The raiding continued and with each year became more intense. In 865–866 it escalated further with the arrival of what the Saxons called the Great Heathen Army. The annals do not report the size of the army, but modern estimates suggest between five hundred and a thousand men. It was said to have been under the leadership of the brothers Ivar the Boneless, Ubba, and Halfdan Ragnarsson. What made this army different from those before it was the intent of the leaders. These forces began "a new stage, that of conquest and residence". By 870, the Northmen had conquered the kingdoms of Northumbria and East Anglia, and in 871 they attacked Wessex. Of the nine battles mentioned by the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" during that year, only one was a West Saxon victory. In this year, Alfred succeeded his brother Ethelred, who died after the Battle of Merton.