Norseland: The Viking AU

I have decided to turn my Viking ships into an entire AU. The history of Norseland will derail in 1030 at the battle of Stiklestad. In this battle Olaf the Sacred, who had fougth to convert Norway to Christianity was killed in the battle, but his army won and Norway would after his death become a christian nation. A year after the battle he was canonized and turned into a saint. In my AU, he still dies. But his army looses and Christianity doesn`t get a good foothold in Norway. It becomes more of an underground religion very much how it was in the Roman Empire. Norse mythology is still the major religion/belief in the 20th and 21st centuries. As time progresses the Vikings becomes more and more acceptive to other religions.

Norseland is not a country in it self as much as a union, or a coalition consisting of Norway (Svalbard and Jan Mayen), Sweden, Denmark (Greenland and Iceland) and Finland. Each of these countries have their own ruling institutions who in turn answers to one institution made up of elected reperesentatives from each country. In the olden days, it was just a king who ruled.

Norseland is known for being very aggressive when needed. The soldiers are ruthless and disciplined. The navy is big and powerful. The air force is modern and sophisticated. The nation is mostly peaceful but there has been many wars over the years. Many of them with nations such as England, German states and Russia. Most of these wars were/are over disputed territory.

Before the 1220-1230s` the Vikings were killing of each other and all the others they came across. But after watching the Varangians, Vikings that lived in Kiev getting wiped out by the Mongolian horde, the Vikings from Norway and Sweden decided to call a truce and unite against the Mongol invasion. After the Mongol invasion stopped on the border near Finland, the threat of invasion was no more. The alliance quickly fell apart due to rivalry and previous disputes. In the 1300s and some time later, nearly 1/3 of the population of the entire Scandinavia were exterminated because of the black plague. This caused the Vikings to stop fighting each other and others for some time. Three hundred years of relative peace was broken when new threats appeared. The main threats were nations such as Novgorod, Muscovy, Austria, and some German nations. Swedish Vikings had to deal with the Russian nations as Sweden expanded east wards. Denish Vikings met problems with Germanic nations as it tried to expand to the south. England, France and Spain were rivals to the Norwegian navy in its quest for exploration of new places for settlers. Norway had to reinforce it`s garrisons on Iceland and Greenland, weakening its position in mainland Europe. After a Swedish army was beaten in the battle of Poltava in 1721 the Swedes were negotiating with the Danes for an alliance. Norway wanted to join in, but were met with hosility at first. The Swedes and Danes were quick to realise the potential of the Norwegian navy and merchant fleet. Norway were allowed in after they agreed to scede Iceland and Greenland to Denmark. Now united, the Scandinavians could focus on the outside threats. Although not a major European power yet, Norseland was still a power to be reckoned with, as Russia would learn after they attempted an invasion of Finland. The Russians were beaten back with heavy casualties on both sides. Most of the 1700s from there on would be peaceful. But Norseland was drawn in to war once again in 1802 after a failed British attempt to seize Norseland`s vast merchant fleet. The Vikings allied themselves with Napoleons French army. 5000 Vikings joined Napoleon`s failed invasion of Russia. Most did not return. The Viking fleet met up with the Franco-Spanish fleet and helped achieve a tactical stalement at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. France was beaten in 1815, but the Vikings were still standing tall. The Vikings and the coalition led by England decided to quit while the war was still at a stalement. The Vikings sent material and some forces to help England and France in the Crimean war in 1853-56. When WWI came around, the Vikings tried to stay neutral, but after feiling to persuade Norseland to fight Germany, Britain and France staged a failed coup d`etat in Norseland. Norseland declared war in 1915 and allied it self with Germany. Now fighting England, France and Russia, the soldiers and sailors and the nwely formed air corps were all excited for the battles to come. Russia invaded Finland and had some initial success. After some hard fought battles a stalemate was reached. One that would go on until 1917 when the Germans broke through Russian lines and Russia surrendered. At sea the Norse fleet rivaled Germany and England, superior to the fleets of France, Russia and Italy. Big battles on the high seas were few