The viking sword and Exploration

The Viking sword +ULFBERH+T
 We recently learned about the +ULFBERH+T sword. It is a sword that has crucible steel in it. It is a steel that has very few dots and slags as they call them in it. It is better then other steel of its time. To make it you would have to heat the iron and coal to a very high temperature, and in Europe it seemed that no one could do it. But in the middle east there was swords made with crucible steel. This means that the Vikings must have gone to there and got the Crucible steel. Historians think that they went on the Volga trade route. This is a route from Sweden to Iran it is mostly on water. It goes along the Volga river and lakes. Then it goes to the Caspian sea and past it into modern-day Iran and Iraq. Vikings might have got Crucible steel from here. I think they did and so do others. Then they would have gone back to Scandinavia in small rowboats. There they would shape the steel into the sword. But the inscription of +ULFBERH+T is still a mystery. No one knows who Ulfberht was. Christian Abbots and Popes put a cross in front of their name. Maybe this was a Christian Abbot who had made it. But the Christians were forbidden to Trade with the Pagan Vikings. Maybe a Christan viking had made it. Or maybe just a Viking had made it. Or it was a brand name. But it showed that the sword was made with Crucible steel. Other Ulfberht swords were made but they did not have Crucible steel in them. They were fakes. They had the letters +ULFBERHT+ on them. Someone was trying to copy +ULFBERH+T. If you had a +ULFBERH+T sword you would be highly honored as a great and rich warrior. +ULFBERH+T Swords were like the best kind of weapons. 

Exploration
The Vikings who originated in Scandinavia, explored from North America to Pakistan.
They were great explores on sea. They were not the best on land though. Proof that they had gone to North America and Pakistan is real. A viking ruins was found in North America and Statues of Buddha were found in Viking graves. The Vikings also went to Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland,  Israel, Constantinople, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Russia, France, England, Ireland,Greece, Iraq and Iran. Like you probably know Vikings did not have horns on their helmets and there are also peaceful and economic vikings.

In desert and wilderness.

I recently finished reading this book called In desert and wilderness.
This book is about two European descent children who live in Egypt while the Suez canal was being built because their fathers were engineers working on it. The children get captured and are taken through east Africa. They endure many hard ships. I will make a summary of the book right now:


These two children called Stas and Nell lived in Egypt with their fathers. But one day they got kidnapped by some Sudanese and Arabs. These people were faithful to this Mahdi or religious leader who wants to take over the world. But he was only in Sudan fighting the Egyptians. The Egyptians had colonized Sudan because the British had ordered it. The Egyptian government was a protectorate of the British. Stas and Nell rode camel back over desert and jungle to Sudan where they met the Mahdi. The Mahdi asked them to follow him. Stas replied no and The Mahdi ordered them on a journey to another city that was ruled by the Mahdi. The journey was harsh like the desert jouney. When they got there they were told to meet with another Sudanese man named Smain. They went into the jungle to searched for him. When they met a lion the Arabs and the Sudanese did not know how to shoot a new rifle that belonged to Stas. They had took it from him. Stas took the Rifle and shot the Lion then he shot the Arabs and Sudanese. Stas and Nell procided with a Mastiff and two slaves that had belonged too Nell and the Sudanese. They went along through the Eastern Congo. Eating antelopes and whatever game they could find. They also ate fruit. They found an Elephant trapped by rock and tamed him. Nell got a fever and Stas found a Swiss man that had Medicine for fever. The Swiss man then died. Stas blew up the rock and freed the elephant. Stas and Nell found a mountain and went into it it had plenty of provisions. They lived there and sent kites made of paper that the Swiss had given  them and made out of fish bladder membranes. Then they went on eastward towards the Indian Ocean. They passed through many Villages with black people and scared them into submission with guns and the elephant. Then they helped the people of one of their friends( the slaves left over from the Sudanese) Then they got hundreds of men from the village and set of for the coast. But they came to a place where no water was and they soon ran out of water. They almost died. But a kite had been found by a European led caravan. They saved the day. When they had been fed and they drunk water they went to sleep. They met their Fathers on a coastal city for a message had been sent that they were still alive.

