Right! Like...what did they expect? For the Norse to just sit politely in the middle of the river and fight both armies at once? Of course they're gonna choose the easier one.
@@karynjane5273 It's no wonder they lost. After 2000 years of invasion from Rome to the Saxons to the vikings you would think they would be tactical masterminds.
Not only that, but the fact that Britwulf decided to stay and fight instead of retreating and regrouping proves he is the biggest galaxy brain out there. Truly ahead of his time.
What do you expect?, they are Saxon who fight straight on.. in history they were defeated by Roman Empire easily and become its vassal, then they running away from their home to Britain afraid of the Huns forces.. at that time they are fool tribe who struggle to build a great kingdom that exist till now
Yeah it's like erm... because they dont have to fight you both at the same time, since you cant join up anyway. So why the fuck would they split their force and attack the greater force if they dont have to. Dont ask stupid questions Dumb Dumb.
why are there arrows being fired in the first seconds of the scene and then theres nothing happening for another 2 minutes.... these vikings would have their heads displayed on pikes if I were the king
@@kodesh1674 or at least get the hell out of here the moment the battle was going south. Instead he just stared at the Vikings killing their way to him like a brain dead.
I saw something with a ancient warfare expert where he said contested landings are a pretty 20th century idea and generally theyd just land somewhere where they hand some time to disembark a little further up river. Was kinda interesting.
That's not what happened with Ceaser when he landed in Britain. The Brits were waiting for him and the centurions had to charge straight from the water
@@ihsankamil6279 What he meant was thst IT wasnt generally done. Almost never. And that's true. There is only a handfull or examples from the past. And they all are special cases.
@@ihsankamil6279 Because the Celtic British kept following the ships that first ran into cliffs with nowhere to disembark so the Celts knew where the next landing would be and started heading there.
Honestly, if this was a real tactical game, rts or such and so forth, the smaller force is the bait. Usually a trap. The english outnumber the invaders, there's no reason to split the troops up. Sun tzu would be disappointed
The show itself is shit and is a terrible representation of Vikings and Saxons so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had little knowledge in the art of warfare
Don't you just love it, when the beginning of a battle scene features lots of meaningless orders being shouted to create the illusion, that actual tactics will play a role in the upcoming fight, only to take a giant shit all over that idea and have whole thing immediately devolve into an incoherent chaos of individual fights?
I don’t get why they never even attempt to film better battle scenes with actual realism. Sure, it’s cinematically a bit more challenging but the amount of great acting with bad historical accuracy is absurd in this show and many others like it.
@@Arcaryon It’s rather simple the general audience member doesn’t care/know about tactics and like the chaotic action as it’s more exciting to them and since there the target audience it’s catered to them.
@@JesusChristMyLord I disagree - I just think it’s just pure laziness which is odd because many directors are rather passionate about their work. I just don’t see the reason why there are no nearly no accurate movies, not even made for niche audiences.
Funny thing about Vikings, the very first battle in the show was the most realistic. Ragnars first raid on England when he was only with like 30 people, and then they encounter English on the beach blocking them from their boat so they fight. They actually use a shield wall and hold it the whole time, and it’s interesting seeing their tactics cause it actually makes them seem smarter
I absolutely love the 'kick your face off' energy of the first half of Season 3. The momentum is just phenomenal. And that then perfectly sets up the brilliant decline in the second half (Athelstan's death, Ragnar's psychological torture of Floki, Lagertha being usurped by Kalf, Siggy's death and Rollo's subsequent permanently fraying loyalty). But this Season, for me, just has that perfect atmosphere. It's literally stating 'We established these characters and stories in Season 1, we settled in and explored them further in Season 2, now we know who's who, let's get the story cracking and the events and interactions and arcs immediately set in motion' and I love it. It feels how a Season 3 should, in my opinion. No introductory formalities, no slogging through recapping or rehashing, it just cracks on with Ragnar as King, settlement negotiations, Ragnar and Kwenthirith's chemistry, Floki's continued disillusionment with Ragnar's path, more of Wessex, it's just amazing.
