The Varangian Guard: Military Success Through History

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Military success through history can be attributed to a variety of facets;, great men, moral, tactical awareness, and numerous other traits. , However, all of these contributions at their root though are a product of a system’s military culture. Historically many systems saw success in military expeditions because of cultural ties; the Spartans with their Agoge training, the Romans and their evolution of civic militarism, the Jihad of the decentralized Muslim caliphs. One of the finest systems to analyze cultural success in war though is a study of the Varangian Guard, an elite mercenary group that served the Byzantine Empire for about 600 years. The guard’s cultural influence was variable through its history of service and the success in …show more content…

Historically the guard existed longer then Varangian title by the Byzantines existed. Scandinavian countries particularly the noblemen, jarls and kings, would regularly use a smaller, but no less skilled guard called Housecarls. The retainers were hand picked by the ruler and would serve as bodyguards, police and military elite just as they would in the later versions of housecarls (Wheeler 128-130.) The Housecarls perfectly reflect the culture of the northerners and served the old Scandinavian countries in the most efficient form of a guard. As Scandinavians began integrating with the Slavic Rus the elite guards grew larger to compensate for the larger landmasses, this scale would decentralize the guards as more men flocked to the kingdoms for wealth and glory. It is at this time under the Russian banners that all the Northern mercenaries would begin being referred to as Varangian. The early Varangian’s service continued the success seen by the Housecarls. Even though the culture of the guard was heterogeneous, from many northern states, it worked in unity bringing many warrior cultures together and melding the unity of the different military tactics to form a cohesive guard (Cross

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