THE END

southern wars ( story )

Prologue


On a mountain near Naryan-Mar Russia , There was the president of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He was freezing up on that mountain. He had come here to talk to the Russian Genaral. But the General was not here yet. He was suspicious of these Russians. He had brought his personal body guard with him. It had 100 men in it 17 of them were his strongest fastest and most skilled soldiers. The sound of a avalanche below him jerked him from his thoughts. He was in an outpost that had a fire and hearth in it. Suddenly the sound of a helicopter was whirring around. Susilo looked out the window .Ten helicopters came and landed next to Susilo's. Out of them stepped the Russian general Alexander .V Bobrovsky and his bodyguards .One of them was holding a Lacrosse stick.  Alexander Bobrovsky walked toward Susilo. " do you and your men care to play a lacrosse game with us ? " Asked Bobrovsky." we accept your offer " replied Susilo even though he did not know how to play( but he did not want to embarrass his nation) . So they started to play lacrosse. But one of the Russians threw the ball hard and fast at the inexperienced Susilo and it knocked him out almost breaking his skull. Immediately the Russians and Indonesians ran for their guns. But before anyone got to them , Bobrovsky Spoke "we have bombers over your presidents head " The Indonesians froze and the Russians grabbed their guns. Then they took the Indonesians captive.   



Chapter 1 a Boy
On the island of Jakarta Indonesia a Boy was playing marbles.His name was Iden .When he got up he smelled dark chocolate. He never got any sweets, he barley got bread.When he walked toward the smell 
he saw that it was coming from a stand that said : MAGIC CHOCOLATE : in big red letters. Iden ran to the stand . " how much ? " Asked Iden. " 3 Rupiah for 1/2 a inch " Said the owner. Iden gave him the last of his money for that delicious chocolate. When he ate the piece he was overcome with the feeling of Delicious taste.He knew it was not magic but it tasted good when he went to sell his marbles the feeling of danger came from the northwest. He knew what lay northwest. 
                               Russia.
He immediately ran to the nearest police station. He told the police that the Russians would come and attack them. The police told him not to bother them. He had to stop the Russians. Iden set of for the coast. It took him three days to get there the magic helped him not starve . When he got to port he wished he was invisible. But the magic did not turn him invisible. He guessed it could only do certain things. When he tried to sneak past a guard to get on a ship the guard caught him and chucked him on the sand. " shoo ! " the guard yelled. Iden ran back to where people were walking towards the ship bound for Russia. When a man tripped and his bag fell open Iden climbed inside. It was a very tight fit. He shut the bag lid on him. When the man got up and started to carry the bag it became too heavy and he collapsed. He asked a guard to help him carry it to the ship. Finally Iden was on the ship. After the first 5 hours at sea Iden felt like he was going to die. He had a headache ,his stomach growled and his throat was dry . He wondered why the magic did not work. As he was to find out the magic had worn of. He needed food so he climbed out of the bag and searched through the other bags for food he found a thousand layered cake with spicy chili powder. He ate it . It was not enough to fill him but it helped keep him alive for some time. Then he checked for water he found in a canteen. He drank it dry. Iden then found and ate a stuffed tofu.When he was satisfied he took in his surroundings. He was in the ships belly. Where they kept the big bags. There was a staircase that led to a door that after he tried it was locked. He hoped no one would come down. He was tired so he went to sleep waiting to find what the next day would hold. When he woke up he heard a yell and then the boat stopped. Iden looked through the bags and found a stick. With the stick in his hand he rushed up the stairs to the locked door. He tried to open it. It was bolted. So Iden stood right next to the door which was the best place to hit some unsuspecting victim. Iden waited for 30 minutes all the while shouting and gunshots came from above. When everything was quiet Iden went down to get some food. He ate a stuffed tofu for breakfast and drank some water. When he finished eating he heard footsteps coming form above getting louder and louder. Iden ran to his post as the door was opened. Iden struck a bearded red head on the head. The red- head went down. A young blond man came in after him and grabbed Iden neck before Iden could do anything. 