Arabs and Vikings Saving Western Civilization The Vikings were a group of Germanic sea dwellers who traded with and raided towns all across Europe out of their Scandinavian homeland. During the late 8th to 11th centuries they ruled all of Europe through their barbaric ways. Even other cultures outside of Europe saw the barbaric ways in which the Vikings acted towards the villages that they encountered. One such case of this was a Muslim Chronicler, Ibn Fadlan, recounting of the Vikings as “[T]he filthiest of God’s creatures.” While they were very savage in their actions, this very trait gave them the ability to be able to roam through and ravage an entire town fully unopposed and within a very miniscule timeframe. According to another one of Fadlan’s writings, “Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times.” Due to the sheer strength of the Vikings the Europeans that they came across had no way of defending themselves against their ruthless power and thus fell nearly instantly. During this same time period Muslims, who were converted Arabs, began to spread what they had learned to the past to Europe as well as presenting ideas about government.
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Due to the influence of the Vikings, Europe was bought out of the Dark Ages which began when the Roman Empire dissipated and many of the European countries lost the protection that they had ben given. Through the constant raids of Ireland, England, and a plethora of other locations, the Vikings left behind the technology, art, mercantile system, and even some of their religious beliefs to make an impression that would last for centuries to come. The Viking religion, based on a Norse God by the name of Odin, impacted Russia and England by bringing an end to the traditional Celtic Christianity until Christianity began around the 11th Century which gave us the Christmas