Discover the true story of the Viking expansion, from the terrifying dragon ships that raided Lindisfarne in 793 to the icy shores of North America five centuries before Columbus. Learn how Scandinavian farmers and sailors engineered revolutionary longships that allowed them to conquer kingdoms, build vast trade networks across Eastern Europe, and navigate open ocean waters. Explore how key figures like Alfred the Great, Rollo of Normandy, Erik the Red, and Leif Erikson shaped medieval history. This documentary breaks down the real causes of the Viking Age and reveals how Norse culture permanently transformed the language, borders, and trade of the modern world.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:14 Chapter 1: The Dragon Ships Rise
04:42 Chapter 2: The Great Heathen Army
08:30 Chapter 3: Siege of Paris and Normandy
13:10 Chapter 4: The Eastern Way: Rus and Byzantium
17:39 Chapter 5: Out to the Atlantic: Iceland and Greenland
21:42 Chapter 6: Vinland: Landing in America
25:39 Chapter 7: The Sunset of the Viking Age
29:19 What happened next
Featuring: Alcuin of York, Alfred the Great, Guthrum, Rollo of Normandy, Charles the Simple, Erik the Red, Leif Erikson, Harald Hardrada
Dialogue dramatised from history; voices are AI-generated.
Maps: historical-basemaps (A. Ourednik, GPL-3.0), Natural Earth.
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