12 more men came in all armed. The red head came round " who is that ? Japarov." Asked the Red head. The Blonde man named Japarov answered him " some stowaway Captain "." what should we do with him sir " asked one of the other men . A man with brown hair and a scruffy mustache . " feed him to the sharks , there is plenty of them here. " replied the captain. All this time the men were talking in Russian. Iden did not understand them but recognized the language. These were Russians and that meant danger. When they started to walk up to the deck Iden grew more and more scared. Then they tied him to a weight. Iden realized that he was to be thrown overboard. Iden struggled and was knocked out. But when the Russian had hit him a bit of dark chocolate that had got stuck came lose and went down Iden's throat.When he was thrown over board the magic made the sharks help him. The sharks kept his head above the surface and led him to Russia. The sharks gave him seaweed to eat and seawater to drink. If the magic had also made him not need food or water then the sharks would stop helping him mid-way. When the Sharks came to the coast guard they dived under the water. He made it to Vladivostock, Russia. It lay near China. When the magic wore off he was on the shore of Russia. Iden came round and was terribly hungry, cold and thirsty. He wondered where he was. When he went and asked someone where he was they said something in Russian. Iden decided he was in Russia. He pointed towards his mouth and he got some bread. Then he ate some snow. He had never seen this stuff but had heard of it. He was up north and it was winter. He found some rags in a bin and wrapped them around him. It was time to go to sleep. Iden found a dirty ,cold and smelly corner and went to sleep deciding he would go to Moscow later. When he woke up he was almost frozen . he broke through the grasp of the icy fingers and set of for Moscow. 2 months later he was in Barnaul Russia. It was about half-way between Pacific Russia and European Russia. He had eaten scraps and Snow on his way here. When he stepped into the city he heard people whispering about Indonesia in English ( Iden knew some English)." yes and what will the General do about it ? "  "I think he will surround Indonesia and order them to surrender or he will kill their king" Iden was terrified by this news but he had to know it for sure. " You ask him yourself he is in town " Iden ran around asking where the General was. He found out that he was at the town hall. Iden crept around to the town hall. 50 guards were around it and in the distance Iden saw an army. The Russian army. Iden threw a rock and it struck a guard on the head almost killing him. Then Iden ran for his life. The guards return fire was tremendous. It hit Iden in his hand. Iden had put his hand over his heart so it would be safer. Iden dived down to the ground the bullet in his hand felt like fire and claws. He lay there for a little. Then he had an Idea. Iden ran back and hid in the trees. After a while a messenger came by holding a note most likely for the general. Iden bounced on him. They struggled and Idens hand got worse and worse. Then Iden punched the Russian in the face with his good hand. Iden took the Messengers hat,letter,coat and boots. leaving the man without boots , coat, hat or letter. He just had a shirt and pants on. Iden ran on. He told the guards he had an urgent letter. The Guards let  him go. Iden ran in and Gave the letter to the General's secretary. Iden crouched back into the shadows, listening to them. ".. so it is agreed we will march on and send the tanks and aircraft in front of us. The Destroyers are ready" They spoke in Russian but by their tone Iden understood. He crept away and ran back to the woods. Then he decided he had to get to Indonesia. He walked to the nearest air port and covering himself in rags hid in some suitcase that was to go on the plane to Indonesia. Iden hid in that bag for 8 hours. It was terrible . He ate some food he found in the bag. When they finally landed Iden and the bag went down into the roller where the owner got the bag. Iden zipped the bag down and ran out when they got out of the airport. The owner screamed but Iden ran on. He needed to tell everyone that the President was hostage.  Iden ran to Jakarta. He was exhausted. When he got to Jakarta he went to the police office and told them that the President was hostage and that the Russians would attack them. Then he told the police to tell the General to get defenses ready. The police told him to run on and stop bothering them. Iden was terrified. The Russians were coming and no one believed him. Iden went to the street alleys and found the dark chocolate seller. Iden went to him and begged for some dark chocolate. The seller game him such a small piece you could barley see it. ( the smaller the piece the more magic) Iden ate it and wished that an army would appear. That drained all the magic. Suddenly a army of bed ragged, scruffy kids with guns and tanks. This was not what he had hoped for but the seller would not give him anymore. So Iden ordered the army to defend the islands of their country. There were 300,000 of them. It took the army 2 days to preparer and then the Russians came in.


