March 28th - April 3rd
“Seems like a good week to invade, raid and lay siege - Vikings in Paris, English in Scotland, and Argentinians in the Falklands”
On 28th March…
Vikings
845 - Vikings attacked the city of Paris on Easter Sunday. They arrived in a fleet of about 120 ships with about 4,000 men and plundered and ransacked Paris until the king gave them 7,000lbs (about 3175kg) of silver to leave.
On 29th March…
Battle of Towton
1461 - The bloodiest battle ever to take place on British soil occurred in freezing temperatures and a snowstorm. Around 28,000 men were killed at the Battle of Towton during the Wars of the Roses. The Wars were battles between cousins over who was the rightful king of England; Richard Duke of York, then his son Edward of York (whose emblem was the white rose) fought King Henry VI of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose). This battle was won by Edward who rode into York and removed the head of his dead father which had been placed on a spike at a gateway to the city. Richard had been defeated in a battle three months earlier and his head was stuck on a spike as a warning to others. Things were definitely very messy back then.
1981 -The first ever London Marathon took place. Out of the 7,741 runners who started the race only 6,255 people finished. In 2019 over 42,500 runners took part in the London marathon.
On 30th March…
King Edward I
1296 – King Edward I ordered his troops to sack the city or Berwick upon Tweed killing over 7,000 men, women, and children over the course of several days. Edward was angry that Scotland had signed a treaty with France called the Auld Alliance. To show his rage he began by attacking Berwick upon Tweed which at the time was an important and large city. Edward did give the city a chance to surrender before he attacked, but the officials of the city decided not to give up and took their chance at survival. I guess they regretted that decision pretty quickly when the soldiers stormed the city.
On 31st March…
1889 - The Eiffel Tower in Paris was opened. There were no lifts when the tower first opened so Gustav Eiffel, the tower’s designer, climbed the 1665 stairs to raise an enormous French flag from the top.
On 1st April…
Royal Air Force
1918 - The Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed by merging the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
On 2nd April…
1982 - Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands sparking a war between Britain and Argentina. The war lasted just over ten weeks and ended when the Argentinian forces surrendered on 14th June.
On 3rd April…
Edward the Confessor
1043 - Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England. He did not have any children and it was his death in 1066 which led to the fight over the English crown between Harold Godwin and William, Duke of Normandy at the famous Battle of Hastings.