The Battle of Hastings Be King After Him (Harold Godwinson and William, Duke of the Consequences of the Battle of Hastings Normandy)
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In January 1066 the English king, Edward the Confessor, died. He had no children and had told two different men that they could The Battle of Hastings be king after him (Harold Godwinson and William, duke of The consequences of the Battle of Hastings Normandy). Another man, Harald Hardrada, also thought that he should be king. In the months that followed, three battles were - William faced fierce rebellions in north fought for the throne: the Battle of Fulford, the Battle of of England. He crushed this rebellion Stamford Bridge and the Battle of Hastings. brutally by murdering men, women and children and even salting the land so that nothing could grow. This was known as the Harrying of the North Why did William win the Battle of Hastings? - William needed to know how much he could tax people. He ordered a survey to William's army and 700 ships had been ready since August, but strong winds stopped him sailing until late September. However, in September be conducted to find out exactly how William’s LUCK changed- the wind changed direction, allowing him to sail to England. much everyone owned. This was called • William landed at Pevensey on 29 September, built a castle and raided the surrounding area. Domesday Book. • Harold II marched quickly south from Stamford Bridge. He left many of his footsoldiers behind and exhausted the others. - William built castles all around England. • The two sides met at Senlac Hill, near Hastings. These were excellent bases to defend his • Harold II's army were at the top of Senlac Hill. They formed a shield wall to protect themselves. The Norman knights could not charge uphill. rule and were a strong statement to the • Some of the Norman soldiers began to flee because they thought William had been killed. William took off his helmet to show them he was still people of England that William was in alive. charge. • The Normans pretended to run away, then turned and cut down the Saxons when the inexperienced fyrd (part of the Saxon army) chased them. - William also introduced the feudal • William had a well-equipped army. He had knights on horseback and archers with crossbows. Harold II had a traditional Saxon army – his system to England. This allowed him to housecarls fought on foot with axes, the fyrd were just farmers with any weapons they could get. keep power over the whole country by • William used archers to break up the Saxon shield wall. sharing out the land he owned. Look at • The housecarls formed a ring round their king. the diagram below to see how it worked. • Harold was killed. It is impossible to know how Harold II died. Most people believe that he was killed by an arrow in the eye. This theory is based on a scene in the Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry has the words 'Harold is killed' next to a man with an arrow in his eye, but it is impossible to know which soldier is Harold II because all the Saxon soldiers are dressed identically. Jan 1066 Sept 1066 Sept 1066 25 Sept 1066 Oct 1066 14 Oct 1066 Edward the Harald Harold Harold Godwinson hears William and Confessor dies Hardrada lands Godwinson Godwinson that William has the Normans and Harold in Yorkshire hears of defeats landed on the defeat Godwinson and defeats Hardrada’s Hardrada at south coast and Godwinson’s seizes the the Saxon army victory and the Battle of forces his men to Saxon army at crown at the Battle of marches north Stamford march back down the Battle of Fulford. to face him Bridge to fight William Hastings Causes of the English Civil War The Battle of Naseby Charles I came to the throne in 1625 and relations between the king and parliament gradually worsened. The Battle of Naseby is one of the most famous events of the English Civil War. Many historians see it as a turning point in the fortunes of the parliamentarians. The relationship between the King and Parliament broke down for a number of reasons: Religion • Charles I married Henrietta Maria, a Roman Catholic from France. • The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, introduced Arminian reforms into the Church of England, which were very similar to Catholicism. • Many MPs were Puritans. They thought Charles wanted to make England Catholic again. • Charles believed in the Divine Right of Kings. This is the idea that God had chosen him to be king. Foreign policy • An expedition to Spain in 1625 failed. • An attack on France in 1627 failed. Consequences Limiting the power of Parliament Following the Battle of Naseby, the royalist army was essentially People came to believe that Charles was undermining destroyed. The battle has often been seen as the time when Charles lost their liberties: the English Civil War. He never recovered from the defeat. • Charles used a private 'Court of the Star Chamber' to In 1648, Charles I was captured and was put on trial by parliament for try and punish his opponents. treason. In January 1649 he was beheaded. • When Parliament complained in 1629, he dismissed Following this, Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of England. He them. Until 1640, Charles ruled without a ruled the country until his death in 1658. As Lord Protector, Cromwell Parliament, a period known as the 'Eleven Years' introduced a lot of Puritan rules and banned a number of things Tyranny'. including Christmas dinner celebrations, football and theatre. • Charles needed to raise money without Parliament His son, Richard Cromwell, tried to take over after his father’s death, so he used old laws such as Ship Money, which was but the people of England wanted a return of the monarchy. In 1660 a tax collected from coastal towns in the Middle Charles II (the son of Charles I) became king in the Restoration of the Ages to pay for the navy. In 1635 Charles made Monarchy. inland counties pay it too. The English Civil War was between the parliamentarians (also called the Roundheads) and the royalists (also called the cavaliers). The First World War, 1914-1918 The Battle of the Somme At 7.30am on 1 July 1916, whistles were blown along a line of British soldiers. Thousands of men then climbed on to what was 4 August known as no man's land. This was the first day of the Somme - one of the deadliest battles of World War One. Thousands of 1 August soldiers died in a very short amount of time. In total, more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded on both sides of the 29 July fight. The people in charge said that the battle had to happen to win the war, but even now people can't agree on whether it was the right decision or a huge mistake. To weaken the German defences, the Allied forces fired shells from artillery guns. The shelling, 2 August called a bombardment, went on for a whole week. When it had finished, the British and French soldiers came out of their 28 July trenches and headed towards the German lines. They weren't expecting much of a fight because everyone thought that the shells would have killed the German soldiers. But there was a problem. When the shelling started the Germans hid in special shelters 28 July called dug-outs. They waited underground for a week and when the shelling finished they came out and fired machine guns at the advancing Allied troops. The British troops were caught in no man's land and couldn't hide from the German bullets. Many soldiers lost their lives. Over time, the British developed a new technique called the creeping barrage. This allowed the British to continue bombarding the Germans whilst their troops advanced. The leader of the British army was General Douglas Haig. Due to the massive loss of life during the battle, he is sometimes known as the Butcher of the Somme. In June 1914, the Archduke of Austro-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist called Gavrilo Princip. A month later, Austro- Hungary declared war on Serbia in retaliation. As Russia was allied with Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria. Germany was allied with Austria, and as such declared war on Russia. France was allied with Russia and thus declared war on Germany. France was joined two days later by Britain who was allied with both Russia and France. The system of alliances in Europe led to the outbreak of war between many different countries. Nazi Germany Anti-Semitism means hostility or prejudice towards In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, was Jews. Hitler played upon existing anti-Semitism in appointed as Chancellor of Germany. Germany and blamed Jewish people for Germany’s There were a number of reasons which contributed to the Nazi problems. From 1933 until 1945, the Nazi Party gaining votes in the late 1920s and early 1930s: government led a systematic attack on Jewish - Hitler’s skills- Hitler was very persuasive and was a very skilled people, which culminated in the Final Solution from public speaker 1942-1945. - Hitler’s promises- Hitler promised the German people a variety of different things in order to gain their votes. This persuaded a lot of people What was life like in Nazi Germany? - The Great Depression- in 1929 the American stock exchange collapsed. The economic disaster soon spread to Germany and by 1932, 6 million people were unemployed. Hitler promised people that he would solve the crisis and give them jobs. - The Treaty of Versailles- after WWI, Germany had to sign the Treaty of Versailles which was very harsh.