Twilight of the Æsir with Carlin

Ref: Dan Carlin (2023). Twilight of the Æsir. Hardcore History.

___________________________________________________________________________

Summary

Era of the Castles: Viking raids led to feudal fragmentation in which small castles were built everywhere with limited localized defense capabilities.
Carolingian/Frankish Empire: Charles the Martel- Pepin the Short- Charlemagne the Great- Louis the Pious.

Circa 800, the Scandinavians have an increasing population, a decreasing crop yield (due potentially to climate change), are a wealth-comparison society based partly on piracy, and begin producing sails.
A single Viking raid could make you rich for life- both in money, property, slaves, and reputation.
Anglo-Saxons: Saxons that raid into England.
Scoti (Roman): English/Irish that raid into Scotland.
Varangians: Viking conquerors, traders, and settlers, mostly from modern Sweden that settled in Novgorod under the leadership of Rurik in ~862. Through Rurik, his kinsmen, Oleg, and Rurik’s sons, they conquer Kiev and establish the Kievan Rus. The Varangians engage in trade, piracy, and mercenary service in the areas of the Black Sea, controlling the Volga trade route (between the Varangians and the Muslims), connecting the Baltic to the Caspian Sea and the Dnieper and Dniester trade route leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople. Those were the main important trade links at that time, connecting medieval Europe with the Abbasid Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire. Attracted by the riches of Constantinople, the Varangian Rus’ began the Rus’-Byzantine Wars, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least from the early 10c, many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army, constituting the elite Varangian Guard (the bodyguards of Byzantine emperors). Eventually most of them, in Byzantium and in E. Europe, were converted from Norse Paganism to Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the Christianization of Kievan Rus in 988. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age, the influx of Scandinavians to Rus’ stopped and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11c (Wiki).
Pechenegs (‘Patzinaks’): A semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language. In the 9 & 10c’s, the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus’, and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus.

___________________________________________________________________________

Misc Quotes

“The Pope? How many divisions does he have?”-Stalin.
“Look at a societies gods to understand the type of people it produces.”
“The past is like another country. They do things differently there.”

