Introduction
Mongols are Central North Asian group of the ethno-linguistic Mongolic origin. The Mongolia is the largest group of the Mongols though they are widely spread as minor group in Soviet states, China, North Asia and Russia. The Mongolic language and culture is the commonly identifying factor of the Mongolic group. The Mongolic origin can be traced to 8th century based on a Chinese Donghu which was a confederation for the nomadic group that occupied Manchuria and Mongolia. However, some historic writings consider a mixed ancestry of the Mongols to the Xiongnu a Turkic tribe and Donghu of Chinese origin (Burgan, 2005, P.24).
The Vikings are Northern Germanic historic group of people who known for their exploration, raids and trading through all over Europe, North Atlantic islands and Asia dating back from 8th to 11th century (Hall, 2007, P.26). The used various simple made vessels to navigate around their trading areas. The Vikings explored the areas of Constantinople and River Volga. They extended their territories as far as to Iceland, Newfoundland, Greenland and Nekor. This historic territorial movement of the Viking was known as the Viking Age. The Scandinavian Vikings are acknowledged to be of pure Germanic origin during the Nazi Germany era (Fitzhugh, 2000, P.19).
Both the Mongols and Vikings seemed to have had unstoppable military powers although they faced some spot checks. The Mongols were kept in check the tough people of Vietnam and later again in 1200s the Japanese military stopped the Mongols from invading their waters with the help sea storms. In the same century, the Mongols were also kept in check by the Mamelukes from the Middle East when they had conquered Baghdad (Burgan, 2005, P.45). Similarly the Vikings were blocked by Alfred the Great of the Anglo-Saxon from invading the whole of England back in 1066 AD (Hall, 2007, P.46).
The Mongols and the Vikings were both mobile explorers who only differ on the methodology and the place of exploration. The Mongols used horses and explored the plains while the Vikings used wooden long ships as they were seafarers. Both groups conquered land and resources mostly material goods due to the deficient manufacturing power at their capacities as they maintained a very mobile way of live that never gave them chance to develop production plants to meet their basic needs.
Considering their historic attacking techniques, the Mongols attacked in large groups historically referred to as “en masse” hoard, this can be confirmed by the fact that the Mongolic empire was one of the largest in history of humanity (Burgan, 2005, P.20). The Vikings attacked their enemies in small grouping. During raids and enemy confrontations, the Mongols used cavalry and archers as the Viking employed on-foot and hand-held sharp weapons (Fitzhugh, 2000, P.34). Unlike the Viking due to their massive grouping attacking technique, they tend to be so destructive. Their invaded enemy lands took time to recover as the employed biological as well as the chemical warfare which claim large number of lives. This was based on the nomadic movement since most of their farming and grazing land got used up.
In conclusion, the Mongols and Vikings exhibit a similar way of living which involves mobile invasion, which is due to their trace of origin which is majorly in Asia and Germany respectively, which are historically known to be violent and destructive. However, the two groups differ in the methodology of exploration as the Vikings based on the waters and the Mongols on the plains. Their invasion long run effect also differed as the Vikings invasion lead to unity unlike for the Mongols who were totally destructive.
Works Cited
Burgan, Michael. Empire of the Mongols. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2005. Print.
Fitzhugh, William W, and Elisabeth I. Ward. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press in Association with the National Museum of Natural History, 2000. Print.
Hall, R A. The World of the Vikings. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
