The history of Wales is primarily a story of struggle. It is a tribute to the people of Wales' determination to survive against overwhelming odds -- a struggle reflected not only in its castle-dominated landscape and its surviving Celtic language, but also in its long literary history. Created in a time when the flood of Germanic pagan invaders from the continent threatened to destroy Christian Celtic civilization in Britain, its history continued through the depredations of the Vikings, the invasions of the Normans, the oppression of the powerful Marcher Lords, and the ever-constant, ever threatening power of the English people and the English language.