___________________________________________________________________________

Chronology

1976: The Oil tanker Cretan Star is struck by a rogue wave and sinks off Bombay (Aesir with Carlin).
Feb, 1883: The 330’ Scottish steamship Glamorgan is struck by a rogue wave and sinks (Aesir with Carlin).
29 Apr, 1091: The Battle of Levounion; an invading Pecheneg force is crushed by the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire led by Alexios I Komnenos and his Cuman allies (Wiki).
26 Aug, 1071: The Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) is fought between the Byzantine and Seljuk Empire’s near Manzikert. The Seljuks decisively defeat the Byzantine Army and capture Roman Emperor Diogenes IV (Wiki).
25 Dec, 1066: William of Normandy (‘the Conqueror’) is crowned Norman King of England (Wiki, HistoryBattles3D).
14 Oct, 1066: The Battle of Hastings; a Norman-French army led by William (the Bastard), the Duke of Normandy, decisively defeats an English army led by Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, who is killed by an arrow through the eye in battle. The Normans conquest of England begins (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
25 Sep, 1066: The Battle of Stamford Bridge; English forces led by King Harold Godwinson decisively defeat Norwegian forces led by King Harald Sigurdsson, killing the king and wiping out nearly his entire army in a surprise attack near York. Modern historians consider Harald’s death, which brought an end to his invasion, as the end of the Viking age (Wiki).
20 Sep, 1066: The Battle of Fulford; an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Sigurdsson defeat Northumbrian and Mercian English forces near York (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
Sep, 1066: At the invitation of Tostig Godwinson, brother of the newly chosen English King Harold Godwinson, Norwegian King Harald Sigurdsson invades North England with 10,000 troops and 300 longships. They raid the coast and defeat English regional forces (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
1045-25 Sep, 1066: Reign of Harald ‘Hardrada’ Sigurdsson (Harald III) as Norwegian King (Wiki).
1027: The Truce of God movement is proclaimed by the Catholic church at the council of Toulouges. It sought to limit the days of the week and times of year that the nobility engaged in violence. The movement survives until the 13c (Wiki).
1016: Death of Wessex King Edmund Ironsides. Danish King Cnut becomes King of a united Anglo-Danish Kingdom (Aesir with Carlin).
18 Oct, 1016: The Battle of Assandun (Essendune); Danish forces led by Cnut defeat an English army led by King Edmund Ironside. The battle is the conclusion to the Danish conquest of England. Cnut and Edmund split Britain; Edmund takes Wessex, Cnut the rest of England, and agree that whoever dies last will be king of England (Aesir with Carlin).
1016: Danish King Cnut returns to England with a large Viking Army (Aesir with Carlin).
1016: Death of English King Æthelred the Unready. His son, Edmund the Ironside, becomes King (Aesir with Carlin).
1014: Reign of Sweyn Forkbeard as English King until his untimely death shortly into his rule. Exiled King Æthelred the Unready returns to England and drives out Sweyn’s son, Cnut (Aesir with Carlin).
Summer, 1013: Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard, with his son Cnut, lead a Viking army against English King Æthelred. Sweyn’s forces fail to take London and they overwinter in Bath. All of England with the exception of London, submits to Sweyn. Æthelred flees to Normandy in Exile and Sweyn is declared King of England, ruling the country for 5 weeks before his death (Aesir with Carlin, Wiki).
1012: English King Æthelred pays Viking Thorkell the Tall 48,000 pounds of danegeld and asks him to ally with him against future Viking raiders (Aesir with Carlin).
8-29 Sep, 1011: The Siege of Canterbury; Viking forces led by Thorkell the Tall siege Canterbury, capturing Archbishop Ælfheah of Canterbury in the process (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
1009: Viking forces led by Thorkell the Tall capture Kent before overrunning most of Southern England in a brutal raid (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
1007-1008: In response to Viking raids, English King Æthelred is forced to pay 36,000 pounds of Danegeld. Unable to sustain the payments, Æthelred mobilizes his forces and empties his treasury in preparation of defending England against future raids. After putting together a fleet, half of it is destroyed in a storm while the remainder returns to London (Aesir with Carlin).
1005: A drought in England forces Viking raiders home to Scandinavia (Aesir with Carlin).
1002-1010: Viking forces raid England annually, extracting larger and larger danegeld’s (Aesir with Carlin).
13 Nov, 1002: St. Brices Day Massacre; English King Æthelred the Unready has the relatives of Sweyn Forkbeard, United Norwegian/Danish King, and all Danes in Britain Killed (Aesir with Carlin).
~1000: The Kingdom of Hungary is established following the Christianization of the Magyars. Magyar raids of the Byzantine kingdom end (Wiki).
1000-1013/1014: Reign of Sweyn Forkbeard, son of Harald Bluetooth, as King of a united Norway and Denmark (Danish King from 986-1013/1014 (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
Sep 999/1000: The Battle of Svolder; an Alliance of the Kings of Denmark and Sweden attack and defeat a Norwegian force led by King Olaf in the western Baltic Sea. Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason was sailing to, or home from, an expedition in Wendland (Pomerania) when he was ambushed by an alliance of Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard, Swedish King Olaf Skötkonung (‘Olaf Eiríksson’ or ‘Olaf the Swede’), Jarl of Lade Eirík Hákonarson. Olaf’s ships are captured one by one until, at last, Olaf jumps into the water in full armor, drowning. After the battle, Norway is ruled by Danish King Sweyn through the Jarls of Lade, who are allied to both the Danish Crown and the Commonwealth of Uppsala, Sweden (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).

Norwegian King Olaf had previously pursued marriage with Swedish Queen Consort Sigrid the Haughty (mother of the Swedish King), but struck her after she refused to convert to Christianity to which she replied “this may be your death.” Sigrid was later married to Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard, who participated in the ambush against Olaf (Aesir with Carlin).

994/995-1000: Reign of Olaf Tryggvason as Norwegian King. Olaf purportedly builds the first Christian church in Norway (995), founds the city of Trondheim (997) and violently persecutes non-Christians throughout Norway (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
991: Viking forces led by Olaf raid Maldon on the East coast of England (Aesir with Carlin).

