Danish War against the Wends

Valdemar I of Denmark initiates a campaign in 1160 to conquer the southern Baltic coast’s pagan Wends, a target of crusades by Henry the Lion and Albert the Bear since 1147.

Absalon, a Danish soldier-statesman leading the military effort against the Wends, besieges the Wend fortress at Arkona on Rügen.

Established European states integrate the populations of subject peoples in adjacent lands: Swedes colonize southern Finland; Danes colonize the lands of the Wends, forcibly converting them to Christianity; Germans colonize Holstein, Lauenburg, and Mecklenburg; Anglo-Normans colonize Ireland.

The Wend fortress at Arkona on Rügen falls to its Danish besiegers in 1168.

Its defenders, together with the rest of the Wends on Rügen, surrender to the Danes, who subjugate the Wends, destroy their idols and temples, and forcibly convert them to Christianity.