The Battle of Agincourt, fought on 25 October 1415, was one of the most famous battles of the Hundred Years’ War and a defining moment in English military history. It was a battle that saw an outnumbered English army, led by King Henry V, triumph against overwhelming French forces. At its heart was the deadly effectiveness of the English longbow, a weapon that not only secured victory on the battlefield but also left a lasting legacy in the evolution of medieval warfare. Agincourt was a demonstration of discipline, strategy, and the power of archery over traditional heavy cavalry, shifting the nature of European combat for generations to come.
Henry V’s campaign in France was part of the ongoing struggle between England and France over territorial claims and the French throne. In the summer of 1415, Henry launched an ambitious invasion, capturing the important port of Harfleur after a prolonged siege. However, the campaign had taken a toll on his army, with many soldiers weakened by disease and exhaustion. Rather than retreating to England immediately, Henry chose to march his army across northern France towards the English-held port of Calais, a bold move that risked confrontation with a superior French force.
As Henry’s army moved through enemy territory, the French mustered a vast force to intercept them. The French nobles, eager to avenge past defeats and confident in their numerical advantage, gathered an army believed to be between 12,000 and 36,000 strong, consisting of heavily armoured knights, mounted cavalry, and experienced men-at-arms. In contrast, Henry’s force was significantly smaller, numbering around 6,000 troops, the majority of whom were longbowmen. The stage was set for a battle that would test the effectiveness of England’s military tactics against the might of French chivalry.
On the morning of 25 October, Henry positioned his forces in a narrow field flanked by dense woodland, limiting the ability of the French cavalry to outflank them. The ground was muddy from recent rain, making movement difficult, especially for heavily armoured knights. Henry arranged his longbowmen in a defensive formation, using sharpened wooden stakes to deter cavalry charges. The French, overconfident in their strength, massed their troops for a frontal assault, believing their sheer numbers would easily break the English lines.
As the battle commenced, the English longbowmen unleashed a relentless hail of arrows. The longbow, a weapon that required years of training to master, could fire up to 12 arrows per minute, with each arrow capable of penetrating armour at close range. The sheer volume of fire disrupted the French advance, striking down knights and horses before they could reach the English lines. Those who did manage to close the distance found themselves bogged down in the thick mud, where they became easy targets for further volleys.
The French vanguard, consisting of armoured knights on foot, struggled through the battlefield’s sodden terrain, becoming exhausted before even reaching the enemy. Their tightly packed formation meant they had little room to manoeuvre, and as more waves of troops pressed forward, the battlefield became a chaotic crush of bodies. The English longbowmen, once their arrows were spent, joined the melee with daggers, swords, and hammers, cutting down the disoriented and trapped French soldiers. The result was a devastating massacre, with thousands of French knights and noblemen killed in what should have been an overwhelming victory for them.
By the end of the battle, the French had suffered catastrophic losses. Estimates suggest that between 6,000 and 10,000 French soldiers were killed, including many of the kingdom’s most important noblemen. The English, in contrast, lost only a few hundred men. Among the dead were high-ranking members of the French aristocracy, further weakening France’s ability to resist English advances in the war. Henry V, having defied the odds, emerged as one of the greatest military leaders of his time, cementing his reputation as a warrior king.
The longbow’s role in the victory at Agincourt was undeniable. This weapon had already proven its worth in earlier battles such as Crécy and Poitiers, but Agincourt demonstrated its ability to completely dismantle a superior force when used effectively. The battle also marked a shift in medieval warfare, highlighting the vulnerability of traditional heavy cavalry against disciplined missile troops. The era of the mounted knight, dominant in European warfare for centuries, was beginning to decline in the face of evolving tactics and weaponry.
Beyond its military significance, Agincourt had a lasting cultural impact. Henry V’s triumph was celebrated in England as a national achievement, inspiring patriotic fervour and reinforcing the legitimacy of English claims to the French throne. The battle was immortalised in literature, most famously in William Shakespeare’s Henry V, where the king’s rousing speech before the battle—known as the “St Crispin’s Day” speech—became one of the most famous passages in English drama. The victory also strengthened Henry’s position, allowing him to negotiate the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, which recognised him as the heir to the French throne.
Despite the glory surrounding Agincourt, its long-term impact on the Hundred Years’ War was limited. Henry’s death in 1422 left his young son, Henry VI, as king, and England soon lost much of its hard-won territory in France. The war continued for several more decades, culminating in a French resurgence led by figures such as Joan of Arc, which ultimately drove the English out of France. However, Agincourt remained a symbol of English military prowess, and its lessons influenced the development of warfare in the centuries that followed.
The legacy of the longbow, the defining weapon of Agincourt, endured long after the battle itself. Although gunpowder weapons would eventually render archery obsolete, the tactics employed by Henry V’s army demonstrated the power of disciplined infantry and ranged warfare. The English longbowmen, drawn from the yeoman class, represented a shift away from reliance on aristocratic knights, paving the way for more professional armies in later conflicts. Agincourt was more than just a victory on the battlefield; it was a moment that reshaped perceptions of medieval warfare and highlighted the effectiveness of strategy over sheer numbers. It remains one of the most remarkable examples of an underdog triumphing against overwhelming odds, proving that discipline, preparation, and tactical ingenuity could overcome even the mightiest of foes. The echoes of Agincourt still resonate today, a reminder of how one battle, fought with arrows and steel on the muddy fields of northern France, changed the course of history.
