Question: Why was Alfred Able To Defeat The Vikings? In the autumn of 856, Danish Viking ships sailed to England and invaded what is now Norfolk in East Anglia. By Easter of 878, the Danes held control of all of East Anglia, Mercia, most of Wessex (all save Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset) and had set up a puppet ruler in Northumbria. The invaders had destroyed or overrun almost everything that had been of the four great Anglo-Saxon …showed first 75 words of 1453 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1453 total…Danish ships attacking the coast near the Isle of Wight whom Alfred’s new ships engaged. Although nine of the English ships ran aground almost at once, two of the Danish ships also did the same while two escaped and two more were captured by the Saxons who subsequently put their crews to death . It was this remarkable foresight and resourcefulness that, among other things, enabled Alfred to win back his country from the Vikings.