How Richard the Lionheart CRUSHED Saladin’s 30,000 in Just 17 Minutes - Battle Of Arsuf

Saladin shadowed the Crusader column along the coast, hammering it with arrows and hit-and-run charges. Richard kept the march tight—crossbowmen and spearmen screening the flanks, cavalry leashed and ready—bleeding the pressure without breaking formation.

When the Ayyubid vanguard edged too close and the Hospitallers took the brunt, the signal finally came: banners forward, lances down, and the whole mounted line exploded out of the dust. The Templars smashed the front, Richard’s reserve punched the center, and infantry surged behind with bolts and blades as the column wheeled from march to attack in one motion.

What followed was pure shock: couched lances ripping open the cavalry screen, disciplined rally-and-hit cycles that kept momentum, and crossbow volleys pinning riders who tried to peel away. With the sea on one side and dunes on the other, space vanished—and so did Saladin’s cohesion. In minutes the pressure flipped, command standards buckled, and the field that had stalked the Crusaders all morning turned into a chase the other way.

Seventeen minutes of unleashed violence decided the day—and Richard the Lionheart owned it.