Battle of Hastings

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Why did the Normans win the battle of Hastings?

The battle of Hastings took place on October 14th 1066. It was between Harold Godwin and William the Duke of Normandy. William won for a number of reasons but here are just two of them. William had more men as well as having more time to prepare.

King Harold did not have time to prepare properly for the battle because he had to fight Harold Hadraada and his brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge. After the battle of Stamford Bridge, Harold Godwin heard some bad news. This was that William had invaded. Harold had to march his men south very quickly. Many of his men were exhausted so he had to leave so he had to leave them behind. Some of Harold’s best soldiers the housecarls had been injured or even killed in the battle so Harold had a weak army, which was mainly made up of farmers.

On the other hand, William had more time for preparations. He had to wait a long time for Harold Godwin to arrive

. . .

As soon as William saw him the battle commenced. One of the main reasons is that the Normans had more cavalry and better weapons to fight with, also William won because Harold had to fought at Stamford bridge earlier so many his men were tired. With their leader dead, the English lost heart and fled.

The end came when a score of William’s knights stormed the English position. in the south, during this time William could prepare and make up tactics for the battle. The Anglo-Saxons were over the moon so when the Normans started to walk away Harold’s men ran down Senlac Hill and started chasing them away but unfortunately William and his men turned around and started to kill, lots of the Anglo-Saxons were killed including Harold . In fact, some sources claim that Harold met his end at their hands, and was hacked to death, rather than the traditionally held view that he was hit with an arrow in the eye. After two whole weeks of waiting Harold Godwin eventually reached the south.

The Normans won the battle of Hastings for a number of reasons many of which were linked.

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