The Battle of Agincourt, 1415
The Battle of Agincourt, fought on October 25, 1415, was only one of many battles in the Hundred Year War, fought between the French and the English. Henry V had landed in Normandy two months earlier, but had lost approximately half of his 11,000 troops to disease and casualties in battle at the siege of Harfleur.
Henry V had only 5,500 men when he faced the French army of 20,000 at Agincourt. Several factors played to Henry’s advantage. The battle took place on a relatively small field, flanked on either side by woods, and the English had Welsh archers armed with longbows, capable of firing arrows over a much longer distance. The archers were protected by a wall of pointed sticks. They decimated the French forces, before the French cavalry could reach the archers. The English lost only 400 men to 6,000 French casualties.
Several years after the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V was recognized as the heir to the French throne; however, he died only two years later, in 1422.