1. Why did William win the Battle of Hastings?
Year 7 Topic 2
Why did William win the Battle of Hastings?

2. The first argument as to why William won the Battle of Hastings, is that he had the best army. The Normans (William’s army) had 7500 men, all fully trained compared to the 4500 voluntary village workers and only 500 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 lot of damage from over 100 meters away. The Normans were also equipped with auxiliaries - blacksmiths, carpenters, medics and cooks – as well as a few mercenaries, who were professional soldiers that fought for whoever paid them the most amount of money, on his side. William’s men also had better armour and weapons, for example: the cavalry were all equipped with mail hauberk, there is some evidence that archers used crossbows in addition to bows and arrows, some battle maces were also used along with spears and swords, round shields and kite shaped shields. This meant that the Normans were more protected from the English, than the English were from them as well; as having weapons that could do more damage. Another benefit that William had as one of his skills was that he was a very good commander of his troops and organised his men very well. An additional point is that the battle began much sooner than Harold Godwinson and his army had expected, which meant that his troops were not properly ready. Less than a week before the Battle of Hastings, Harold Godwinson and the English were fighting in the north at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where he lost some of his best fighters to the Norwegians and their leader Harald Hadrada. As well as this, the soldiers of Harold’s that were remaining were very tired and weak after the tiresome battle at Stamford Bridge. On one hand there was the struggling English army who were not properly ready for the battle, and on the other there was the shiny polishing Norman army who had been preparing for this day for months and were rearing to go! Obviously, this gave William the Conqueror a clear advantage over King Harold due mainly to Harold’s misfortune and his poor leadership.

3. William’s tactics:
King Harold's army took up a position on an east-west ridge north of Hastings. The ridge itself was called Senlac Hill.
They found the Norman army marching up the valley in front of them. While Harold had more soldiers, they were tired from the forced march from London. William formed his lines at the base of the hill facing the shield wall of the English.
He sent his archers halfway up the slope to attack the English. He sent his mounted knights to the left and right to find any weak spots. At first William's knights tried to break through the shield wall with the weight of their horses. But they were attacking uphill and could not gain any speed.
Harold's front line simply stood fast and was able to fend off any attacks. William's army began to fall back with rumours of Duke William's death. William removed his helmet so his men could see he was still alive. When William saw that many of Harold's men were following his knights back down the hill, he used a trick he had learned years before. He turned suddenly and charged the oncoming English foot soldiers, who had no chance against mounted knights.
This tactic worked at least two more times during the battle and made Harold's shield wall weaker. Now William used something new. Where his attacks by knights and soldiers had been separate movements he now used them together.
Where his archers had not succeeded against the shield wall he had them shoot high into the air so the arrows came down on top of the English. This may be where King Harold was killed by an arrow through his eye. The shield wall finally broke and the Normans were on top of them. By nightfall the English were either dead on the field or being hunted down by William's men. William called his men back and they spent the night camped on the battlefield.

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