Give a detailed history of the viking presence in Ireland. Be sure to include a thesis statement with a brief description of what your paper will discuss and the arguments your paper will make. Some of the things you should discuss in your paper are as follows
1. During what time period were the vikings present in Ireland?
2. What motivated the Vikings to attack Ireland?
3. Discuss major raids which vikings launched against Ireland.
4. What were the major targets of viking raids? Include in this discussion how the vikings targeted churches and monasteries due to the wealth they contained.
5. What were the raiding tactics used by the vikings to raid Ireland.
6. Discuss how as time passed, the Vikings began constructing settlements in Ireland to make it easier to raid Ireland. Discuss what types of settlements they were as well as how they were used.
7. Discuss the various ways in which the Vikings assimilated into Irish culture. Discuss the ways in which the Vikings influenced Irish politics and culture.
8. Discuss the Irish resistance to the Viking invaders. Discuss how at first, the Irish had no real defense against the Vikings. Discuss what made the Irish vulnerable to attack by the Vikings. Discuss how over time, the Irish were able to unite in order to combat the Viking threat. Discuss the tactics used by the Irish to successfully resist the Vikings.
Be sure to include footnotes and a bibliography. Your bibliography should include at least two primary sources and at least four secondary sources. Two of your sources should be scholarly academic articles. While this is the minimum amount of sources required for this paper, you can include as many sources as needed to complete the paper well. Primary sources are sources which are written during the time period they are discussing. For the purposes of this paper, this means that at least two of your sources should be texts written during the time period of the Viking presence in Ireland. Separate your bibliography into two sections, one for primary sources and one for secondary sources. Primary sources can be found online as well as in books. If you decide to use a book with a collection of primary sources, be sure to cite each individual primary source separately. When citing a prinary source that is within a book with a collection of primary sources, be sure to include the title of the individual primary source you are using, the author of the primary source if one is present, as well as the title, author, and publication information of the book you got the source from. The same applies if you are citing a primary source from an online web site. If you are citing a primary source from an online web site, include the title of the individual primary source, the author of the source if one is present, as well as the web site where you found the source and all publication information available for the source on the web site. It does not matter to me if you get your primary sources from a book or an online site. Just be sure that you cite each individual primary source you use as described previously. For each source in your bibliography, include a short annotation (1-2 sentences each) which describes how you used the source in the paper.