Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings [Hardcover]

Martina Sprague (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0781811767 | ISBN-13: 978-0781811767 | Publication Date: September 2007

Until the early 1000s, waves of strange and ferocious warriors from the barren northlands swept into Britain and Western Europe. Plundering and pillaging, they left devastation in their wake. Trembling victims never knew when they would strike next. The Vikings fought for personal glory, material wealth and a longing for adventure and freedom. This book tackles the myth of the Vikings, their unconventional methods of warfare, cunning strategies and boldly innovative ship building techniques. The author casts a scholarly eye and a fresh light onto these fiercely independent people.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Martina Sprague was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden. Interested in military and combat sciences since childhood, she holds a Master of Arts in Military History from Norwich University. She is the author of Sweden: An Illustrated History, also published by Hippocrene Books, and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 369 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (September 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781811767
• ISBN-13: 978-0781811767
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Martina Sprague is a military historian and martial artist. Her most recent book, Swedish Volunteers in the Russo-Finnish Winter War, 1939-40, is a history of combat and neutrality politics at the start of World War II. Her next book, Lessons in the Art of War: Martial Strategies for the Successful Fighter, compares Asian and Western martial arts with a focus on the theories of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz. This book will be released by Tuttle Publishing in 2011. For more information about this exciting new study, please visit Martina's Web site: www.modernfighter.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Title DOES NOT match contents!, October 3, 2008

By 

C. Works - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings (Hardcover)

I thought I would get a book with a lot more. Instead, I get a book that basically says Vikings used longships and that made them awesome.

I expected military history on the order of Dunnigan or Massie, but instead I got in-depth analysis such as Vikings drank beer before battle to get over their fear.

I only gave it two stars because it has some nice pictures of ships and weapons, although you could easily get the same ones elsewhere.

Stay away from this book. Its lightweight and has nothing new or interesting to say.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written from a Tactician's Point of View, March 25, 2010

By 

Benerson Little - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings (Kindle Edition)

An excellent survey of Norse tactics, written from the point of view of someone who understands martial tactics. As a historian, special operations tactical analyst, and former Navy SEAL, I found the book to be a useful secondary source in writing a history of pirate hunting. Highly recommended.

46 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dissappointing to say the least., December 1, 2008

By 

John P. Hewson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Norse Warfare: The Unconventional Battle Strategies of the Ancient Vikings (Hardcover)

This book is extremely bad. Not only does the author not mention essential elements of Viking stratgey, such as the Hersyrs, the shield wall or the Swynfilking formation, but she says that the Vikings fought from ships in naval battles, for which there is absolutely no evidence. Worst of all, she assumes that the Jomsvikings existed, when much archaeological evidence, and most Viking historians, agree that they were mythical. Neither does she consider in any detail the Housecarls or the Byzantine Varangian Guard, both of which were important components of the Viking war machine. She also says very little about the circular fortifications of the Vikings discovered in several cities in Scandinavia, or the Vikings mastery of seigecraft. And, although she does quote primary sources, she does so without discussing the implications of them, and her selection of quotable material relates little to her topic. Altogether a purile and amateurish job of research from an author who, because she holds an MA, should know better.