11 Aug, 991: The Battle of Maldon; English forces led by Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns are defeated by a Viking force led by Olaf. English King Æthelred pays the Vikings a Danegeld of 10,000 Roman pounds of Silver, which reinforces how lucrative Viking raids can be. As part of the deal, Olaf converts to Christianity (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).

989: The Peace of God movement is proclaimed by the Catholic church at the Council of Charroux. It sought to protect ecclesiastical property, agricultural resources, and unarmed clerics (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
986-1013/1014: Reign of Sweyn Forkbeard, son of Harald Bluetooth, as King of Denmark after revolting against his father and seizing the throne (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
980s: The 2nd Viking Age begins; Viking forces from mainland Scandinavia raid across the North Sea to attack England for the first time (Aesir with Carlin).
978-15 Jul, 1015: Reign of Vladimir the Great, son of Sviatoslav I, as Grand Prince of Kiev. By 980, Vladimir consolidates his realm to the Baltic Sea and solidifies the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarians, Baltic tribes, and Eastern Nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir converts to Christianity in 988, and christianizes the Kievan Rus (Wiki).
18 Mar, 978-1013: Reign of Æthelred the Unready as Anglo-Saxon King. On Æthelred’s coronation, England has become unified and wealthy (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
972: The Pechenegs ambush and kill Kievan Rus Prince Sviatoslav I and make a golden chalice of his skull; his three sons fight for the throne. Vladimir, prince of Novgorod, flees abroad after his brother Yaropolk murders his brother Oleg (977) and becomes the sole ruler of Rus’. Vladimir assembles a Varangian army and returns to depose Yaropolk (978) (Wiki). (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
970-986: Reign of Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson, son of Danish King Gorm the Old and Thyra Dannebod, as King of a united Denmark and Norway. Harald introduces Christianity to Denmark and consolidates his rule over most of Jutland and Zealand (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
970: Assassination of Norwegian King Harald Greycloak. Harald had been tricked into coming to Denmark and killed in Hals in a plot planned by Sigurd Haakonsson’s son, Haakon, who had become an ally of Harald Bluetooth. Haakon’s father had been killed by Harald Greycloak’s men in the autumn of 962. King Harald Bluetooth wins power back in Norway and supports Haakon Sigurdsson as his vassal king (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
961-970: Reign of Harald Greycloack, son of Eric Bloodaxe, as King of Norway (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
961: The Battle of Fitjar is fought at Stord, Norway as the last battle between Norwegian forces led by King Haakon the Good and Danish forces led by Eirík Bloodaxe and his Danish sons. Although Norwegian forces win the battle, King Haakon is struck by an arrow and killed (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
~955: Kievan Prince Regent Olga converts to Christianity, taking the Christian name ‘Helen’. Olga urges her son, Sviatoslav, to convert to Christianity, but he does not (Wiki).
955: The Battle of Lechfeld; East Frank and Saxon King Otto I defeats the Magyar horsemen of Hungary, ending their raids into Western Europe. The battle leads to the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire (962) as a new political order in Western Europe (Wiki).
945-972: Reign of Sviatoslav I, son of Igor and Olga, as Prince of Kiev. Sviatoslav I campaigns throughout the region, defeating the Khazars and the Bulgarians, and impaling tens of thousands (Wiki).
945-960: Reign of Olga, wife of Igor, as Kievan Princess and Queen regent for her son Sviatoslav (Wiki).
945: Kievan Rus Prince Igor is killed while collecting tribute from the Drevlians. The Drevlians send a messenger to Igor’s late wife, Olga, proposing that she marry his murderer, Prince Mal. Olga invites them to Kiev and has them buried alive in a pit. She then invites additional diplomats and guests who are burned alive in a bathhouse. She asks the Drevlians to prepare a feast so that she could weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for him and has purportedly 5000 killed while drunk. Finally, after a year of siege, she asks for tribute in the form of sparrows, to which her army sets on fire. The sparrows return to their nests and fully destroy the city of Iskorosten (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
