How did Normans succeed in conquering England between 1066-1087? 1066 was a turning point in English history. It all fuelled off when William, Duke of Normandy invaded England and won the decisive battle at Hastings. From then on, the old England was destroyed, the nobles either killed in battle or disposed and exiled to be replaced by Norman landowners. Norman England was characterised by the Feudal system and the building of castles.
This process took a very long time to get all the people, train them, give them weapons and to fight. In 1645 Oliver Cromwell’s trained army destroyed the king’s forces at the battle of Naseby. In 1649, Cromwell’s 12,000 strong forces stormed Drogheda, north of Dublin. Charles I was put on trial for treason which lead to execution. Many people blame Oliver Cromwell for this, although there were 59 signatories to the death warrant.
Simon de Montfort, brother-in-law to Henry III, who has been out of the king’s favor and in self imposed exile, returns to England to lead the barons in another revolt against the king in 1265. The Barons rise up against Henry III and fight Henrys forces, led by his son Prince Edward, at the battle of Lewes where Henry and Edward are defeated. The barons are now in control. Simon de Montfort calls a Parliament to broaden support and enforce the Provisions of Oxford. This is the first calling of “Parliament.” This is significant because the “Parliament is comprised of the Nobles and elected Knights of the Shire and Burgesses and they were a national body of representatives.
In 1066, William Duke of Normandy, now known as “William The Conqueror” became king of England for several reasons, after the previous king Edward the Confessor. In the elections in 1066, Harold Godwinson was chosen by the witan to be king. William became king after he had defeated Harold in “The Battle of Hastings”. William won from both, William’s skill and Harold mistakes. William also had the opportunity to become king during the elections, because the other candidates had weaknesses: Edgar Aetheling was only 6 years old and he was too young to become king; Harald Hardrada was a Viking and a foreigner, this was to risky; Harold Godwinson wasn’t related to Edward and wasn’t fully English.
On June 24, 1314, nearly nine years after Wallace's death, Robert the Bruce, now a Scottish king and still guilt-ridden over his involvement Wallace's betrayal, leads a strong Scottish army and faces a ceremonial line of English troops at the fields of Bannockburn where the English under their new king, Edward II (who had ascended the English throne upon the death of his father Edward Longshanks in 1307), are to accept him as the rightful ruler of Scotland. Just as he is about to cross the field to accept the English endorsement, the Bruce turns back to his troops. Invoking Wallace's memory, he urges his charges to fight with him as they did with Wallace. Robert then turns toward the English troop line and leads a charge toward the English, who were not expecting to
How far was the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 a threat to Henry VIII? The Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 was the largest rebellion of the Tudor Period. Rebels rose across the North of England, rebelling against change to their traditional way of life and worship. By 10th October, Robert Aske, a Yorkshire lawyer had become chief captain of an army of thirty thousand. The rebels made their headquarters in York before moving down to Pontefract on 21st October where Lord Darcy handed over Pontefract Castle; the most important fortress in the North.
Germans would shell British trenches and the British soldiers would be ready for the attack. The aim of this battle was to ease pressure the Germans had put on the nearby village of Verdun, using the battle as a distraction. They relied heavily on the ‘New Army’ – the civilian recruits brought in by Lord Kitchener’s advertising campaign. These thousands upon thousands of men had absolutely no battle experience and insufficient training. At 7:30 am on the 1st of July, the British began a massive attack against German forces.
There had been a defeat at York. The Viking forces were even greater than those expected from the Normans. Harold had no alternative but to move his army to defend his Kingdom from the Vikings. He force-marched his Army to the North of England, this destroyed King Harold's plans to deal with Duke William's invading force from Normandy. The possibility of an attack from King Harald Hardrada had been totally eclipsed by the gathering invasion force of Duke William.
Peter started the Northern War in which his goal was to get to the Baltic Sea and establish a city there. The war was against the Swedish people and Peter was victorious because the last and most critical battle was won by the Russians. Peter had Moscow completely burned down so the Swedish could not take it, but the Swedish army also could not go back home because of the weather and they did not have the food and water to make it back home without losing most of their men. After this great victory, Peter conquered land near the Baltic Sea and established a city he named after himself, St. Petersburg. This city was known as Peter’s “window to the west” because it opened up many trading routes with other countries.
Once the Knights reached Jerusalem, they took control by ransacking every building and torturing and killing almost all of the 60,000 unarmed civilians living in Jerusalem. The first crusade ended in Christian victory in 1099, but this was not the last of “Gods” crusades, 6 more followed the first with the Holy Lands changing control every time costing hundreds of thousands of lives all while the bible blatantly spoke against wars and killing. This