What English weapon destroyed the French at Agincourt in 1415?

The English longbow was the weapon most closely associated with England’s victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Agincourt was fought during the Hundred Years’ War, after Henry V’s army became trapped in northern France by a much larger French force. English and Welsh archers made up roughly 80 percent of Henry’s army. They fired from the flanks, while sharpened stakes helped protect them from cavalry charges.

The longbow did not simply pierce every suit of plate armour, as popular stories sometimes claim. Its major effects included wounding horses, striking less-protected limbs, disrupting formations, and forcing heavily armoured French soldiers to advance through deep mud. The crowded battlefield then made it difficult for exhausted men to move or fight effectively.

The longbow had already helped England win major battles at Crécy in 1346 and Poitiers in 1356. At Agincourt, it was especially devastating because of the terrain, French tactics, and the English army’s disciplined defensive position.