Would the Roman Army have defeated William at Hastings?

Question

For the sake of argument I am hypothesizing that the Roman army is at the height of its military capability i.e. that which fought under Julius Caesar, and that it numbers the same as Harold's army - 'seven to eight thousand strong'.

Answer 1

Harald was defeated because one wing of his army pursued the apparently broken Normans - they were lured out into the flat and destroyed piecemeal by Norman horse. A disciplined Roman army would not have disobeyed their leader's instructions to hold and stand. The Romans would have thus defeated the Normans, given these parameters. Heavy armoured horse were hardly new to the Romans who had faced the Parthians cataphractii. Hypothetical but interesting.

Answer 2

harold would have beaten william the conk if first he hadn't fought off an invasion by the danes in the north,by the time he got back down to hastings his armies were tired and depleted,and even with a tired army the war went from one side to another,so are you asking about harolds army before he fought the danes or after,and no the romans would not have beaten harold as his archers would have decimated the romans as they did not use bowmen like the english.

Answer 3

The only reason Harold lost was because he was coming back from the North Country where he just fought a Viking army raised by his trecherous brother, and he didn't have time to rest his men or organize them properly.

Assuming that the Romans didn't have to fight this battle and then had sufficient time to muster their fresh forces, I've little doubt that the Roman's could have beaten William.

Answer 4

Nobody's answering your question. I would venture to say that the long bows and heavy armoured knights of the Normans would've made short work of the Roman phalanx and cavalry. During the Roman period, they did not have stirrups which lent itself to better fighting on horse.

The only chance Caesar would've had would've been in the tactical area, ie. envelopement or attacking from the rear.

Answer 5

Hmmmm good one, here's another silly question too:

Would Alexander the Great have defeated Yamashita at Singapore?

For the sake of argument I am hypothesizing that Alexander has WW II fighter planes, artillery and firearms, also that Gen. Yamashita is having a flaming homosexual liaison with one of his close friends and adjutants......

Answer 6

taking into consideration that this confusing-fought and close run conflict replaced the historic previous of my us of a for ever, and wasn't truly all that lots relaxing: it replaced into fought up and down a hill - Harold's military on the astonishing, with William's military charging up it, so how approximately Monty Python's - 'RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY'

Answer 7

mos def Caesar baby. testudo (tortoise) formation.

Answer 8

Different era, tactic and technology and reason to fight - no one will ever know

Answer 9

no, because they were all dead.

(for the sake of argument...)