941-944: The Rus-Byzantine War; two separate Rus sieges, led by Igor, against Constantinople (a city of ~500K) are repelled by the Byzantines (Romans), led by Lecapenus, who use 15 retired ships outfitted with “Greek (Liquid) Fire” against the Rus. Igor returns in ~944 with an even larger force and the Byzantines opt for diplomacy, with both sides signing the Rus-Byzantine treaty (945) (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
936: Otto I (later ‘Otto the Great’) is crowned king of the East Franks and Saxons (www.historytoday.com).
934-961: Reign of Haakon Haraldsson (‘Haakon the Good’), son of Harald Fairhair, as King of Norway. Haakon had been raised Christian as the foster son of Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan. Upon the death of his father, he returned to Norway to rule, introducing Christianity and fighting Harold Bluetooth and Eric Bloodaxe for the throne (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
921: Ahmad ibn Fadlan travels from Baghdad up the Volga, documenting the Volga Bulgars, and providing first-hand accounts of the Volga Vikings. His writings later inspire Michael Crichton’s “Eaters of the Dead” and its film adaptation “The 13th Warrior” (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
912-945: Reign of Igor, son of Rurik (‘Eric’), as Prince of Kiev (Wiki).
911: A Viking army led by Rollo (Rolf/Ralph the Granger, later ‘Robert’) is defeated by Frankish forces led by King Charles the Simple (‘Sincere’). Charles gives Rollo the territory of Normandy (‘Norsemen’) along the Seine in exchange for protecting it and converting to Christianity, which he does the following year. Rollo later marries a local Norman and gives birth to a son, William “Longsword”- half Dane, half French. William later marries a local and gives birth to a son, Richard (Aesir with Carlin).
910s: Anglo-Saxon forces led by King Edward conquer Viking-ruled Southern England in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians following the death of her husband in 911. By the end of the 910s, Edward rules Wessex, Mercia, and East Anglia, while only Northumbria remains under Viking rule (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
910: A Mercian and West Saxon army inflicts a decisive defeat on an invading Northumbrian Viking army, temporarily ending the threat from the Northern Vikings (Wiki).
902: Arab conquerors from N. Africa attack and overrun Sicily (Aesir with Carlin).
899-924: Reign of Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Elder, Alfred’s son (Wiki).
890s: The Pechenegs raid the areas of the Rus, Bulgars, Hungarians, and Slavs (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
889-1091: Life of the Pechenegs (Patzinaks- ‘Devil Brats’) people, a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia who spoke the Pecheneg language. In the 9 & 10c’s, the Pechenegs began a period of wars against the Kievan Rus’, and for more than two centuries launched raids into the lands of Rus (Wiki).
886-899: Reign of Alfred (‘the Great’) as Anglo-Saxon King (Wiki).
886: Wessex King Alfred the Great negotiates a partition treaty with the Danes, in which a frontier is demarcated along the old Roman Watling Street line. Northern and Eastern England come under the jurisdiction of the Danes- an area known as the Danelaw (Aesir with Carlin).
882: Varangian Rus Oleg, kinsman to Rurik, conquers Kiev and establishes the state of Kievan Rus (Wiki).
880s- 912: Reign of Oleg (‘the Wise’) as Prince of Kiev. Oleg was a Varangian prince of the Rus and kinsman to Rurik who ruled Novgorod after Rurik. Oleg lays the foundations of the Kievan Rus State (Wiki).
880s: Viking forces raid into Germany and Frisia, attacking Koln, Utrecht, Aachen, and Trier (Aesir with Carlin).
872-930: Reign of Harald Finehair/Fairhair (‘Mophead’) as the first King of Norway. Harald came to power after killing various petty kings (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
871-899: Reign of Alfred ‘the Great’ over Wessex (West Saxons) (Royal.uk).
865-878: The Great Heathen Army (‘Viking Great Army’), a coalition of Scandinavian warriors led by Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless, and Ubba (three of the five sons of Ragnar Lodbrok), invade England with the aim of conquering the four kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).