@An Incredibly Attractive Slice Of Bread His death was another amazing moment. And yet another catalyst for Floki's fraying trust in Ragnar given that Torstein dies for Ecbert's benefit. Brilliant stuff.
@@weeboooooSimply saves room. Fighting on a ship is hard, lotta people shoulder to shoulder, masts and sails getting in the way, you really cant afford to be tripping over a dead english guy too
This. I actually see that being pretty realistic too. If you'd be a Viking raider with violence being the norm and your way of going to heaven mainly being dying in battle, you'd probably look at that stinky Anglo-Saxon and be like "Right, time to make room". These guys butchered kids, women, infants, elderly IRL, makes sense they couldn't care less about some half-dead foreign soldier.
5:27 Once in a lifetime encounter. Son of the Bretwalda Ecbert meets with brother of Ragnar Lothbrok, Rollo. Then, the great warrior Aethelwulf died to a bee sting while Rollo retired his viking heritage and joined the Franks. Two Great Warriors. Never will we see this encounter again.
Update: The sequel Vikings Valhalla just dropped. It features multiple encounters between Emma of Normandy and Edmund. Emma was the great granddaughter of Rollo, while Edmund was the great grandson of Aethelwulf. Crazy how history leads to these events.
@@gregoirelebatard1057 the franks themselves were a tribe in the forests of Germany but fought for Rome as mercenaries, by the time the empire split and was in decline, there were several small Frankish kingdoms (many of whom fought each other), they were united by the king Clovis who introduced Christianity to the franks and led them to many victories against the visigoths (another German tribe that migrated to southern Spain), taking land and riches.
6:33 the way Ragnar just emerges from the chaos like _"guess who, bitch?"_ is genuinely so cool you have no clue how much I LOVED his character Edit: dont get me started on how everything from the music to the screams just muffled out and time slows down, as if Brihtwulf just looked at the face of Death itself
the fact they chose to accept a landing where the enemy was instead of piking a better spot, most of the vikingrs didnt have any armor, half didnt have shields, going against spearmen, and longbowmen in armor, whilst the king has high ground, resting and morale, and numerical advantage shows just how much plot armor they rocking (guessing why they dont need a helmet). The king falls off his horse from nothing and his guards do nothing about it btw....
To be fair, there have been numerous times where people have made borderline autistic decisions in battle. Never underestimate people's capacity for stupidity.
A bunch of rice farmers with bolt action rifles beat the 20th Century American Army never underestimate a people's will to fight for what they believe in. Also it's a TV Drama not a documentary. You want realism watch documentary and read historical books instead of nitpicking Hollywood products
This was the first webseries I have ever watched in my life. But this Viking series is really amazing, breathtaking and I am a fan of all character in this series. All played their role very well. After watching this series, I made a research on Vikings through internet. Scandinavian culture is awesome.
I see the same thing watching movies on the Romans and ancient Greeks. The battles always break down in to individual combat with fancy spin moves. You never see the Romans legion fight as a unit. And you don't see the Hoplites staying in their phalanx. That takes away the whole reason these ancient warriors were so successful in the first place.
@@davidhoekstra8671 It also doesn't make sense for these heavily armed infantry forces to storm into the water, where they are very vulnerable. Instead of a stable formation. Their archers are also useless shooting only two volleys even though they could've fired a ton more before they approached the landing zone. These are long bow archers, they can fire over a very long distance.
@@FiPMEgaming I agree. One would think it would be a lot better to sail be bit further were they could land unopposed. It seems like the move from ship to shore is where they are most vulnerable.
@@davidhoekstra8671 I think the Last Kingdom showed some scenes of fighting in formation. Only watched the 1st season tho. Although I liked the Viking series it becomes verry obvious the fighting is nowhere near historical accurate. Same goes for GoT, Its simply not as entertaining to watch but that goes with everything related to fighting in general.
