Battle of Ashdown
{'<entity_0>': 'Battle of Ashdown', '<entity_1>': 'Alfred the Great', '<entity_2>': 'Kingdom of Wessex', '<entity_3>': '08 January 0871', '<entity_4>': 'Berkshire', '<entity_5>': 'Bagsecg', '<entity_6>': 'Halfdan Ragnarsson', '<entity_7>': 'Vikings', '<entity_8>': 'battle'}
[['Battle of Ashdown', 'instance of', 'battle'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'participant', 'Alfred the Great'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'participant', 'Bagsecg'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'participant', 'Kingdom of Wessex'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'participant', 'Vikings'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'participant', 'Halfdan Ragnarsson'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'location', 'Berkshire'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'start time', '08 January 0871'], ['Battle of Ashdown', 'end time', '08 January 0871']]
The <entity_0>, was a <entity_2> victory over a Danish Viking army on about <entity_3> 871. The West Saxons were led by King Æthelred and his younger brother, the future King <entity_1>, while the Viking commanders were <entity_5> and <entity_6>. Three days after their arrival they sent out a large foraging party, which was defeated by an army of local levies under the command of Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of <entity_4>, at the Battle of Englefield, but only four days later the main <entity_2> army under Æthelred and Alfred was defeated at the Battle of Reading. The <entity_7> arrived first at the <entity_8> ground and deployed along the top of the ridge, giving them the advantage. They divided their forces into two contingents, one under their kings, <entity_5> and <entity_6>, the other under their earls. Although both the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser emphasise Alfred's role in the victory, in the view of Richard Abels it was the attack by Æthelred when he joined the <entity_8> which was decisive and he may have intended all along to take the <entity_7> unawares. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the Battle of Basing was two months earlier, dating it to 22 January, Ashdown fourteen days before that on <entity_3>, Reading four days earlier on 4 January, Englefield another four days earlier on 31 December 870 and the arrival of the <entity_7> in Reading three days earlier on 28 December.
['battle']