878: The Battle of Edington; Wessex forces led by Wessex King Alfred the Great defeat Viking forces. Half of the Viking army crosses the channel into France to raid while the rest agree to confine themselves to the ‘Danelaw in NE England (Aesir with Carlin).
873-874: The Great Heathen army overwinters at Repton on the middle Trent, after which the army seems to have divided with one group returning to Northumbria, where they settle, while the other invades Wessex (Wiki).
873: The Great Heathen army subdues much of Mercia. The Mercian king Burgred, flees overseas (Wiki).
872-873: The Great Heathen army overwinters at Torksey on the Trent close to the Humber (Wiki).
872: The Great Heathen Army marches to York where it gathers reinforcements before campaigning in NE Mercia (Wiki).
871-872: The Great Heathen army overwinters in London (Wiki).
871: The Year of Nine Engagements; the Vikings, camped at Reading in Mercia, fight Wessex king Æthelred and his brother Alfred. Æthelred dies around Easter and his brother, Alfred (later ‘the Great’), is forced to pay off them off. The Vikings march to London (Aesir with Carlin, Wiki).

871: The Battle of Basing; Wessex forces led by Æthelred are defeated by Viking forces (Aesir with Carlin).
871: The Battle of Basing; Wessex forces led by Æthelred are defeated by Viking forces (Aesir with Carlin).
Jan, 871: The Battle of Ashdown; Wessex forces led by Æthelred defeat Viking forces (Aesir with Carlin).
Jan, 871: The Battle of Reading; Wessex forces led by Æthelred are defeated by Viking forces (Aesir with Carlin).

870: The Great Heathen Army attack East Anglia, killing King Edmund (‘the Martyr’) and destroying all monasteries. The group breaks up into two armies, with one army raiding into Ireland and Scotland (fighting other Viking raiders), and the other army reinforced by the ‘Great Summer Army’, which overwinters at Bedford and prepares to attack Wessex (Aesir with Carlin).
869-870: The Great Heathen army overwinters at Thetford (Wiki).
869: The Great Heathen army marches South into East Anglia, conquering it and killing its king (Wiki).
868-869: The Great Heathen Army attempts to take Mercia, but make peace with the Mercians. They overwinter in York, Northumbria, where they are met with a second Viking fleet (Aesir with Carlin).
867: The Great Heathen Army marches deep into Mercia and overwinters in Nottingham. The Mercians agree to terms with the Viking army, which moves back to York (Wiki).
867: The Great Heathen Army defeat the Northumbrian houses, killing their kings, and taking control of Northumbria (Aesir with Carlin).
Nov, 866: The Great Heathen Army marches North and captures York in Northumbria (Wiki).
865-866: The Great Heathen Army overwinters at Thetford (Wiki).
865: The Great Heathen Army lands in East Anglia, where the E. Anglian King provides them with horses for their campaign in return for peace (Wiki).

865: Viking forces raid Northumbria making a deal with the leadership of the town of York. They attack the town and region anyways. The Umbrian houses unite to fight the Vikings (Aesir with Carlin).
865: Death of Ragnar Lodbrok in Northumbria after his capture by Northumbrian King Aella (Ælla) (Aesir with Carlin).
865-866: The Siege of Paris; Viking forces led by Siegfried conduct an 11-month siege of the city of Paris, which is led by the Bishop of Jocelyn. Carolingian Emperor Charles the Fat marches against the Viking’s and ends up paying them off with silver, leading to his fall and the fracture of the Carolingian Empire (Aesir with Carlin).
862-879: Reign of Rurik (‘Eric’) over Novgorod after the local population invite the Veringians to rule (Wiki).
~862: A group of Varangians known as the Rus settle in Novgorod under the leadership of Rurik (Wiki).
~862-895: Magyar Hungarians take possession of the Carpathian basin (later the Kingdom of Hungary), and launch a number of campaigns both westward into former Francia, reaching as far as Bavaria and S. France, and southward into the Byzantine Empire (Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
861: The Vikings raid Paris in ‘Frankia’ which, at the time, is led by Charlemagne’s grandson Charles the Bald. Charles creates defensive works and a rapid deployment force (Aesir with Carlin).
850s: The Vikings start to take over Ireland (Aesir with Carlin).
845: A Viking army led by Ragnar raids Paris (Aesir with Carlin).
830s: Viking attacks begin increasing in size, becoming larger and larger endeavors (Aesir with Carlin).
830s: First known mention of “Rus” (‘Swedes’) (Aesir with Carlin).
830-840: Frankish Civil War; three separate Carolingian uprisings occur against Frankish King Louis the Pious as his sons fight for more of his father’s empire (Aesir with Carlin).

