Help with Vikings

[Rick Ross 187]

I know its along shot on a Tech forum but does anyone here have atleast a moderate knowledge of the Vikings or perhaps has studied them in the past? I dont want to be rude but if your knowledge is basic, you wont be much help. I need some info for an essay, presentation and book review i have to do.

Basically, i would like to know the source of Viking military success (beyond "they had good boats and were brave") the most, but also helpful to know would be the reasons for leaving (beyond "it was overpopulated").

Also, any good articles or books that could address these questions would be very much appreciated.

Sorry if i sound rude in this post, its just one sentance answers are no use to me. Feel free to discuss the vikings in here though, atleast if i dont get what im looking for something will come from this thread

[Younes]

They emerged around year 600 AC.
I cannot say that they really was such a military succes since their tactics was to simply to attack villages and churches near the coasts, rape the girls, kill the men and loot... thats where basically their tactics, they used to potray heads of fallen enemies on their ships since they believed it kept Demons away, they traded with Arabs/Muslims... they would travel down the known rivers of Europe, like Olga and so on. The first one in europe I believe to discover the American continent was a viking, he called it the land of wine... Vikings also discovered Greenland (called greenland cuz the shores they landed on was full of grass n plants n shit) and Iceland (called that because the shore they landed on was icy and crappy). Believed in northern mytology (ask if u want me to expand upon it), they had a clan society with chiefs... Christian Europeans wouldn't really mess around with the Vikings since they where known as savage beings and dangerous warriors... viking culture died when Denmark finally was converted to Christianity around 1000-1100. Norway, Sweden and Iceland would follow along, Vikings converted because Popo the dude who carried around burning coal in his hands with out showing signs of pain, and because Vikings thought of it as being an economic advantage for them, when they got baptized they would receive white clothes and stuff, I remember one dude let him self baptize 12 times for the white clothes.

btw their attacks would reach all the way down to France... oh yeah the thing with horned helmets, vikings didn't wear that at all, a great misconception made by cartoons and idiots... I think horned helmets derive from the Visigoths and Teutonics...