Why did William defeat Harold in the Battle of Hastings
Why did William defeat Harold in the Battle of Hastings? The astonishing battle of Hastings was fought on the 14th of October at 9:30am 1066 shortly after King Edward the Confessor sorrowfully died in a coma on the night of the 5th of January 1066. The battle was fought on Senlac hill approximately 10km northwest of Hastings. So as we all know the battle of Hastings occurred 100s of Years ago, 938 to be precise and we can never really distinguish every inch of the truth, at least we think we cant… However I’m trying to find out why William duke of Normandy Defeated Harold Godwinson King of England at the Battle of Hastings. This essay will decide why William won the Battle of Hasting I’ll be looking at the three following factors: their preparation for Battle, their Leadership and their tactics during the brutal battle.
The first argument as to why William won the Battle of Hastings is that he had, by far, the most unsurpassable army. The Normans (Williams army) had 7500 warriors, all fully trained compared to the 3000 voluntary village workers and only 2000 professionally trained soldiers that made up Harold Godwinson’s English army. Likewise, William had many archers and slingshots (unlike the English) that could kill and do a great amount of damage from approximately 180 meters away! The Normans were also well equipped with some of Normandy’s finest auxiliaries – blacksmiths, carpenters, medics and cooks – as well as a few mercenaries; they were professional soldiers who fought for whoever paid them the most amount of money. Williams men also had better armour and weapons, for example: the cavalry were equipped with mail hauberks, also there is some evidence that archers may have also used crossbows in addition to bows and arrows, some heavy-duty battle maces were also used along with the obvious spears and swords. In the End the Normans had to use 300 boats to carry 7500 men and 2000 horses.
In addition to this point, the battle
The first argument as to why William won the Battle of Hastings is that he had, by far, the most unsurpassable army. The Normans (Williams army) had 7500 warriors, all fully trained compared to the 3000 voluntary village workers and only 2000 professionally trained soldiers that made up Harold Godwinson’s English army. Likewise, William had many archers and slingshots (unlike the English) that could kill and do a great amount of damage from approximately 180 meters away! The Normans were also well equipped with some of Normandy’s finest auxiliaries – blacksmiths, carpenters, medics and cooks – as well as a few mercenaries; they were professional soldiers who fought for whoever paid them the most amount of money. Williams men also had better armour and weapons, for example: the cavalry were equipped with mail hauberks, also there is some evidence that archers may have also used crossbows in addition to bows and arrows, some heavy-duty battle maces were also used along with the obvious spears and swords. In the End the Normans had to use 300 boats to carry 7500 men and 2000 horses.
In addition to this point, the battle