why the normans won the battle of hastings
Why the Normans won the battle of Hastings
The reason why the Normans won the battle of Hasting
About 10 days before the Vikings landed at Stanford the Saxons were down in Hasting where they were expecting the Norman’s to come and attack. Unfortunately for William the winds where not very good in France and after a few days of waiting for the Normans word got out that Vikings had landed up in Stanford. The Saxons marched up as fast as they could, they won the battle of Stanford and then went back home, however shocking news awaited them, after all their waiting the Normans had landed down at Hastings.
Here is where another mistake happens, Harold marched straight down to Hastings after only 5 days of rest. He could have waited for William to come closer to his castle which would have given his men more time to rest. As William arrived Harold got his men to formed a shield wall.
William’s archers went first their aim was not great as they were shooting uphill consequently hitting the shield wall and soaring over their heads. Next William sent in his cavalry (men on horses) to attack but because there was a shield wall the hoses could not get past therefore the Normans were safe.
William reset his archers to a good position enabling his archers to get a good aim, as a result of this it created the smallest of cracks in the shield wall, the Norman’s took their chance and ran up to them. After about an hour some Norman’s on the left side retreated and drew some Saxons out with them creating a big gap William started to use that tactic more until there where cracks everywhere, William then lined his archers up once again and shot. This was the fatal moment; Harold got an arrow in his eye therefore causing his death. This had a big effect on the Saxon’s, they didn’t fight as well, some ran away, but others stayed to fight
In summary
The main reason why the Norman’s won was due to Harold’s death. After he died the Saxon’s lost all momentum,
The reason why the Normans won the battle of Hasting
About 10 days before the Vikings landed at Stanford the Saxons were down in Hasting where they were expecting the Norman’s to come and attack. Unfortunately for William the winds where not very good in France and after a few days of waiting for the Normans word got out that Vikings had landed up in Stanford. The Saxons marched up as fast as they could, they won the battle of Stanford and then went back home, however shocking news awaited them, after all their waiting the Normans had landed down at Hastings.
Here is where another mistake happens, Harold marched straight down to Hastings after only 5 days of rest. He could have waited for William to come closer to his castle which would have given his men more time to rest. As William arrived Harold got his men to formed a shield wall.
William’s archers went first their aim was not great as they were shooting uphill consequently hitting the shield wall and soaring over their heads. Next William sent in his cavalry (men on horses) to attack but because there was a shield wall the hoses could not get past therefore the Normans were safe.
William reset his archers to a good position enabling his archers to get a good aim, as a result of this it created the smallest of cracks in the shield wall, the Norman’s took their chance and ran up to them. After about an hour some Norman’s on the left side retreated and drew some Saxons out with them creating a big gap William started to use that tactic more until there where cracks everywhere, William then lined his archers up once again and shot. This was the fatal moment; Harold got an arrow in his eye therefore causing his death. This had a big effect on the Saxon’s, they didn’t fight as well, some ran away, but others stayed to fight
In summary
The main reason why the Norman’s won was due to Harold’s death. After he died the Saxon’s lost all momentum,