BATTLE OF AGINCOURT:
October 25, 1415


During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.

In the grand scheme of things, I think that the importance of this battle is the beginning of the end - if not the definite end - of the knight in heavy shining armor.

While tradition has it that the victory went to the English because of the use of the longbow, reading accounts of the battle, and even the blurb on the History Channel site, I think that the outnumbered English forced the French to fight their battle - basically penning the French and removing their mobility, to where they were decimated first by the longbow, and finally, by the brutal hand to hand the resulted.

And to think, by the end of that century, new lands were discovered.

Henry didn't exactly "lead' his forces to victory: they were in a  retreat with the French too quickly advancing, catching them with the sea at their backs. Henry, certain that capture meant death, decided that death in battle would be preferable than being disgraced in surrender. He had managed to find a locale to better his situation slightly, being outnumbered about ten to one. The French cavalry (knights, if you will) charged, their horses struggling across the muddy terrain, with the arrows of English longbowmen raining down. Adding to it was the crossbowmen of Genoa; their crossbows (technically, more accurate at range) couldn't match the range of the English crossbows. This resulted in their bolts finding their marks in the backs of their own French cavalry. Already frustrated in the mud and now further angered, some of the French knights turned back and attacked their own Genoese crossbowmen; if they couldn't make it to the English lines, at least they got to kill somebody  !

Quote:
I suppose you expect everyone to bow to your point or get the shaft? 8)

the crossbows were made with ibex horns that turned soft in the wet weather. if that wouldn' have been the case, the battle could have well turned out the other way

we'll never know

the way i understand it the english were outnumbered, but with better leadership and choosing the battleground, and with some other favorable factors they won.

"what if ... " doesn't change history tho

And at the end of the day we won the battle and should have won the 100 years war, but Henry V died too soon.  The rest is history lol

Yes the British longbowmen were the best bowmen at the time, but Frankish (French) knights could take care of them without too much trouble

Quote:

Hence the origin of the good old-fashioned English V sign.

PS. If I could access my home PC I would post my famous photo of Winnie.