Why Did William Win The Battle Of Hastings? Essay Williams victory in 1066 is suprising in some ways, this is because King Harold came up with some good choices. Harold was smart enough to think of making a shield wall with his army. By making a shield wall, William’s army would have been struggling to fight them. The shield wall was formed by every man in the army to stand shoulder to shoulder to make it more stronger. Each shield was made from wood and covered in metal which would help the shield wall more protective and stronger.
Another good choice from King Harold was positioning his army at the top of Senlac Hill. This was a good choice because William’s army were firing arrows at them. This would result in the arrows being fired and missing Harold’s army completely. However, Harold made a some mistakes during the Battle of Hastings. Harold and his army had just finished fighting at Stamford Bridge, his soldiers were tired and wounded but Harold made his army march to Hastings which meant his army had no chance to recover.
Even though Harold belived that his army could put all their effort into it. Also one of Harold’s mistakes was whilst holding the shield wall together William’s army ran toward Harold’s. The right side of William’s army turned around and ran away. After the shield wall broke, Harold’s army ran straight ahead after them. The Normans split up into two columns then closed on Harold’s army. This could be known as an envelopment.
In contrast, William was very skilful during the time of the Battle of Hastings, William tricked Harold’s army by getting his men to pretend to run away then Harold’s army chased William’s army, which meant that Harold’s army ended up breaking the shield wall. William told his army to turn around and attack their enemies and that was how William had the luck and skill to win the battle and then the crown to become the King of England. Early in 1066, Edward, King of England died and Harold the Earl of Wessex was crowned King.
William was furious, claiming that in 1051 Edward, his distant cousin, had promised him the throne and that Harold had later sworn to support that claim. This made William intent of winning the throne back. In conculsion, I think the most important reason for William’s victory in 1066 was chance, because most of the points in luck is good luck for William. For example when William and his army were on the boats ready to invade the wind changed direction and he is able to invade from the south.
