Viking Expansion (790 – 1250 CE)
Viking Expansion (790 – 1250 CE)
839 CE – Viking mercenaries serve in the military of the
Byzantine Empire
862 – 879 CE – King Rurik unifies the Scandinavian Rus in
Eastern Europe and established urban
center at Novgorod
885 – 911 CE – Viking raiders under King Rollo invade and
settle on Western Coast of France
(known today as Normandy)
982 -1002 CE – Viking explorers like Eric the Red and Leif
Ericson explore North American
Continent (Greenland, Iceland, and
Newfoundland)
986 – 1014CE – Viking leader Sweyn Forkbeard conquered
and ruled England
Impressions of the Vikings (Rus)
I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by
the Volga. I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms,
blonde and ruddy; they wear neither tunics nor caftans, but the men wear a
garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free.
Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times. The
swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort. Every man is tatooed from finger
nails to neck with dark green (or green or blue-black) trees, figures, etc.
When they have come from their land and anchored on, or ties up at the shore of
the Volga, which is a great river, they build big houses of wood on the shore, each
holding ten to twenty persons more or less. Everybody goes ashore with bread,
meat, onions, milk and intoxicating drink.
They are the filthiest of God's creatures. They have no modesty in defecation and
urination, nor do they wash after pollution from orgasm, nor do they wash their
hands after eating. Thus they are like wild asses.
Ibn Fadlan (c. 921)
Rise of the Seljuk Turks (980 – 1307 CE)
Rise of the Seljuk Turks (980 – 1307 CE)
980 CE – Nomadic Turks migrate across Volga River into the
Persian Steppes
1040 CE – Togrul Beg leads Turkish forces to victory against
Ghaznavid Muslims at the Battle of Dandanaqan
1071 CE – Alp Arslan leads Turkish forces to victory against
the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert
1096 – 1099 CE Disunity of the nomadic Seljuk Turks allowed
for the successful movement of the knights
of the First & Second Crusade through
Anatolia and Syria
1218 – 1244 CE Nomadic Turkish warriors served as Mercenaries
to the invading Mongols
1260 – 1323 CE Turkish Mamluks (Slave Warriors) defeated the
Mongols and finally signed a peace treaty
Impressions of the Seljuk Turks
I set up my tent on a hill there, fixing a standard in the ground in front of it, and drew
up the horses and wagons behind. Thereupon the turks approached (the and we saw
a vast town on the move with all its inhabitants, containing mosques and bazaars,
the smoke from the kitchens rising in the air (for they cook while on the march), and
horse-drawn wagons transporting them. On reaching the encampment they took
the tents off the wagons and set them upon the ground, for they were very light, and
they did the same with the mosques and shops.
The horses in this country are very numerous and the price of them is negligible. A
good one costs about a dinar of our money. The livelihood of the people depends on
them, and they are as numerous as sheep in our country, or even more so. A single
Turk will possess thousands of horses. For each fifty they hire a keeper, who looks
after their pasturage. He rides on one of them, carrying a long stick with a rope
attached to it, and when he wishes to catch any horse he gets opposite it on the
horse which he is riding, throws the rope over its neck and draws it towards him,
mounts it and sets the other free to pasture
Ibn Battuta (c. 1335)
Mongol Invasions (1206 - 1368 CE)
Mongol Invasions (1206 - 1368 CE)
1202 – 1206 CE - Temujin unified the Mongol Tribes and was
given the title Genghis Khan
1211 CE – Genghis Khan leads Mongol Conquest of Northern
Jin Empire in China
1225 CE – Genghis Khan leads Mongol expansion into Central
Asia (including Samrkand and Bukhara)
1240 – 1254 C E – Batu Khan leads Mongol expansion into
the land of the Rus in Eastern Europe
1258 CE – Hulagu Khan led Seige against Muslims in Baghdad
1279 CE – Kublai Khan finally succeeds in conquering China
1294 CE – Mongol Empire begins gradual decline after the
death of Kublai Khan & the Division of Empire into
Independently Ruled Khanates
Impressions of the Mongols
When they come to an engagement with the enemy, they will gain the victory
in this fashion. They never let themselves get into a regular melee, but keep
perpetually riding round and shooting into the enemy. And] as they do not
count it any shame to run away in battle, they will sometimes pretend to do
so, and in running away they turn in the saddle and shoot hard and strong at
the foe, and in this way make great havoc. Their horses are trained so perfectly
that they will double hither and thither, just like a dog, in a way that is quite
astonishing. Thus they fight to as good purpose in running away as if they
stood and faced the enemy, because of the vast volleys of arrows that they
shoot in this way, turning round upon their pursuers, who are fancying that
they have won the battle. But when the Tartars see that they have killed and
wounded a good many horses and men, they wheel round bodily, and return to
the charge in perfect order and with loud cries; and in a very short time the
enemy are routed. In truth they are stout and valiant soldiers, and inured to
war. And you perceive that it is just when the enemy sees them run, and
imagines that he has gained the battle, that he has in reality lost it; for the
Tartars wheel round in a moment when they judge the right time has come.
And after this fashion they have won many a fight.
Marco Polo (c. 1275)
Rise of the Timurid (1370 - 1405 CE)
Rise of the Timurid (1370 - 1405 CE)
1360 CE - Timur unites many of the nomadic Turkic
tribes in the region of Samarkand
1369 CE – Timur succeeded in reducing the leaders of
the Chagatai Khanate to just figureheads
1387 CE – Timur managed to conquer most of Persia
after the death of the last Ilkhanate ruler
1395 CE – Timur conquered the region of Azerbaijan,
cutting off the Silk Road trade from the
Golden Horde (Eastern European Khanate)
1398 CE – Timur led his Turkic Armies of nomadic warriors
against the Hindu infidels of India
1399 – 1402 CE – Timur invaded the Ottoman Empire,
Egypt and the Muslim Capital of Baghdad
1404 – 1405 CE – Timur began invasion of (Ming) China