If there's one thing The Battle of Maldon shows us, it's that tiny things can have huge consequences. Now, time for some background for this statement. The vikings were attacking English forces at this river. Every Englishman in this defense force had sworn loyalty to the earl, and he was sort of their rallying figure. He was leading the defense, and he was vital to the defense. So, when the Viking forces were attacking, it was a little bit of a shock to the army to see the earl fleeing the battle on his horse.
As it turns out, this wasn't the earl. This was Godric, who took one look at the enemy army and sprinted away from the battle as fast as he could, throwing all thoughts of his pledge out the window and fleeing the scene. On his way out, he stole the earl's horse, leading many English to believe that was the earl himself fleeing on his horse. This led many English to flee the battle, and the battle to be lost because half the men on the attack force fled.
As a conclusion to this essay, Because of one cowardly man and a huge mistake, an entire battle was lost and many men died. This shows us that the tiniest thing can tip the scales of a great battle, even the cowardice of a single man.
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