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Vikings vs Spartans

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  Quote TITAN_ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Vikings vs Spartans
    Posted: 13-Jul-2012 at 05:01
Vikings vs Spartans? When? In 700 BC or 700 AD?LOL
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  Quote AlphaS520 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Jul-2012 at 10:12
Originally posted by Toltec

Originally posted by AlphaS520


Originally posted by Toltec

[QUOTE=Nick1986]The samurai too used spears and polearms on the battlefield as swords were pretty useless.
Now why would you say that? The highest honor and the best samurais are the sword wielding samurais, with the katana.


The Katana was a peace time side arm, far to short for the battlefield and only devoped in the late 16th century after most of the warfare in Japan had finished. They had earlier battlefield swords such as the Nodachi and Odachi but they were by no mean common and there was little fuss made about using them.


The Katana was not just a peace time side arm, but it was also used by the best samurais, I remember seeing a quote somewhere, forgot where, about the making of the Katana. Katana, in the making, was given the highest attention, and made with the highest precision, it is the most valued weapon of the samurais (or the bow).

When the samurai rises, the best devised moves where they can kill the opponent in a few moves, against a spear wielding enemy, they close in extremely quickly and the opponent is defenseless. In a samurai duel, they try to execute the enemy very quickly, this is accomplished by close combat, a spear cannot grant you this. To show the effectiveness of the sword, the Naginata (a spear), was designed to also to slash, as samurais generally practiced slashing.

They weren't common among peasants, that I can say, as peasants are trained like samurais are. Peasants are generally armed with Yari, and due to their lack of skills, formation are devised, similarly to the Phalanx, leaving their flanks exposed.


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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Jul-2012 at 11:13
Originally posted by TITAN_

Vikings vs Spartans? When? In 700 BC or 700 AD?LOL

Up to you. Both armies are at the height of their power and equipped with the best weapons
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  Quote AlphaS520 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Jul-2012 at 12:48
I can imagine the Vikings smashing down the long spears of the Phalanx formation with their battle axes. 
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  Quote TITAN_ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Jul-2012 at 06:03
Originally posted by Nick1986

Originally posted by TITAN_

Vikings vs Spartans? When? In 700 BC or 700 AD?LOL

Up to you. Both armies are at the height of their power and equipped with the best weapons


Back in 700 BC, they could have asked for Macedonian assistance.... In 700 AD? They couldn't! Wink
Sarisas beat Vikings, hands down. LOL
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Aug-2012 at 12:42
Spartans didn't have sarissa's until the 300's BC. Personally I think the Spartans would win. Their superb training, discipline, and organization are superior to most the Viking armies I've read of.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Aug-2012 at 19:10
The axe would certainly give the Vikings an advantage. The Roman legions were terrified of Dacian warriors armed with the war-scythe as they had no training to counter it
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Aug-2012 at 23:00
It was because the falax could pierce their shields and armor. Aren't we talking of Vikings? Spartans win on water and their armies on land.
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  Quote Mountain Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Aug-2012 at 12:57
Originally posted by Centrix Vigilis

Spartans. Better discipline. Better defensive equipment. Better tactics on closed terrain.


I go with CV's choice, here.  The Spartan's primary advantages were discipline and small unit tactics, and the willingness to die where they stood. while the Vikings fought as a crowd, but each man  in the crowd fought alone.
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  Quote Mountain Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Aug-2012 at 12:58
Originally posted by Delenda est Roma

It was because the falax could pierce their shields and armor. Aren't we talking of Vikings? Spartans win on water and their armies on land.


Would the Spartan lance have kept the axes away from their shields?
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Aug-2012 at 13:02
The spear was more than long enough.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Aug-2012 at 19:21
Most of the Vikings would end up skewered on the Spartan spears, but an axe-wielding berserker might be able to cut his way through. Surrounded by many tightly-packed men he would do a lot of damage before he was brought down. As for the ultimate victor? Hard to say as the Greeks are better armored and more disciplined but the vikings have steel weapons and berserk ferocity

Edited by Nick1986 - 23-Aug-2012 at 19:22
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Aug-2012 at 19:35
To regard most Vikings as berserkers is folly. Why are berserkers any better? They leave themselves wide open for attack.
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  Quote Mountain Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Aug-2012 at 15:02
One major problem with using a battleax - it leaves the user fatally exposed.  Try it yourself.  Your most powerful stroke is downwards from the overhead position, and that leaves your armpit wide open to a spear thrust.

