Why was the battle of agincourt fought?

Answer 1

No not because it was because the English had new and approved weapons such as the long bow which was faster to load while the french had longbows which could take a 100 years to load( being sarcastic here)

There are a few reasons.Firstly, they had longbows which could fire up to eighteen arrows a minute.The French had crossbows which could only fir at around 5 arrows a minute.The English had a height advantage as well, which reduced the impact of the french cavalry charge, which made easy prey for the longbowmen.

Answer 2

It was a combination of armaments, battlefield conditions and tactics. The English set their position at the top of a rise of land,which was bordered on both sides by woods. The French knights were in heavy suits of armour, while the English were in lighter dress that made them more mobile. The weather was wet so the ground between the armies was soggy. The French knights charged up the rise but had to go slow because of the soggy ground and their heavy armour. The woods on both sides acted as a funnel to keep the front line small. As the French knights moved uphill the English used their longbows to fire arrows into them like modern-day artillery from way up the hill before the knights could even get near the English. Knights in the front lines began to fall from the arrows but the French knights behind the front lines kept charging without knowing what was happening up front and they rode right over their own troops. Knights from the rear then were in range of the longbowmen and began to get hit from arrows. They fell on top of knghts who had fallen earlier. A knight usually could not get up by himself due to the weight of the armour. Some knights actually drowned because they were pushed down into puddles with armoured knights falling on top of them. As more and more knights fell and could not get back up, English soldiers armed with daggers ran out and killed them as they lay on the ground. Eventually the French assualt collapsed and they retreated giving the English King Henry V the specatacular victory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's a myth that Knights could not easily pick themselves up in their armour. Mike Loades, the historical weapons expert, has performed that action several times in full plate armour. (See Mike Loades' documentary series entitled The Weapons That Made Britain). It's likely that the mud made it hard to stand back up since it was soggy, furthermore they would have been tired since they had been marching through the difficult muddy terrain. The physical exertion of walking through the mud then attempting to pick yourself up may have been too much. Additionally, the English army under Henry V was experienced and well disciplined. Simply put, the English were an army whilst the French were a collection of nobles recklessly eager to prove themselves against their English Knight counterparts. The terrain was perhaps the crucial factor, whilst the French outnumbered the English significantly they could not bring their numbers to bear since the woods on the flanks of the field forced the French to deploy in three lines. After the first line of French engaged the English men-at-arms, the second line advanced but got stuck behind the first line and hence could not effect the battle. In fact a crush developed and the French had problems using their weapons, and this made them unable to respond when the English longbowmen joined the melee from the flanks. The French failed as much as the English succeeded, French charges were understrength as some Knights went off to warm themselves or feed their horses. The impact of the longbow on this battle has been debated too, given the close range a longbow needed to actually penetrate and kill an armoured knight. (Again see Mike Loades - Weapons That Made Britain: The Longbow).

Answer 3

The main advantage was the terrain in which the battle was fought. Another advantage was French over confidence and of course, the famous English Longbow. A rain had caused the field to be too muddy for the French knights, who, because of the ground they were fighting on, were not able to effectively use their arms to full advantage. Most of this answer comes from Wikipedia.

Answer 4

As a result of failed negotiations with the French, Henry V invaded France. He had claimed the title of King of France through his great-grandfather Edward III. He called a Great Council in 1414 to talk about a possible war with France. The Lords favored continued negotiation. Henry offered to give up his claim if the French would pay 1.6 million crowns still outstanding from the ransom of John II who was captured at Poitiers in 1356. In addition he wanted France to concede English ownership of Normandy, Aquitaine, Tourraine, Anjou, Brittany and Flanders. Henry would marry Princess Catherine, Charles VI daughter and receive a $2 million dowry. The French offered $600,000 dowry for Catherine and an enlarged Aquitaine. Negotiations reached a stalemate , in December, 1414, Henry was granted a double subsidy t recover his inheritance from France. By April, 1415, the Great Council sanctioned war with France.

Answer 5

Henry V and his 500 soldiers, 200 cavalry and 4,000 archers routed a French force estimated at over 15,000 chivalry and auxilaries.

Answer 6

positional tactics and better armoury

Answer 7

it was fought over the city of Agincourt