Chapter 2 a Battle.
 The Russians came in from all sides. The Indonesian fleet was surprised and 40 of Indonesia's battleships were destroyed before Indonesia destroyed one of Russia's ships. The Russian's got to land in Borneo first. They were met by a half ready coast guard and army. The Russians poured bombs on them. Then they were met by the ready and trained ( they had trained before the Russians had got their.) army of peasant kids. The kids bought the real army time and fought off the Russians for a little . Meanwhile Iden was in Jakarta. He went to find the dark chocolate seller. When he went to the place where he usually was he was gone and in his place was another man selling white chocolate. Iden did not like this at all. He needed to help the defenses. He started of for Jakarta's edge. The Indonesian army was ready by the time the kid defense had fallen. Indonesia's army still could not stop the Russians. Iden realized the Indonesian army would fall without help. He told a policeman that was running too the coast to tell his captain to tell the colonel to tell the vice President to call the Indian government to send reinforcements. It happened as Iden had said. The Indians responded by sending 700 ships with 70 soldiers and 5 tanks on each one. The Indians would get their to late and if they made it public then China would declare war on India and Indonesia. Iden hoped they could stand the onslaught long enough. The Russians were getting weaker. They were not used to this climate and terrain. The defender almost always had the advantage. The Indonesians were losing numbers though as the bombs fell and the guns rang. The Russians had taken the east of Indonesia. But were beaten off in Borneo and Jakarta. Then the Indians came and pushing the Russians back singed a treaty say that Russia should not fight a war and that they hand over Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the Russians killed him instead .Then Indonesia made Iden President. It was over. Iden rejoiced.



  info:wiki

The Northern wars ( a story )

One day in a city in Montana ,there was a governor in a skyscraper. He was the governor of Montana . His name was Olsen. Olsen was from Sweden. He had become a citizen of the USA. In the sky scraper it smelled like peppermint. Olsen hated Peppermint. It was coming from some ruby slippers . He threw them away in a garbage truck that was passing by his window. Suddenly he heard someone shout his name in the Lobby. He ran down stairs. A red head was standing in the lobby holing a letter. He asked Olsen if he was the governor . Olsen said yes and the red head handed him the letter. Here is what it said:

 Komma Vid en gång det är en akut !

  Guståvüs

It was written in Swedish . Here is what it said in English 

Come at once it is a emergency !

