Battle of Agincourt
25 October 1415 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
Henry V's outnumbered English army, relying on longbowmen, defeated the French nobility in northern France.
The sides
- England, led by Henry V: about 8,100 men
- France, led by Charles d'Albret: about 14,000 men
States that fought: Kingdom of England, Kingdom of France.
How it went
Battle of Agincourt
Henry V has taken Harfleur, but sickness has half destroyed his army, and he is marching for Calais when a much larger French army blocks his road. On a muddy field between two woods, after a night of rain, he has to fight.
Between the woods
The ploughed field narrows between the woods of Azincourt and Tramecourt, so the French cannot use their numbers. Neither side moves for hours.
Henry advances
Henry moves first, to within long bowshot of the French, and his archers hammer in sharpened stakes in front of them.
The French horse charges
Arrows provoke the French into attacking. Their mounted wings charge the archers, but there are too few of them, the stakes stop them, and wounded horses bolt back through their own advancing infantry.
Into the mud
The French men-at-arms trudge through deep mud under arrows and crowd towards the English centre, packed so tight they can barely swing their weapons.
The archers join in
The archers drop their bows and fall on the flanks of the exhausted, trapped French with swords, axes and mallets. Men drown in the mud under the fallen.
Defeat
The main battle is cut up in turn, and the rearguard rides away. Fearing an attack on his baggage, Henry orders many prisoners killed. Some 6,000 French die, many of them nobles; the English lose a few hundred.
The French army is estimated anywhere from 12,000 to 30,000; this shows about 14,000. The woods are only marked, not drawn.
People and wars
- Hundred Years' War (1337–1453 CE): Series of wars between England and France over the French throne, ending with England losing all its French lands except Calais.