Battle Of Hastings

        William also won because of the few mistakes made by Harold, such as: When William’s men started running away, Harold sent his men to chase after them. It was actually a trick and the Normans killed them. Another example behind this is that Harold did not let his men rest before the battle and his men were already worn out and could not fight as well as they could with full energy. Harold also wasn’t that good a strategist and put his men in a tightly packed formation, which made moving very difficult. And after the battle with Harald, he did not share his booty with his men and so many soldiers left his army. The final example of Harold’s mistakes is that he chose to wait all summer for William in the south coast but instead the Vikings arrived first in the north. And because of this particular reason, William had a slight advantage in the battle.

        William’s skill is linked with Harold’s mistakes because if it were not for the actions made by William with his skills, Harold wouldn’t have made so many mistakes. Like how William ordered his army to pretend to flee, (William’s skill) and Harold sent his army to chase them when it was actually a trick and the Normans killed them (Harold’s mistakes).

William also had the element of luck on his side throughout the battle, allowing him to win the battle. Like when Harold was in the north, the wind changed directions, allowing William to land in the south instead, and thus letting William avoid the battle awaiting him in the north. As for Harold, bad luck was with him too, like having most of his good men killed at Stamford Bridge. This example is also linked to the fact that in the middle of the battle, Harold was killed, partly because his army was weaker now. Many of his men did not want to fight any longer without their leader and fled. And because of this, William was able to be leading in the battle.

The last reason William won has something to do with the two armies.  An example of this is William’s men were heavily armoured and rode war horses and William had brought professional soldiers to join his army. But Harold’s army was mostly made of untrained farmers and peasants. And so William’s army was clearly the more powerful one allowing William to have an easy battle.

Overall, I think the main reason for William winning the Battle of Hastings was his skill. This is because an un-skilled leader would not win a battle with pure luck and the advantage of his enemy’s mistakes, let alone having a good army.