Furies: War in Europe - Book Report/Review Example

The people were warriors, and pirates who belonged to Scandinavia, these people invaded the coasts of Great Britain, and the region of Ireland, and also spread to the area of Al Andalus and Italy during the 8th to 11th centuries. They also devastated the coastal area of the Baltic Sea, the black sea, and even some parts of Persia. These Vikings had initially started to raid Rus.

These people were not natural invaders but mercenaries who settled within the region to protect them from the torture of natives. 1 Thus, the reason why Vikings were far more successful than any other who raided Christian Europe was mainly because of the war tactics they used to invade that area. The way they raided the area by using longships which were very feasible to raid areas which had coasts. Another benefit of these ships was that they left the victim in a state of shock and terror as these raids could be very astonishing and sudden for them.

Another policy that these Vikings used to raid was 'hit and run', this was a very good technique as they used to raid, attack the people and swiftly row away back from where they came from. They did not attack at regular intervals but the most alarming thing for the victims was that these attacks were random and remote in small groups. Plus the Vikings never stopped or limited themselves to a particular region. They usually spread far and wide, for instance: they started raiding England, went to France then also invaded the river populations that were within the jurisdiction.

Another reason for their success was that they were fearsome and brutal. They killed innocent people on their way, made them slaves, plundered, burnt, and destroyed the land. A surprising thing about these Vikings was that they never stayed in the region they conquered and eventually used to leave the land. They even formed their 'Great Army' which comprised many people giving them immense power. Lastly to bring about political instability within the region these Vikings at times used to join forces with the ruler's enemies and eventually stand against the rulers.

Hence the Vikings stood victorious because of the methods they used to invade the region. In a nutshell, these Vikings were very successful in raiding and invading Christian Europe during the Second Age of invasion because the techniques that were used during the raids were far more organized, pre-planned, and spontaneous and did not allow the victims to retaliate back. These methods were previously not used therefore the Europeans were not prepared for any such raid. This gave an edge to the Vikings and caused them to be better and more successful during their raids.

These Vikings were very successful in whichever area they raided but the problems started to arise in a time commonly known as their third phase which comprise the years from 876-911. These Vikings were focused and kept on attacking. They used their Great Army and sustained their efforts to cause devastations on both the English Channel and to make colonies of the area of England and France. Initially, they never used to settle but now they had started to inhabit various land settlements permanently, these places were those which they had already raided like Ireland, Iceland, Russian areas and