600 years

 

This year is the six hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (painting). An exhibition in Paris, France is due to open a new exhibition commemorating the battle in which Britain’s Henry V triumphed.
The battle took place in 1415 at the battlefield at Agincourt, Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France.
The start of the battle was on 25 October 1415 and, to this day, it remains a classic victory for the English on foreign soil, but still incurs mixed feelings from both the British and French.
The battle took place on muddy ground between two woods. Henry V did not really want to fight the battle after a long and bloody siege of Harfleur just previously. Further, his Welsh and English army was tired, diseased, and hungry, as well as being vastly outnumbered by a rested and ready French army.
It was a messy and bloody battle, and many of the details still remain unconfirmed and or contested, particularly because of the surprising ending in favor of the British. The French suggest Henry’s army was a war machine, and legend says he threatened his men with losing an ear if they tried to desert the battle.
Meanwhile, the French are said to have threatened cutting off every English bowman’s fingers if they were captured.
At sunrise, the archers enabled the English to hold their position for three hours. After which, Henry decided to advance and the French charged. It was a disaster, and the French were cut to pieces by the English archers, firing around ten arrows a minute each.
French reinforcements with heavy armor advanced on foot and waded through the muddy fields, but were killed as soon as they were in range.
Once the English archers had used all of their arrows the troops turned to axes, swords, and mallets against the losing French side. It was a massacre, with many simply drowning or suffocating in the mud.
Historians believe the French lost between four thousand and ten thousand troops, while the English are said to have lost around fifteen hundred. Henry returned triumphant to a welcome parade in London, England at the end of November, The Guardian reports.
Henry had got revenge for the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Shakespeare immortalized Henry V in his play of the same name.

Rico says it's yet another war he's glad he missed...