21. France’s Worst Medieval Defeat
In 1415, during the Hundred Years War, France suffered its most disheartening defeat of the Middle Ages. At the Battle of Agincourt that year, a French army of about 36,000 men, including thousands of armored knights, was routed by a significantly smaller English army of 6000 men, comprised of 5000 longbowmen and 1000 knights. It began with England’s King Henry V marching through Normandy to Calais, when his path was blocked by a French army that outnumbered his six to one.
Henry picked a position with flanks protected by woods. That limited French options to a frontal attack along a narrow front comprised of recently plowed muddy fields. He placed longbowmen on his flanks, his dismounted knights and more. Longbowmen in the center, had his men hammer pointed stakes in front of their positions, and waited. When the French commander ordered his first wave of mounted knights to charge, they discovered that the muddy fields, the weight of their heavy armor, the rows of sharpened stakes in their path, and the rain of arrows spelled trouble.