Orders his spearmen to charge in loose formation - brilliant - defeats the point of having a spear. The ranks were barely a man deep. They should have been at least three-men deep in a tight formation - those Vikings would have been skewered. Ez win.
@@BudMasta Paris? This is in Saxon England, not France. This battle may have happened, but it did not happen as depicted. You don't land ships *in front of a line of soldiers.* Because you WILL be massacred coming off the boats. What they would have done would be landing a little further away, form their lines and forces, then march towards their enemy.
@@youraveragescotsman7119 this battle did happen but in France, on the Seine River, it wasn't Ragnar Lothbrok (he didn't really exist), and the Danes landed on one bank of the river, then marched up to and defeated the smaller French Army.
Expert warriors? No. These aren’t Vikings, the Vikings in the show are a depiction of what people want to think Vikings were, and it is incredibly inaccurate.
@@TheEmpireAnimations Can you read? He said boat builders, mariners and warriors. I corrected him on the subject of warriors because they were most certainly not expert warriors. I could go on about ship building but he wasn’t exactly wrong, the Danish and Norwegians were renowned for that type of stuff. What exactly is your argument here? I addressed one part of his comment and you’re acting like he didn’t mention any other subject than boat building?
i mean.... he was on a horse...... he could've just rode away back towards friendly troops or atleast a safe location, but no! he had to stay there and look dumb until the enemy was right in front of him
Guessing he was used to fighting not-vikings who would capture an enemy ruler and keep him "prisoner" as a guest in their capital until a ransom was paid, which was the style at the time. He probably didn't realize he was in real danger until he was on the ground.
@@FEARSWTOR regardless not every king or commander was an idiot as shown in this pisspoor show. Almost every tactic and strategy goes to support the vikings over Saxons.
My only question is literally how the hell did the vikings win that?! The enemy troops were weighting in order literally right on the shore while the vikings were awkwardly having to jump off their ships at varying times, and weren’t all together.
@@highelf6086 The battle didn't occur as depicted in the show. Landing ships and then rushing off into a prepared force will not end with victory, only with you ended up slaughtered by the prepared forces. What they ACTUALLY did was land a little further away so they had enough time to organize their forces and then march towards the Saxon troops. You don't willingly sail into a contested beachhead unless you literally have no choice.
6:27 I feel like Ragnar was challenging Brihtwulf to single combat there. Like he was saying wordlessly, "Are you really not even going to TRY and avenge the men you've lost? Show your men how much of a coward you are, or climb down from that horse and defend them." But Brihtwulf was too afraid, and then his men try to seize the moment and swarm the King of the Vikings, but Ragnar's men sense what they're trying to do and charge up the hill to protect him. Incredible storytelling with no words at all.
i like how Ragnar could see her uncles death had a darker meaning behind it when his smile faded after sitting down and looking back at her seeing a different kind of pain on her face
@@RobM00 I dunno about 'historical battles' but I have scenes that you can tell the creators tried hard to make it look authentic. HBO Rome had such a scene where the Roman lines fought a rabble of Gallic warriors. No breaking of formation (except for one drunken Roman who got punished for it), a clear example of discipline meets brute force.
"We have an elevated position and a spear wall backed up by swordsmen and archers. But why use any of those probably decisive advantages when we can just rush into a chaotic melee?"
I was thinking the same, the tv show is fun but people kinda think Vikings were the best warriors out there even if they were fucked on 1v1 army battle and were just raiding poor people villages without honor.
@@amaterasu6888 True, they were called raiders for a reason. It also seems like only 10% of most settlement actually went viking. Most of them were just peacefull farmers.
