Today in History- October 25th. BATTLE OF AGINCOURT: October 25, 1415 During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France.Two months before, Henry had crossed the English Channel with 11,000 men and laid siege to Harfleur in Normandy. After five weeks the town surrendered, but Henry lost half his men to disease and battle casualties. He decided to march his army northeast to Calais, where he would meet the English fleet and return to England. At Agincourt, however, a vast French army of 20,000 men stood in his path, greatly outnumbering the exhausted English archers, knights, and men-at-arms.The battlefield lay on 1,000 yards of open ground between two woods, which prevented large-scale maneuvers and thus worked to Henry's advantage. At 11 a.m. on October 25, the battle commenced. The English stood their ground as French knights, weighed down by their heavy armor, began a slow advance across the muddy battlefield. The French were met by a furious bombardment of artillery from the English archers, who wielded innovative longbows with a range of 250 yards. French cavalrymen tried and failed to overwhelm the English positions, but the archers were protected by a line of pointed stakes. As more and more French knights made their way onto the crowded battlefield, their mobility decreased further, and some lacked even the room to raise their arms and strike a blow. At this point, Henry ordered his lightly equipped archers to rush forward with swords and axes, and the unencumbered Englishmen massacred the French.Almost 6,000 Frenchmen lost their lives during the Battle of Agincourt, while English deaths amounted to just over 400. With odds greater than three to one, Henry had won one of the great victories of military history. After further conquests in France, Henry V was recognized in 1420 as heir to the French throne and the regent of France. He was at the height of his powers but died just two years later of camp fever near Paris. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1854 Charge of the Light Brigade 1881 Pablo Picasso born 1929 Cabinet member guilty in Teapot Dome scandal historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272962&day=10272990 AUTOMOTIVE 1902 Oldfield and Ford race into history historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272962&day=10272990 CIVIL WAR 1861 Keel of the Monitor laid historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272962&day=10272990 COLD WAR 1971 The U.N. seats the People's Republic of China and expels Taiwan historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272962&day=10272990 CRIME 1994 Susan Smith reports a false carjacking to cover her murder historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272962&day=10272990 ENTERTAINMENT 1964 Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272962&day=10272990 LITERARY 1748 Henry Fielding becomes justice of the peace historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272962&day=10272990 OLD WEST 1853 Indians attack transcontinental railroad survey crew in Utah historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272962&day=10272990 VIETNAM WAR 1972 Nixon suspends bombing of North Vietnam historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272962&day=10272990 WALL STREET 1923 Interior Secretary sent to the slammer historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272962&day=10272990 WORLD WAR II 1944 First kamikaze attack of the war begins historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272962&day=10272990