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Case in point, the Norse. The Vikings were brutally un-peaceful in every respect respect, but the Norwegians didn't even resist the Nazi invasion.
That is manifestly untrue. The Norwegians resisted it with everything at their disposal, beginning with sinking a capital ship from shore batteries, and carried on an obstinate and gutsy resistance throughout the war, often paying terrible penalties. Go to Oslo and say they didn't resist the Nazi invasion, and see how they respond. Had the Norwegians had time to mobilize, their resistance would have been even more dour.
If you meant the Danes, you are closer; the Danish military resistance to the Nazi invasion was short-lived and virtually nil (not that even a fully mobilized Danish military could have held up the Nazis for long even had they been prepared to resist to the death). However, there was definitely a Danish resistance after the invasion, one that grew stronger as the war went on.
I dont think so as they were at war with the neighbouring Christian states alot.
They allowed Christians and Jews to live among them relatively unharassed, there was a small tax, but people were free to worship as they pleased. They were multicultural in that Moorish Spain was Islamic, Jewish, and Christian. While the neighboring 'Christian' states were increasingly intolerant.
Nobody was forced to convert, leave, or be burnt because they were the wrong religion in Moorish Spain, with a few exceptions, unlike in the neighboring territories.
While they had cities with universities and full of books the rest of medieval Europe had just a few books tucked away in monasteries. People from all over the world would go to Moorish Spain. A Saxon nun visiting Cordoba called it the Jewel of the World.
I would not state an peaceful civilisation as were on an constant state of war with another nation and thats what Moorish Spain experienced.
The frontier in the north between the Moors and the Christians was constantly on a war footing and in St James (Santiago de Compostela), the Christians found their own inspiration to match the Koran-inspired fanaticism of the Moors. Santiago became known as "Matamoros" (the Moor slayer) and to this day is Spain's patron saint.
Al Mansur died in 1010 which led to the crisis in which Medina Azahara, the city palace of Abd ar-Rahman III, was destroyed by rampaging Berbers. Moorish Spain deteriorated rapidly into violent turmoil. The caliphate ceased to exist and Al Andaluz broke up into 20 taifas and unified rule came to an end. Seville and Granada were the most powerful of these small kingdoms followed by Cordoba, Almeria, Zaragoza, Badajoz and Toledo. The Moorish warriors were no more as life degenerated into drunken orgies and mercenaries, including Christians, were employed to do the fighting.
The Almoravids came 70 years later and brought about an increased intolorance and their targets for this were Christians and Jews.
But of course there was times when Christians and Jews were tolerated and there was even an golden age of Jewish culture too there some time then.. In addition the cities were more hygenic and better than other cities in Europe at that time.
Last edited by other99; 10-20-2010 at 02:34 AM..
Reason: edit
It was not constantly on a war footing, that is a generalization, there were periods of stability, even peace treaties with Christian states, but everything stated above is pretty accurate, even of Christian knights in the service of Muslim leaders, and Muslim warriors in the service of Christian kings.
After the slaves and Berbers fractured the state into taifas and Cordoba was destroyed it did rebuild. Other areas might have not been as fortunate but Almeria, Saragossa, and Seville were areas that also rebounded and flourished.
As already pointed out, isolation and remoteness are advantages in avoiding conflict. Switzerland hasn't fought a major war since the Swabian War of 1499. Several Himalayan Kingdoms such as Nepal, Bhutan and former Tibet (now ruled by China) would be examples. The key seems to be in not having lands or resources that are highly desirable, or making the cost prohibitive to an aggressor, as in the case of Switzerland.
Switzerland hasn't fought a major war since the Swabian War of 1499.
Switzerland itself fought no more wars but large numbers of Swiss were still fighting as mercenaries long after and I'd say their culture was martial for quite some time after the nation itself no longer fought wars.
But like you say, nobody wanted to take the Swiss on at home.
Reminds of the wag who said Rome fell because somewhere along the line the Romans had turned into the Italians.
Yes, the minute they started speaking Italian instead of Latin, all civility fell apart.
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