Battle Of Hastings
... Just as Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and General Cornwallis at Yorktown, King Harold, until this fateful day a powerful figure in England, was to have his by now exhausted army crushed by the Duke of Normandy in a battle that at that time, had no equal. Now to look at the Battle of Hastings with no insight on how it came to pass is like looking at the last 20 minutes of a movie. ... Harold chose Caldbec Hill thinking he could trap Williams army because it really was the only land route out of the Hastings Peninsula, all other directions were blocked by a river or a bog or the ocean. ... There was now a lull in the battle. ... This proved to be the decisive factor in the battle and it sent the English into a panic. ... Having destroyed the main battle-force William and his man were able to conquer the rest of England relatively unhindered.