Jun, 833: The Field of Lies (Lugenfeild) battle is fought near Colmar in Alsace, France, between Louis the Pious and his rebellious sons led by Lothar, the first-born son, who had persuaded Pope Gregory IV to back him as leader. Louis the Pious’ sworn supporters infamously desert him to join his sons (Aesir with Carlin).

Late 820s: Danemen Harold the Black converts to Christianity under Louis the Pious and begins wrestling for the throne of Denmark (Aesir with Carlin).
818: Frankish Civil War; unhappy with their father’s plan for inheritance, the sons of Louis the Pious rise up. Louis is deposed and reinstalled numerous times (Aesir with Carlin).
814: Death of Frankish King Charlemagne; his son, Louis the Pious becomes King. Fearing a civil war on his untimely death, Louis creates a plan for inheritance between his sons (Aesir with Carlin).
811: Assassination of Danish King Gudfred by one of his bodyguards. The Danish kingdom collapses into several civil wars fought between ~812-854 (Aesir with Carlin).
810: A Danish Vikings force raids the Frisian coast, then Carolingian territory (Aesir with Carlin).
807: Viking forces raid the coast of Connacht, Ireland (Aesir with Carlin).
806: Viking forces raid Iona Abbey in Western Scotland for the 3rd time, killing 70-70 monks (Aesir with Carlin).
799: Viking forces raid the island monastery of St. Philibert’s on Noirmoutier, near the estuary of the Loire River in Aquitaine, the first recorded Viking raids in continental Europe. In response, Charlemagne strengthens the Frankish coasts (history.com, Aesir with Carlin).
795: Viking forces raid the islands off Irelands North and West coasts, the first recorded Viking raids in Ireland (Natl Museum of Ireland, Aesir with Carlin).
794: A Viking force raids the town of Jarrow in Northumbria (Aesir with Carlin).
793: A Viking force raids the island of Lindisfarne in North Umbria (Aesir with Carlin).
789: A Viking (‘northmen’) force of three ships raid the coast of Wessex. They kill the king’s reeve who had been sent to bring the strangers to the West Saxon court (English Heritage, Aesir with Carlin).
772-804: The Saxon Wars are fought as a series of military campaigns primarily in modern N. Germany by Frankish King Charlemagne with the aim of subjugating the Saxon’s, forcibly converting them to Christianity, and expanding Carolingian authority eastwards. The conflict is characterized by brutal campaigns, including the Massacre of Verden (782), where some 4500 Saxons were reportedly executed. The Saxons were originally led by Widukind, however following defeat, he was eventually baptized (785). Despite initial setbacks, Charlemagne achieves partial success, establishing Frankish control over much of Saxony and converting many of the pagan Saxons to Christianity (Carolingian World by Costambeys, Charlemagne by Story, Wiki, Aesir with Carlin).
744: The Second Turkic Khaganate collapses after the Uyghurs, that had earlier submitted to Turkic rule, form an alliance with other groups and rebel. The Uyghurs form the Uyghur Khaganate amidst a series of intertribal confrontations in the Eurasian steppes (www.peachv.org).
682: Formation of the Second Turkic Khaganate (www.peachv.org).
602: Collapse of the first Turkic Khaganate after a series of conflicts and civil wars. It’s divided into the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates (www.peachv.org).
552: The Gokturk people form the first Turkic Khaganate and rapidly expand their territories in Central Asia, and become the first Asian transcontinental empire from empire from Manchuria to the Black Sea. The size of the Khaganate exceeds that of China’s Tang dynasty (www.peachv.org).

___________________________________________________________________________