The Vikings: Life And Conquests

This 1959 Encyclopedia Britannica Film explores the lives and actions of Vikings, also called Norsemen or Northmen. While perhaps slightly romanticized, the film attempts to depict the Vikings’ travels and impact on history, by showing their traditions, explorations, their raiding and pillaging of their neighbors, and their eventual conversion to Christianity. The film also portrays the daily life of Vikings, including people plowing fields, harvesting hay, grinding grain, and men making tools and doing metalwork. This is followed by a map and animation of the furthest Viking explorations including to North America and through Russia to Constantinople. The film concludes with the departure of a Viking longship.