Northern Crusades

Well kiddo, a long long time ago, some very powerful people, called the Christians, thought that they needed to spread their religion to other parts of the world where people did not practice Christianity. They believed that the only way to get into heaven was by being a Christian, so they wanted to save the non-Christian people they met.

One of these parts of the world was called Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - they were a group of countries in the north of Europe. But the people who lived there believed in different gods, and they were not Christians. So the Christians thought they needed to go to these countries and help the people to become Christians like them.

That's where the Northern Crusades come in. Crusades were like holy wars where the Christians tried to fight and conquer the non-Christians in order to make them switch religions. The Northern Crusades were a series of crusades that happened in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Crusaders came from different countries like Germany, Denmark, and Sweden with their armies and weapons to fight against the people living in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The battles were very fierce and dangerous; people died, and there was a lot of destruction.

In the end, the Christians won, and many people in these countries became Christians. But, many of them kept their own traditions and beliefs, so the Christians had to accept that too.

So, that's the story of the Northern Crusades, a time when Christians wanted to spread their religion and fought to conquer the non-Christian people in the north of Europe.