MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

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  ChrisR

  So a frog wants to be the Chief Crook of FIFA. Mmm, lets look at what happened to some other frogs that wanted things they shouldn't have.
  
  Tomorrow, Sunday 25th October 1415, is the 600th anniversary of Agincourt.
  
  For all the argie numbnuts who have never heard of, or do not know what Agincourt is, it was a famous battle where a total force of 5,000 English and Welsh Knights, men at arms and LONGBOWMEN defeated 30k – 100k Frogs.
  
  The Frogs didn't even know the total of their own force but they DID know they had 4,500 Frog knights fully equipped for the field. This means massive, armoured horses with armoured knights and all their retinue (not all of whom would be combatants). The 25,500 - 95,500 other frogs would be a mixture of all sorts including mercenary forces.
  
  But who really defeated this overwhelming frog force: THE LONGBOWMEN OF ENGLAND, that's who. Having crossed the ENGLISH channel and marched overland the deciding battle saw 4,500 frog knights poncing around at the front of their forces taunting the English and Welsh to draw into battle.
  
  So they opened up with the longbowmen, using the good old tried and tested longbow with arrows having bodkin points. A bodkin is a six inch (150mm) 1/4 inch square sectioned steel NAIL with a pyramidal sharpened point.
  
  Oh how the mighty were fallen when the arrows rained down on the frogs. Their utter belief in the armour they wore was soon dispelled when the bodkins went through the breastplates and through hearts, lungs and all the other major organs. Utter surprise must then have given way to utter panic as the major blood vessels were rent apart and the body cavity itself started to fill up with blood.
  
  Shock would then start to take over their frog pride and belief in their own invincibility followed by a massive drop in body temperature and an unstoppable advance in restricted breathing to the point where the frog brains started to close down. By then they were as dead as frogs without their legs!

  Oct 24th, 2015 - 06:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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• 

  Clyde15

  #1
  A good account of the battle can be read in Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt following the tale of Thomas Hookton, an English archer.
  
  “However, a recent study by Professor Anne Curry gives a different perspective to the numbers involved
  
  QUOTE:-
  Agincourt is often regarded as such a success because the English were supposedly hopelessly outnumbered, but this traditional image is now under threat from new research. In her book Agincourt; A New History, Anne Curry offers insights in to her research on numbers at the battle of Agincourt. As part of this research, Professor Curry has compiled a database listing the name of every soldier who fought in the Hundred Years War, and from this research she has been able to lay claim to the figures for 9,000 soldiers for the English and 12,000 for the French”
  
  The effectiveness of the arrow shower was that it broke up the cavalry charge by killing or wounding the horses Horses carreering or crashing into each other would unseat the knights who were almost useless on the ground.
  In retrospect, the French lost the battle rather than the English winning it.
  
  I think initially the archers used broadhead arrows to pierce the horseflesh, changing to bodkins when the range came down below 100 yards.

  Oct 27th, 2015 - 12:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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• 

  ChrisR

  @ 2 Clyde15
  
  Yes I read the sales pitch as well.
  
  Interesting that the “French lost the battle rather than the English winning it.”
  
  Mmmm. I bet you wish you had “won” a few battles like this even if you thought you were going to lose, I know I would.
  
  As far as I can tell the book by Anne Curry is out there on it's own for this approach. Perhaps it was from a woman's perspective, cue accusations of misogyny from a certain person.

  Oct 27th, 2015 - 06:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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• 

  Clyde15

  #3
  Anyway the end result was that England got booted out of France by 1453,
  
  I said that the French lost the battle because the terrain was not suitable for cavalry. Also the French seem to be imbued with the spirit of “la gloire”. Combat against their peers. This new form of warfare was unknown to them.....having to fight against commoners..where is the glory in that.
  Well, they learned the hard way.
  Have a look at this site----
  .medievalists.net/2014/05/09/historians-disagree-comparison-biographies-henry-v/
  Pay your money and take your choice.
  The sensible approach would have been to shadow Henry's army and bring it to battle, in the open, near the coast. By this time, Henry's army would have been decimated by hunger and disease and would have lost.
  Vercengetorix had a huge army but lost to Caesar, the Persians lost to the Greeks, Boudica lost to the Romans. Tactics and choosing your ground can overcome unfavourable odds. The Japanese did it to us in Singapore.
  
  An interesting point has been made, that is was being considered to have a company of archers in Wellington's forces at Waterloo.
  As the French marched into battle in massed ranks, an arrow storm every 15 seconds could have caused horrendous carnage and broken up the attack before they got within musket range. The same would have happened to the cavalry.
  However, it was discovered that it takes 10 years to make an effective bowman both in skill and muscular strength....they did not have any men who fitted this role.

  Oct 27th, 2015 - 07:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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• 

  ChrisR

  It seems, as some of us realise, that history has a way of repeating itself.
  
  Compare arrows and the skill with the bow with The Skill at Arms promulgated by Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD (Volunteer Decoration but embarrassingly named nevertheless), PC who was so disgusted with the complete inability of the soldiers he commanded in the Boer Wars to shoot their rifles accurately that he promoting the mass training of civilians in rifle shooting skills through membership of shooting clubs. A facsimile of his signature appears to this day on all official targets of the National Smallbore Rifle Association (NSRA) a pathetic shadow of what was once the premier club and National Association in the country. I was a member for 22 years and encourage youngsters to 'try rifle target shooting' for themselves at the club I was Secretary and trustee for 15 years in Cheshire.
  
  Scouts (girls and boys), schools and boys clubs, girls clubs, Pony Club target event training all took part and enjoyed it immensely. Youngsters respond to discipline and encouragement, but interestingly it was the girls who were better pupils than the boys. They listened you see and tried their best to do what they were taught. The boys wanted to do it 'their way' and although safety was paramount and never broken they still didn't understand the control needed on breathing and muscles!
  
  The Snowdrop Committee, the seven Scottish Hags who high-jacked the Dunblane Appeal did more damage to youngsters than they knew.

  Oct 28th, 2015 - 04:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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