not field armies of spearmen..

[@Wick410]

A viking battle axe was a bearded axe with a hook, the ones with long handles are called Dane axes

[@kingpoxy2289]

What he didn't say I'd most of the time, which was all of the time, everyone used a spear and used a sword or mainly an axe as a backup weapon just incase there spears broke

[@allthingscomics]

They said sword is for play and Axe is for fight.

[@epicgamer8656]

I more remember Vikings as rapists, pillagers, and murderers but each to their own I guess...

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

Pillagers yes Murderers yes Rapists...oddly the historical accounts of those they attacked don't really mention it. There may be a couple accounts but rape is certainly not emphasized in the descriptions. Did Vikings rape? I'm sure some did but it may not have been considered proper for a warrior to do so. It could also be, at least in part, that it may be difficult to rape when wearing all one's battle gear? Like many peoples in history Vikings definitely had some bad things they did, but there are good points too. They created great art, they had a strong spirit of exploration, they had better hygiene than most other Europeans at the time, they had more rights for women than most societies at the time, etc. Regardless just food for thought.

[@Darqshadow]

​@@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145 I mean.. heck a woman could divorce and of the man thought she was wrong she was in the right to stab him

[@slythehedgewolf1577]

You were considered wealthy to have a sword and swords belonged to earls and kings. But would mostly use their axes until a sword was purchased or aquired from raiding or battle. Axes were good for breaking shields so im not to suprised if many mostly used them for in many sagas it is said these warriors hewed into shields a sword cant break chields so easily

[@interestinglife934]

They also wore lots of leather and looked like modern bikers

[@SaltyDwarfUrist]

Source? Trust me bro

[@SaltyDwarfUrist]

As an aside, i know he means the daneaxe and other large axes at the time. And yes they were commonly used. However there are a few things in the short video i disagree with. 1. The posing of 'vikings' being a people. This view is not accurate to history. Not every norseman was a viking (my family in particular - who were swedish - werent nessesary vikings all the time) as they could be farmers, artisans, etc. That also doesnt mean the farmer couldnt be a viking as well. But thats what is more akin to, a viking is a job description. 2. The real world example he is showing (the axe with all the leather wrap) is completely fanciful. I have never seen a historical example that looks anything like it. Now because wood and leather are organic and do rot means that leather wraps are not entirely impossible. But the fact is, why. When bare wood gets the job done, and wont hinder the moving of your hands along to haft for parrying in the case of a two handed one. For one handed axes sure it makes some sense, but it is an extra step for taking care of your tool. And a properly shaped handle shouldnt need a wrap at all. It is hard to tell from the angles he shows but if the head on his bearded axe isnt the right proportions (namely, a thin blade with a proper taper) it will be harder to use as a fighting axe. 3. He doesnt mention that the more common weapon of use is the SPEAR. Spears are ubiquitous across all periods of history, they are even cheaper being only a small sharp point of metal, and theyre advantage in battle. There are more reasons but i covered what i feel i am comfortable and knowledgeable in. I am not an expert, and should be taken with a grain of sand. Just a norse guy with a passion for my history and a distain for psuedo-historian youtube shorts salesmen.

[@RosaP3rcs]

It’s the “only wealthy men could afford swords” for me. Why would they need to buy anything they could just take off the dead.

[@lokiofasgard312]

Dane axe does so much work

[@KP_Uravity]

Hello! I noticed a small pronunciation error and i like talking about language, so please dont take this as an attack or anything. i just don't get to talk about homophones a lot 😅 Attribute and attribute are two different words, spelled the same but sound different. An attribute (aht-tri-bute, also a noun) is a quality someone has. "one of his attributes is high speed". Attribute (uh-trib-uoot, a verb) is the cause of something "his wins can be attributed to his high speed". English has tons of words from different language origins so we have lots of homophones and homonyms, if you read this i hope it was interesting 😊

[@johnnyk.2911]

This is incorrect, they took swords from those they killed and through raids.

[@RosaP3rcs]

You’d think this would be a no brainer

[@FrankyBlack]

yrah man.. i live in canada on the west coast and during fall and winter i chop a TON of wood.. an axe is like an extension of my arms and hands its so natural to handle from. experiencr.. if i was going into battle i could inflict serious damage with an axe.. 💀💯 and the vikings were WAY harder and tougher than us men these days..💪💪💪💀💀💀

[@jackcocker545]

You simplified fact to the point it became fiction. For example you were talking about dane axes being the ones used for battle and others being day to day axes but this isn't true, dane axes were long range weapons, not for close combat. They would have been used by a few people standing behind the lines and reaching over to hit enemies, short one handed axes were also made specifically for combat and would have been much more prevelant on the battlefield

[@danielhughes5932]

Also outside of demascus forgers unless you were in a really big city with a big forge/ many blacksmiths to raise the average skill level - swords sucked for 2/3rds of their existence. You're lucky to get through a battle with one in tact let alone if you had to block another sword or weapon With it and catch the sharpened end. Not only did you need to be wealthy enough/ kill the right person to get a good enough sword, you had to be good enough with it to dish out damage without taking any on your fancy toy. That required near daily training and mastery. They just weren't that useful for most of the world for anything but an ornament

[@velazquezarmouries]

Both fighting axes and swords both single and double edged

[@Mr.Business-sv8uc]

I’ve never seen an uncircumcised axe before…

[@AngiraBlu96]

Is that Goose Goose Duck music I’m hearing?

[@huntervacura7730]

Dont forget about the spears

[@Benevolent_Fafnir]

Vikings used spears and shields.

[@turkdeadpooI]

Nice video

[@jenlifh2871]

Huskarls had swords i think

[@TerrorOmnibus]

I love axes

[@goodwinter6017]

Axes are not as agile as swords.

[@Egilhelmson]

Can be, but a bad sword design can be as clumsy as a bad ax design. Fun fact: In proto-Indo-European tongues, sax means either an ax XOR a sword, but which is which varies back and forth.

[@VuurBarbaar]

Whell, battle axes are realy agile and you can be freaking fast with them (both one and 2 handed) also works better against the armor of the time. Swords and specially nordic swords where close to useless against the armor. But it shows of status. Axes spears(with shield) and bows where the most common becous they are cheap, and it works

[@corteztheinfinite9440]

I Just Bought One Of These And My Desire To Chop Something Is Unreal

[@sagnikmajumder3957]

They used spears

[@rbranham8062]

Nope. Wrong

[@luigiviking3667]

They used everything I don't even understand why you made this video they used their own type of Sword they used axes they use Shields they used Spears they used arrows hello come on now bud knives everything else

[@wyattduggan5270]

Spears.

[@DETHMOKIL]

larp

[@scottm2244]

Vikings are not a people it’s an action meaning when Northerners or Pegans raided it’s called Viking.

[@SomeGuy-gc8zs]

Of course, poorer Vikings (and poorer people in general) would often carry their woodcutting axes into battle; these household tools were still quite adequate as weapons because they were built to last and still carried more than enough force to break bones and crush armor.