and indecisive. After the never ending stream of American soldiers under British and French leadership broke the German lines and sent them on a retreat, Germany surrendered in november 1918. Britain, France and Germany signed the Versailles treaty. The Americans refused to sign the treaty and managed to convince Britain and France to leave Norseland out of the treaty as the Vikings were prepared to go down fighting should it become nescecerry. In the interwar period there were some economic and political reforms that turned Norseland ever closer to a democratic nation. In november 1939, the Soviets sent an ultimatum demanding the sceding of the territory along Lake Ladoga. The Vikings refused and the Soviets invaded. The Soviet army suffered from low morale and incompetent leadership bacause of the great purges. The Vikings resisted the Soviet army which was twice as big. After a month of stalemate the Vikings pushed the Soviets back. The offensive was slow because of the Russian winter. The winter failed to break the Vikings as the Vikings were very good winter warriors. The Soviets decided to enter negotiation table as they did`t see any stopping the Viking war machine. The negotiation concluded with a status quo ante bellum. Norseland had good ties with both Germany and Great Britain. But the latest events in Germany had weakened its tie with Norseland. The relations got only worse after German u-boat attacks on Norse ships increased. One u-boat mistakely identified the battlecruiser Thor for a British ship and fired three torpedoes at it. Two hit and nearly sank the ship. The ship had to spend the rest of 1940 in drydock being rebuilt. Other ships were also reiftted with additional underwater protection. After the intelligence service accidently discovered the German planned invasion of Norseland, Norseland declared war and allied itself with Great Britain. The Germans immediately launched an invasion of Denmark that took most of Denmark. At sea, a German force consisting of Blücher, Admiral Hipper, Admiral Scheer, Köln, Karlsruhe and five destroyers were lured out to sea by a force of three Norse light cruisers and two destroyers. Unbeknown to the German flotille, the newly commisioned battleship Ragnarök was waiting for them. When the German ships were silhuetted against the setting orange sun, the Ragnarök opened fire when the range approached 26000 yards. The first salvo straddled Admiral Hipper, the fragments from the shell exploding killed the commaning officer on Hipper. After realising that they were engaging a battleship, the flotilla scattered and fled. Ragnarök gave chase to Blücher. Blücher was barely a faster ship, but the 18 inch guns of the Ragnarök could reach up to 43 kilometers. There were no escape for Blücher. An 18 inch shell hit the aft main magazine and the Blücher went up in flames, taking with it most of the crew. The survivors were picked up by the Ragnarök. The rest of the German flotille managed to escape and return to Germany. The North Sea and the Baltic would soon become a dangerouse places for German vessels of any kind to travel in. Most of the German surface fleet was moved to France where they would be out of range from the Norse navy. Several attempts were mounted by the Vikings to retake Jylland, but all of the attempts were beaten back by the entrenched German defenders. Norse bases on Iceland and Svalbard became important for anti-sub patrols from both sea and air. In february 1945, the Norse army tried once again to retake Jylland from a surrounded and loosing Germany. This time they made some impressive gains in a short time. Opposition stiffened the closer to Germany they came. After VE day, Norse ships were sent to reinforce American and British fleets in the Pacific against the Japanese. Several ships were damaged by Kamikazes. Norseland played an important role during the Cold War, being the only major power in northern Europe that could oppose the Soviet Union. Norseland played an integral role in NATOs incirclement of the eastern block. Norseland was very active in NATO excercises and was host to many winter excercises in the mountainous regions of Norway to the flat and frozen plains of Finland. After the Cold War ended, military spending was cut and the Norse military would give great support to the American led war against terror.

Flag of Norseland:

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This is Norseland:

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Blue: Norway
Grey: Finland
Red: Denmark
Yellow: Sweden

Norway stands for most of the shipbuilding. Sweden produces most of the soldiers, weapons and planes. Finland produces weapons and agriculture. Denmark doesn`t provide that much except a little more manpower than Norway.

Shipbucket

Norseland: The Viking AU

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