Ananova:

German arms dealers have been blamed for the Viking invasion of Britain after archaeologists found the swords they used were made in Germany.

The new research has discovered that German weaponsmiths were actively selling their swords to the Viking invaders around the 9th century AD.

The Norse invaders who terrorised the British coastline laying waste to towns and villages were all kitted out by master sword makers from the Rhine.

Russian and Norwegian scientists working with the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg made the discovery by decoding individual stamps used by ancient smiths to mark their work, which linked the swords to the German ancestors.

According to the scientists, the Vikings all used the German-made steel blades that were much prized because they did not break, even during the fiercest fighting, and were of the highest quality.