OCR B GCSE: Viking Expansion c.750-c.1050

The OCR GCSE History period study Viking Expansion c.750-c.1050 examines the rise, spread, and influence of the Vikings in Europe over roughly three centuries. Students explore the origins of the Viking age, the reasons behind the Norse expansion (such as overpopulation, technological innovations, and the lure of wealth through trade and raids), and the various methods of Viking activity - from swift coastal raids and brutal warfare to establishing trade routes and settlements in places such as the British Isles, Normandy, and beyond. The course also considers the impact of Viking incursions on European societies, including changes in political structures, economic systems, and cultural practices, as well as the eventual process of integration and conversion as the Viking world transformed and became part of the emerging medieval order.

What students need to learn:

• Homelands 
  • The Vikings in Scandinavia: landscape, society and everyday life 
  • Viking ships, seafaring and trade c.750
  • Viking beliefs and rituals 
• Volga Vikings
  • The changing nature of Viking (Rus) trade and settlement in Russia from c.750
  • The nature of Viking trade and interaction with the Arab world
  • Viking relations with Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire 
• Raiders and Invaders 
  • The nature and causes of Viking raids in Britain, Ireland, the Scottish Islands and France, 793–850
  • The nature of Viking warfare: warships, warriors and tactics
  • The ‘great heathen army’ in England and the establishment of Danelaw, 865–879 
• Settlers
  • The nature and extent of Viking settlement in the British Isles and France
  • Viking life in Jorvik
  • The nature and extent of Viking settlement across the Atlantic including Iceland, Greenland and North America 
• Kings
  • Harald Bluetooth, Jelling and the conversion of the Vikings to Christianity
  • Svein Forkbeard and his invasions of England
  • Cnut’s Anglo-Scandinavian Empire, 1016–1035