General History Questions thread

You really need to learn some Medieval history. Most of it was Muslim expansion, they lost Syria and Armenia to the Seljuks, and Italy and Spain to various barbarian tribes. The Rus (Vikings) attacked Constantinople but never took it, and later Vikings became the Varangian Guard, elite soldiers and on occasion riot police.

also; normans.

Also, Slavs on the Balkans. Though before the Arabs, the Persians were the biggest threat, just as formidable.
Also, I hope you're trolling, djogloc02!

matmohair1 said:

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Bulgarian, according to the text, at least.

matmohair1 said:

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Well, this guy is certainly cool (along with a bunch of the others)!

I wasn't trolling, it was because the Vikings frequently invaded Europe, were powerful at using boats, so I think they attacked the Byzantines too. What I wanted to know was what made they lost their lands on Europe.

They attacked Constantinople a few times, but never took it.

Western Vikings (ie mostly Danes, Norwegians with few Swedes) raided the British Isles, France and Spain. Some raids went even further but these were rare. Eventually, some Vikings decided to stay and became Normans.

Eastern Vikings (ie mostly Swedes with some Finns and Estonians plus Danes) raided along the rivers of Russia and Ukraine, commonly reaching Kiev and sometimes going as far south as Constantinople. Eventually, some Vikings decided to stay and became the Varangian Guard - though Vikings were later replaced by Saxons and - ironically - Normans and other West Europeans. Additionally, some Vikings remained in Russia and Ukraine and became the local nobility, though these were soon assimilated into the local culture.

That's it in an extremely simplistic nutshell.

That's when the "Rus" arises right?

Right, Kievan Rus comes from that period of time. Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus

djogloc02 said:

What I wanted to know was what made they lost their lands on Europe.

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In Europe? Well, I guess we could say that started in the 6th century or so - the Lombards (and the various other Pannonian tribes that went along with them) invaded and occupied much of Byzantine Italy, and only Southern Italy remained Byzantine for a longer period of time after that, until the Normans conquered it in the 11th century, IIRC.
In the Balkans, the Byzantines lost much of their lands also during the second half of the 6th and early 7th centuries to the incoming hordes of Slavs. Of course, those lands had been invaded on and off for at least 3 centuries by then (first the Goths (a very destructive invasion of theirs), then the Huns, Goths again, Bulgars, Avars, Slavs, Avars+Bulgars+Slavs (again very destructive) and finally the Slavs settled down, all the way down south to the Pellopponesos in Greece)), but the Slavs were the first to actually settle in those lands and separate them from the Empire for good.
Spain, as was mentioned, was lost to the Vandals earlier on.
And I'm not sure when did they lose their holdings on the Crimean Peninsula, I think it was after the Fourth Crusade.

Oh, or if you mean when did they finally lost all of their European (and other) lands - during the Ottoman invasion (14th-15th century), when the Byzantine Empire and the other Balkan states were fully conquered and, unlike them, Byzantium was never reborn.

DoctorPainkiller said:

Umm.... They owned all of Greece and most of Sicily and southern Italy at one point, as well as all of Turkey and Anatolia. They even conquered north Africa in the 600's.

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I remember reading the general that conquered the western coast of Africa and south of Spain was rewarded with a spoon applied to his eyes. Was getting too powerful and popular.

Belisarius? Nah, he fell out of favour for a time, and generally had a somewhat strained relationship with Justinian, but the tale that the latter had the former blinded is a mere legend. Otherwise, Belisarius is regarded as one of the best Byzantine generals in history. He also retook (conquered is incorrect, since those were Roman lands anyway) Italy, along with Narses, though that lasted only for a short time, before the Lombards came in a few decades later.

What happened to France after 1815? Who took  the power? And the French Army?

Restoration.

The Bourbons got back into power.

Oh thanks.

djogloc02 said:

That's when the "Rus" arises right?

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The first Rus attack on Constantinople actually happened before that.
Not that you needed to have a viking to come up with that idea.

Jhessail said:

Eastern Vikings (ie mostly Swedes with some Finns and Estonians plus Danes) raided along the rivers of Russia and Ukraine, commonly reaching Kiev and sometimes going as far south as Constantinople. Eventually, some Vikings decided to stay and became the Varangian Guard - though Vikings were later replaced by Saxons and - ironically - Normans and other West Europeans. Additionally, some Vikings remained in Russia and Ukraine and became the local nobility, though these were soon assimilated into the local culture.

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Oh that Angus McBride image with the rectangular shield. 
I swear in every one of his works he threw in one obviously out of place item to see if the publishers were paying attention.
RIP Honoured illustrator.

Gorgeous illustrations, once again!

matmohair1 said:

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that helmet looks so wrong, but so cool.

Not sure if this question fits into this thread but I don't think it deserves an entirely new one. Does anyone know who drew this:


I've often seen it pinned to Charlemagne, but I can't find out anything about its origins or lack thereof. To me, it looks like a younger version of Albrecht Durer's portrait.