Agincourt – Arrows Against Armor

Episode 8 of Turning Points: History’s Greatest Battles covers the Battle of Agincourt (1415), a stunning English victory during the Hundred Years’ War. King Henry V, leading a small, exhausted force of around 6,000 men, faced a vastly larger French army — possibly three to five times his size. The French nobles, confident in their heavy cavalry and armor, underestimated the English longbowmen and the muddy, narrow terrain. When the battle began, English archers unleashed waves of arrows that disrupted and panicked the French cavalry. The wet, constricted battlefield caused the French troops to become tightly packed and immobilized, turning their superior numbers into a disadvantage. Henry’s disciplined infantry then moved in, cutting down knights who were stuck in the mud or crushed under their own forces. By the end, thousands of French nobles lay dead, while English losses were minimal. Agincourt became a legendary example of strategy and discipline overcoming arrogance and numbers, securing Henry V’s place in history and solidifying the longbow’s reputation as a decisive weapon of war. #Tags:#TurningPointsPodcast #BattleOfAgincourt #HundredYearsWar #HenryV #Longbowmen #MedievalWarfare #FrenchvsEnglish #MilitaryStrategy #AgainstAllOdds #GreatBattles