Was The Battle Of Hastings Decided By Pure Luck?? | Battlefield Detectives | Our History
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Published 2022-12-11
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Historians have always said that William won because he was a better General and that the Norman style of fighting - on horseback - was more modern. But this programme questions whether his victory was inevitable. No clues have ever been found on the battlefield - so researchers are now using a surprising array of unusual specialist techniques to investigate what really happened. They conclude that William did not win the Battle of Hastings because he was the better General. Harold and William were well matched as opponents and on the day it came down to good luck - victory came down to the simple fact that Harold was killed first.
This film was first broadcast: 28 Sep 2004
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All Comments (21)
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What all these programs fail to say is why William choose to attack uphill , he had 2 weeks to choose the place of battle, surely he could have chosen a place where he was on top of a hill , an advantage in those days
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Harold did NOT get an arrow in the eye! The tapestry was repaired centuries ago; the arrow was added. Contemporary drawings show there was no arrow originally.
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Harold was really a great general. He left the south coast to fight at Stamford Bridge, after a second battle defeated the norsemen and then came back south to take on William. He won against theNorse by sheer luck and lost at Hastings by the same way. Had he won, we would regard him as a leader up there with the best in history. He certainly has my respect.
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William must have known about hardrada and his attempt,tostig had already been down to ask William for help and been refused, I'm amazed that Harold wasn't aware of a fleet heading to England from Norway,a fleet of ships isn't something easily hidden
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No mention 8 Minutes into the Video about Stamfordbridge. Harold had to fight on two Fronts.
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William had the cavalry, not Harrold. William had reconnoitered the area for two weeks before Harrold arrived. The battle took place on the ground selected by William.
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There is absolutely no archology evidence to back up that the battle took place at Battle. None.
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It wasn’t the battle of Hastings, it was the battle of Battle, Hastings is on the coast where the Normans landed, as soon as they moved inland Harold was forced to attack at Battle and there is still standing a Norman Battle abbey to celebrate the victory.
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LUCK IS ALWAYS A FACTOR TO CONSIDER
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Surely Harold chose the battle ground as he had called for people to meet him at the crab apple tree .
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I never realized that those horses in the tapestry had their schlongs hanging out.xD
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So Much Suffering!
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The battle was 1/4 a mile away not at that site! Many Anglo Saxon Warriors left England ending up as elite Varangian guards in the Byzantium armed forces
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So the Anglo Saxons (from Denmark, Norway, and Germany) attacked what is today England after the Romans left in the 5th century? What happened to the Ancient Britains in today's England or were they just wiped out by the Anglo Saxons, and if so why do we English call ourselves Brits/Britains when in fact were Anglo Saxons, not Brit/Britains seems we have a few questions to answer, and then we have the Norman Conquest of today's England by the Normans in 1066 who spoke French and had a close affinity with Scandinavia and are Vikings same as the boys from Scandinavia, so Anglo Saxons=Normans NOT Britains/Brits and it was the Romans that called to days England Britannia and today's Scotland was called today Caledonia and yet we call the people in the south of Scotland (Strathclyde) Britains or where these Britains refugees from the Anglo Saxons pilage in the 5th Century anyone got any thoughts England should have been called Normandy 2 after the Normans conquered todays England?
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Tragic Times Period!
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I don't believe the fight took place at battle but at Crowhurst.
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On Land Battles.
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No, it was decided by Breton prowess and perfectly lucky timing.
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No.
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There’s no proof that the battle took place there. More likely to have been at Crowhurst. That’s where the original abbey may have been built.