Gustavus 

Olsen knew Guståvüs, he was a friend of his in Sweden . What could be happening ? He decided to find out . He asked the people of Montana to elect someone to replace him while he was gone. Then he packed his and left early in the morning . He arrived at Stockholm in the night. He rented a hotel and went to sleep. When day came he rented a Saab and went of in the direction of Guståvüs's house. When he arrived  Guståvüs's house was in ruins. It was as if a whale had been dropped on it . Olsen searched the grounds but could find nothing except a bloodstained rifle. He knew Guståvüs had kept an old rifle that belonged to his ancestor Gustavus Adolphus the Great . He was one of the Greatest kings of Sweden and many say he is the greatest .  Guståvüs was one of those . Olsen hoped Guståvüs was still alive . He got into his car and drove around asking people if they had seen him. The day was wearisome and uneventfull. The next day he found a letter in his mailbox . It said : Norrbotten .  Norrbotten ? It was the largest and most northern county of them all. How was he going to find Guståvüs in Norrbotten ? Well he should at least try. So he got in his car and drove to a gun store. He bought a sniper . With his gun he drove all the way to Norrbotten . It took him 10 hours. When he got their he stopped in Galligen hoping that Guståvüs was there. When he rented another hotel and got to his room he saw Guståvüs there!! " how did you get here ?!?!" Olsen asked. " I asked where a governor from Montana was and they said here " replied Guståvüs . He was a blond bearded man . He had a bleeding shoulder. " what is happening here ? Are you okay ? " asked Olsen. Guståvüs collapsed on the floor and told him to call the swedish ambulance . Olsen did and then he helped Guståvüs down to the lobby. They put him in the ambulance and Olsen waited to hear more . When Olsen visited the hospital he asked Guståvüs his question again. This time Guståvüs answered it. " I am getting better and the Russian maffia was trying to rigg the winter Olymips that were to take place in  Norrbotten . The Russians had wanted the winter Olympics in their country not Sweden. So they were trying to make it fail. But I  have some allies in the russian army and they were trying to stop them. I told the Swedish government and they are trying to help us. But if they announce it publicly then Russia will declare war on them. They can not afford this. So I need you to tell the US government to help us." Olsen pondered this. He went to a phone and called the US goverment. He was at once admitted to the President. They talked and talked until Olsen got him to send 100 soldiers to help on a top-secret mission. When Olsen arrived back at his hotel he saw his room was Ransacked. Some one had come here! He saw that his sniper was still there in a secret compartment. He grabbed his sniper and ran downstairs. When he got in his car he drove to the eastern coast of Sweden. He wanted to see if the coast was being guarded from Russians. It was heavily guarded. He asked a Coast guard if the Sky was being guarded . The Guard said it was. Olsen drove to Sweden's northern border with Norway and Finland. It was getting late and cold. When he got to the border he saw most of it was guarded. But one part was guarded by sleeping guards! Olsen ran to the border and woke them up just as a shot rang out BANG! The guards returned fire with Olsen. BANG! BANG! BANG! All the firing had brought Finnish and Norwegian guards to the site. Russians ran over the border in the dark and ran into Sweden. The Cold was unbearable. With the icy wind in his face Olsen Ran after the Russians trying to get Some Swedish guards to come with him . But the Swedish guards were talking to the Finnish and Norwegian guards. So Olsen ran on with his Sniper Firing into the darkness where he thought the Russians were. When he got to the place where his car had been it was gone. He ran on hoping to find some police. He was freezing in the cold and black night. Olsen thought he would freeze. He walked on and saw an outpost when he got to the door he Froze. When Olsen woke up he was in a wooden room with a fire and a hearth . He had Unfrozen and was now up. He gave the Outpost man some money and walked on Until he found a city . The city was called Kiruna. Olsen went to a police station and told them about the Russians . They sent some police to the border and getting in a police car ,went after them. They did not know where the Russians were. They asked around but no one had seen them. Olsen rented another car and went back to his hotel. He needed to find out how to make peace with the Russians . When the 100 Americans arrived Olsen decided he would combine 50 Swedish soldiers with the 100 Americans. 150 soldiers to search the 173,745 sq mi of Sweden. So he started in the North going South. 1 month and 29 days later They found the Russian base. It was in Strömsund. The middle of Sweden. Olsen asked the Swedish government to send more soldiers because the Americans were leaving on the morrow. Strömsund's police had been jailed and killed so no one had heard. A 7th of Sweden's army Surrounded the city. They sent a person to order the Russians to surrender. There was a shot followed by a scream. The Swedish soldiers brought in tanks The Stridsfordon 90 , the Stridsvagn 122 and others. The Tanks fired and the soldiers ran and shot. The Russians were holding. But then The Swedish Air-force came and bombed the city. The fighting went on and on . But in the end Sweden won. Guståvüs came and Congratulated the Swedish General on his victory. The Swedish had eliminated the Russians and the Olympics were played in Sweden.       

                                                   The End

Info: Wiki 

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was a king of the franks. He was born on April 2 742.He died on January 28 814 at the age of 71. He Became king of the Franks in 771 . He wanted to turn his people to Christianity. He also wanted to make them more civilized and learned. Before the franks had settled down they were a barbarian tribe that attacked Rome. He was crowned roman emperor at 800 Christmas day. This seemed ironic because he was a frank. But he had build many buildings and made people go to church. The pope that crowned him was called Leo III.Charlemagne Fought many wars . Here are some of them

Lombards
The Lombards were people that had land in northern Italy and the alps . They wanted to take over the Papal states. Where the pope lived . The pope asked The Byzantines for help. But they did not have enough armies.So the pope asked Charlemagne for help . Charlemagne brought his army down and took over the Lombards .