The Spartans are trained soldiers, rather tha warriors like the Vikings.  I don't see them being discomfited by a new and/or different weapon, but I do see the Vikings struggling to deal successfully with a disciplined opponent trained to fight with disciplined small unit tactics.

I see a guy with ax facing a soldier trained from the very beginning to assess and take advantage of the most momentary weakness or opening in his opponent's attack.  I see a dead Viking a lot more often than I see a dead Spartan.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2012 at 19:50
For a drugged (or psychotic) Viking, wounds might serve only to futher enrage him. The berserker at Stamford Bridge held off Harold's entire army until a Saxon stabbed him from below
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2012 at 20:31
Ummmm that has to be pure myth. But a killing blow is a killing blow, it doesn't matter if you're on drugs or not.
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  Quote Mountain Man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2012 at 20:55
Originally posted by Delenda est Roma

Ummmm that has to be pure myth. But a killing blow is a killing blow, it doesn't matter if you're on drugs or not.



Weeell...not exactly.  The Army .45 caliber pistol was invented to stop drug-crazed Moro tribesmen who simply ignored the .38 caliber service revolver and kept on coming.

History is full of incidents of warriors hopped up on drugs, alcohol or ideology who simply kept on coming no matter what.  The Japanese in WWII were an excellent example of soldiers fueled by ideology who took a lot of killing.

I understand what you're saying, but there are "killing blows" and then are killing blows.  A sucking chest wound will eventually kill you, but not before you do a lot of damage to the guy who gave it to you.
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  Quote Delenda est Roma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Aug-2012 at 20:58
A spear works pretty well in keeping distance. Advantage Spartans. You can't keep attacking while stuck on a spear :p.
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  Quote opuslola Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Dec-2013 at 22:37
Actually all of you are speaking or writing about two groups that never, in my mind at least, existed. Just post some facts that support either group? I mean facts, not the expected bunch of junk that today is considered as fact! Just my opinion.

But a spear, not thrown, is only good against dumb animals, and dumb men. It is nothing more that a pointed fence, held within the hands of one man or woman. If one merely stands there with a pointed spear pointing out to the enemy, the enemy merely either cuts off the shaft, considering they were mostly made of wood, or pushes them down to the ground and step upon them rendering them useless or pushing them upwards making them the same, that is useless! A spear or javelin is made to stop someone or thing at a distance.

As a side, I would just like one or more of you describes a "dart?" Just what weapon was a "dart?", from what machine was a dart ignited?/ or thrown, or shot? You might well know that the usage of the word "dart" goes well back in time.

Regards, Ron

Edited by opuslola - 11-Dec-2013 at 22:52
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/
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  Quote Leonidas I Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Mar-2014 at 17:31
Spartans fought in a formation as most people know as "Phalanx." The Spartans would huddle into a group/defense wall not allowing the enemy to flank them from the sides.

Vikings fought more off speed and shock than Power and Leadership. Vikings were literally told to just charge in and kill and steal anything they found. on the other hand, Spartans were given a formation and a plan of attack. Leadership was one of the main advantages that the Spartans had.

The Vikings had the advantage on the weapons they carried. The Ulfberht was an example of precise craftsmen ship. Scientist still wonder how all the Carbon was drained from the sword and at the time ovens and furnaces did not have the required heat to separate the Carbon from the Iron. A very flexible sword was a advantage with a clean cut was a huge advantage at that time.

Sadly the Viking would have not come close to killing the Spartans. The Spartan formation would leave the vikings literally in piles. The Spartans spears had a huge range and would make contact about 6 feet in front of them, with a sword measuring 3 or 4 feet, that would settle the battle and the Spartans would bathe in the glory.

http://www.ancientmilitary.com/spartan-weapons.htm

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