@@53strat55 I agree, whenever people tell me Vikings were the best warriors on the planet, I just tell them what happened in Al Andalus ( modern Spain and Portugal which was conquered by the Muslims at that time ) against the moors ( the vast majority was of north African Berbers and some Arab troops who originated from Morocco ), The Vikings thought the would just raid the Muslim cities as they did to the weak Christian ones, in a matter of days 30 Vikings ships were destroyed and the other ones fled, A lot of Vikings were beheaded, and the prisoners were given the duty of making cheese xD, and they were even some rumors that the Muslims beheaded the prisoners for fun because they were bad at making it. People thought they were the best because of the tv shows but in fact, whenever they faced an enemy with strong faith and a strong and disciplined army, they fled like little girls. I mean I don't hate on the northern warriors I just think that they are disgustingly overrated .
@@amaterasu6888 I think its kinda some ideology they want to hold on too. Vikings have been overhyped as fuck in Western and central Europe. All they did for most of the times was raid innocent people at small setlements, cmon. Is that a feat?
Exactly thank you. There’s no shield walls and hardly any realistic tactics in this show. Vikings were mainly raiders who targeted undefended villages yet the show makes them to be unstoppable elite warriors when that was further from the truth. It’s ridiculous how stupid and weak they make the Saxons look.
Saxons: "I'm a great tactician! I'm going to show the majority of my army on my side leaving my uncle vulnerable with a lesser army. We don't have a bridge to help each other either but I just want to show you my full force of an army to scare you away because I am a great Saxon tactician! Danes: "I'm going to your uncles side. Good job! *LAUGHS IN IVAR.* "
I love how the guy orders the archers to fire after the boats were in range lol. He could have fired at them when they were in the middle of the river not almost across it lol.
I love analyzing the fictional war between mercia and Ragnar! However there are so many questions of both sides choices when it comes to defense positions and attack strategy 🤔. For example it's a bad idea to split your army the way the mercian forces did, but it's also equally a bad decision on Ragnars side to advance directly on the coast of the river attacking the enemy head on like D-day or something. So both are at fault but never the less it's a great fight!!!
It was painfully stupid writing. What’s the point in going into battle with two separate armies from the same kingdom when they can’t actually get to each other’s aid when the fighting begins? Ludicrous 🤦🏻♂️
And it’s because this show bigs up the tactical and fighting prowess of the Vikings while making the English look stupid . Mighty King Offa must be turning in his grave watching this shit go down! He would’ve wiped the floor with the northmen advancing recklessly like this
@@chrisstucker1813 You do realise this is based on an actual battle right? It’s just it wasn’t with the Saxons it was with the Franks. There were two armies on each side of the river Seine and the Vikings chose to attack the smaller army whilst the other were helpless.
I don't see why Brihtwulf didn't withdraw his forces after realising his mistake. Why did his kin and forces not mobilise to re-join at a river crossing - there was no need to give battle. Not sure why they stopped firing arrows so soon. The way you mount casualties with bowmen is with sheer volume of arrows, they needed to keep pouring them down.
Stupid show is the reason along side plot armor heavily supporting the characters. No idea why the archers didn't keep loosing arrows. Then of course there's no bridge or pathway for them to cross and rejoin is another dumb thing
What's wild is that this battle is loosely based on a true story. The *Franks* were actually dumb enough to line up their forces on both banks. The Vikings slaughtered the smaller army, then supposedly they sacrificed prisoners to Odin in full view of the other army.
Well, the usual order of battle in the Anglo-Saxon region at this time was the shield wall, which also best suited the armament (shield and spear) and worked even for poorly trained soldiers. Leaving the formation for individual close combat, as here on the British side in the film, would have been very unusual (and stupid). But maybe, they were.
If the archers used barbed arrows then couldn't they make the shields heavier? That way it wouldn't matter if they missed as they could weaken the vikings shield wall instead
In chess game tactics you do not need to take down the all officials because it may lead to steal mate, if there is an option to kill the King be merciless to save more lives.
План засады просто высшего уровня )))))))),одна часть войска не может помочь другой )))))))). И почему англичане позволили викингам выйти из воды ? Гораздо удобнее оборонятся стоя на берегу ,а твой противник в воде. И я смотрю у викингов корабли и щиты все деревянные, так почему не используют стрелы с горючей жидкость?