Saxons
Charlemagne  fought the Saxons.
A tribe north of him and took them over.

Moors
Charlemagne's armies  fought the Moors to.
The Moors were a Muslim people that lived in Spain .
Charlemagne's armies took over a resolvable amount of cities and expanded his land .

Charlemagne used a lot of Calvary and foot soldiers in his battles. Leo III and Charlemagne were friends Because Leo III crowned Charlemagne and Charlemagne defended Leo III. He had a sword called Joyeuse. He fought with it a lot . But he also helped his people become Christian and hired people to teach them to read and write .He Also turned his People the barbaric franks into more civilized people. He forced his Conquered people to become Christian . Towards the end of his rein his country was attacked by danish vikings

Sources : Khan Academy, Wiki and the story of the world volume 2 medieval ages  .

Thirty years war

the Spanish general  Don Ambrosio Spinola

Ferdinand the second holy roman emperor  

The thirty years war was a conflict between most of Europe .it started out as a religious war and ended out as a war for power and land .here's how it started . There were many German states in the holy roman empire and some of them were Protestant or Luther and some were Catholic .so there started to be tensions between the states and it seemed they were going to fight each other .so the holy roman emperor ( a devout Catholic ) quickly made a law that said all states can worship whatever they want. but that didn't work because in 1618 the bohemian ( now part of the czech republic ) revolt began. the Protestant bohemians did not like there Catholic rulers and a group of them threw two catholic noble men or prague castle window ! what they did was called the defenestration of Prague which means throwing someone out the window . after that the bohemian noble men chose Protestant Frederick to be there king and he became allies with the ottomans by sending Ambassadors to Istanbul . The ottomans in return send ambassadors to prague . The ottomans attacked Poland won a few battles then lost one and withdrew from the war after that they stopped there alliance with bohemia . Catholic holy roman emperor Ferdinand became emperor in 1619 and send his army to bohemia . in 1 year defeated the bohemians .Frederick fled to Protestant Netherlands .now bohemia was Catholic . Spain entered the war in 1621. (Here are the reasons they enters the war . #1 because Ferdinand the II war a member of the Hapsburg family which included Spain and Austria #2 because they wanted power and they thought if they helped the holy roman empire he would give them some power ) on the empires side and attacked the Netherlands in 4 years Netherlands asked Denmark and England to help the English could not help much because they were in the middle of a civil war . Under Christian IV Denmark attacked the northern holy roman empire and took some land .Then Denmark asked France to help even though France was Catholic it helped Denmark because it's enemy's were the Hapsburg's the combined army of the French and the Danes took more land . So Ferdinand the II holy roman emperor made Tilly and Wallenstein his generals and Tilly marched towards the Danes while

Gustavus Adolphus

Wallenstein marched towards a Protestant German army . The Danes were defeated because France were in a civil war ( the war with the Protestant Huguenots ) and England was also in the middle of a civil war . The Germans were also defeated at the battle of Dessau bridge . The swedes enters the war under Gustavus Adolphus  ( here are the reasons the swedes entered the war • Gustavus wanted to become Holy roman emperor
• the swedes thought that the Hapsburg's were to powerful
• the swedes wanted to help the Protestant cause ) and won many battles there biggest victory was the battle of Breitenfeld but at the battle of Lützen Gustavus was killed and the swedes withdrew a year or so later . After that the French kept fighting they lost to the Spanish at the starting but defeated them later the .Danes helped the Spanish fight the French after they were conquered by Tilly . The war ended with the peace treaty of Westphalia . after the war France became the most powerful european nation . Many people died during the war not only the soldiers but civilians to . The war nearly halved the population of most German states .

Cardinal de Richelieu of France 

Wallenstien the Catholic  general