The Legacy of the Norsemen

Chapter 2: The Battle of Lybaek

The war in Scandinavia would have been going on for several months before the first major battle took place. The Swedish Navy, in an attempt to flank the Danish defences around Copenhagen, snuck out of Malmo and quietly crept through the Baltic to swing around the Danish Fleet. It was at Lybaek, on the German coast, that a Danish home defence flotilla that was in the area quickly found themselves under attack by the larger Swedish fleet. The Danish Navy rushed from Copenhagen to Lybaek, leaving a meager defence force to guard the capital.

The Danish flotilla held out just long enough for the arrival of the Navy, where the Battle of Lybaek begun. Finding themselves trapped between the flotilla and the Danish Navy, the Swedes had to act fast. Under heavy fire, they tried to break through the small flotilla and escape the disastrous trap they run into.

With full speed, the Swedish ships rammed through the Danes, plowing small guardboats aside. But the Danes saw this as their chance to crush the Swedish Navy, so a detachment of of the Danish Navy swung around to at least block off the Swedes from escaping.

The plan just barely succeeded, with a bulk of the Swedish Navy trapped between the Danes and the city of Lybaek. With no where to run, the Swedes ran aground on the beaches and prepared to make a hastened overland march to Denmark. The few ships that escaped prepared to set sail for Stockholm to inform the King of this major defeat.

The Swedish Army realized that the Danes would follow them on their march to Denmark, and possibly trap them between another army in their homeland. So, the Swedes decided to turn south into Germany and hopefully lose the enemy in unknown (to them) lands.

The Swedish Army arrived at Lybaek at March 15, 1001. With the Danes closing in fast, the Swedes asked for assistance in fighting off the attackers. But the mayor of Lybaek refused, and instead commanded the barbarian Norsemen to return to their own lands. Fight your own wars yourselves, they said.

Defiantly, the Swedes prepared to mount a defence on the hilly terrain of Lybaek. With the excellent defensive positions, the Danes were beaten off, wave by wave. Victory seemed to sway towards the Swedes.

But the mayor of Lybaek was going to force the Norsemen off his land by any means neccessary. Calling upon the soldiers of neighboring villages and cities, the Germans mounted a surprise attack against the rear of the Swedes.

In shock,the Swedes became panicked. With no place to run, the invasion army was sure to be destroyed. Sure enough it was, but so was the Danish Army as it was forced off by the Germans too. Only a handful of warriors and ships remained of the battered Scandinavian forces.

With the news of loss of the Navy and the Army at the hands of the Germans, the Swedes and Danes jointly declared war on Lybaek and its allies, who in turn drew upon the almost the entirety of Northern Germany. In turn, Poland went to war with the Germans to protect its interests in the Baltic. England declared war to assist its Saxon brothers. The Scandinavians, once fighting each other, were now united to fight off the European threat.

In a bitter agreement, the Kings of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden all agreed to a cease-fire to fight off the Europeans. Because the Norwegian Army still remained intact, the Norwegians would lead the alliance. But the Army had been battered from the previous war, the Swedes and the Danes had no forces to speak of, and German, Polish, and English troops were already setting sail for Scandinavia. Would the Norsemen be able to mount a defence in time?...

Alright, looks like I've got a couple of readers. Thanks to all of you for your support.

Just for your information, this AAR will be written in more of a history book style, with descriptions of battles, desicions, and events. Some pics would have accompanied the previous updates, but I don't know how to upload them. So if anyone could tell me how, I'd appreciate it.

Chapter 3: Wars of the North

Following the stunning defeat at Lybaek and the subsequent delcarations of war, Scandinavia was in a bad position. Already English troops had started landing at various Norwegian and Danish beaches. The Scandinavians tried to put together a make-shift fleet, but to no avail. And through the whole war, Vinland looked on.

People seemed to forget that the war was fought over Vinland. Over the 2 years that the war been going on, the population swelled to somewhere in the low hundreds. Warriors were being trained not to fight in Europe, but to tame the Skraelings. Vinland had no intent of fighting a war in Europe, they were mainly focused on expanding in America.

At a war council in London, the English governent agreed that the war was just retribution for the Viking raids of the past century. Because they pillaged our lands, we shall do the same to them, proclaimed the King.

When hearing this cause, several nations that had suffered from Viking raids promptly declared war on the North. There seemed to be little hope for Scandinavia now.

And there wasn't any. Within 3 years of the declaration of war, the entire coast of Norway and Denmark had been taken. Copenhagen was under siege and the forests of Sweden were the sites of various massacres. The only place the Scandinavians showed any signs of victory was at the fortress at Narvik.

In the mountains of Norway, a coalition of Norwegian and Danish troops held out against a vastly superior enemy. At first the Europeans tried to demoralise the Norwegians. They began chanting to them:

"ALL YOUR BASE! ALL YOUR BASE! ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US! YOU HAVE NO CHANCE FOR SURVIVAL! ...HAHAHA."

The siege continued for a year. Thousands died on the foothills at Narvik, most of the English and German. But the EuropeanVBs had superior numbers, and were slowly gaining ground. But the Norwegians made them pay for every inch in blood.

By the time Narvik was finally captured, almost 80% of the European Army lay dead in the mountains. This gave hope to the Norsemen that they just might be able to win the war.


Meanwhile, in Vinland, Leif's war of expansion had come along nicely. 6 years had passed since his kingdom's founding, and its size had more than tripled from the small valley that it once took up. The population was now just over a thousand, with a majority of them Skraelings. Through interracial marriages, a new race was forming in the Americas, but it had yet to be named.

With the population at a reasonable size, Leif planned to make his move in Europe. He ordered his warriors to begin training the Skraelings in European warfare. Once they were ready, Leif would make his appearance in Europe once more.