The Face of Battle Agincourt, 1415 - Term Paper Example

The Face of Battle Agincourt, 1415 John Keegan has been the finest military historian who served at English Royal Military for more than twenty five years. The chroniclers of modern times have left good account for the battle of Agincourt that John Keegan has used to comprehend the battle from the view of an ordinary soldier. The author has attempted to give an account of the battle showing different series of events and occurrences with a view of a common fighter of an army. It is like a great event in which a weak and ordinary overcomes the noble and strong. The author’s purpose to chiefly focus on the viewpoint of an ordinary soldier is to give a much realistic account of the historic event through those who had direct participation in the event. So the readers could depict what motivated the soldiers, what made them panic or losing their valor and courage and what brought them to the victory. The author has also endeavored to reveal the war strategies that were applied and the extent of success that each strategy had given in the consequence. This account also reveals the clash of cultures in the war and the societies of Europe in medieval time that used to prepare their men to fight face to face at carnage. In 1413 after the succession to the throne of England, Henry V pressed his claim over the throne of France. Henry put forward unacceptable demands before France that it rejected and raised an alarming situation. England began to prepare for the great war and on October 24, 1415 the British Army leading by scouts marched towards Calais. The army entered the town and scouts started to ride with the speed. However the French soldiers were able to penetrate through the English route because of delay on the Somme. The British army men knelt down allegorically before the war began as they would be returning with victory before the day had passed. This was like a prayer to God to bless them the glorious victory or they might get martyred in the battlefield. As a matter of strategy, English men waited first so that French army initiated the war but no movement was found in the opponent army due to lack of decision making by central command and the French soldiers had been waiting for the moment to let the contingents settle at their stations. King Henry V began to combat the battle from Renault with exhausted and sodden English Army. Though it was thought that the French Army would have outnumbered the opponent as five to one; however the reality was quite opposite and the number game lost against the brutal and harsh strategies of war. October 25, 1415 was the victorious day for Henry’s army as it had shockingly beaten the heavily armored army of France. The English longbow men and the common combaters bogged down the French nobles and riddled them with cloud of thousands of arrows. The rain had added to the misery of battle as the ploughed land had become muddy that could not help French soldiers to get up after being wounded with the heavy armor and the soldiers began to drown in the mud as more men stumbled upon each other. The order of French line had been badly broken that initiated the panic. The archers advanced and killed thousands of French soldiers by stabbing through any gap in their armors. This was the example of immense brutality of the battle in which no mercy was shown and even eyes, knees and all parts uncovered from the iron armor were victimized. The king ordered the archers to open up the fire at chunk of knights and men of French Army that devastated the front line. After such a shock, the front line men moved ahead to charge at British Army. The charge was failed due to narrow ways through the muddy ploughed land and it was reduced to a mere staggering walk hindered by thrashing horses and the men shot down by the archers who had stormed the arrows at French from the woods on the flanks. The battle got a high momentum at stake fence along the line of English men when the French cavalry was combated by the archers. The soldiers attacked the flanks from the woods rendering the opponents dismounted. The third line of French soldiers had become uncertain of whether they would risk themselves by joining the battle or not. The third line retrenched itself from the battlefield when Henry sent herald to let them off the battle ground. The French army had none to press with his authority or even the chain of command in order to impose war tactics through the men. The entire battle vanished by midday and the English rounded up the French remnants as their prisoners. At that instance, the local French nobles led a small force using their knowledge to march around the wood and attacked on the English men gathered at Maisoncelles. Henry ordered to form a team of 200 men to execute all the French prisoners due to fear of renewal of the war. Though the order was not fully executed but the French were repelled back and that incident provoked the victory of English Army and the soldiers were able to raise adequate ransom money from the imprisoned French soldiers. Finally the French camps were ransacked prior to marching towards Calais which had become triumphantly simple. The will to combat in a war is very vital that can overcome other weak aspects like lacking ration, armor or fighting a big opponent. English soldiers had less to drink than that of French soldiers but they did not lose the spirit and fought with exuberant bravery and excelled the war despite low resources whereas the French soldiers had everything in plenty but could not take over the English men and it was all because of ‘will to combat’. The presence of King Henry V in the battlefield was also a source of motivation for the English soldiers that helped to raise the will to combat among them and they fought more aggressively. To be victorious is the first aim of a soldier and then attaining the wealth by looting the opponent is another aim that motivates the soldiers to fight with more strength and rage. The battle was overall more brutal than the warfare of last whole century as the rage, courage and war preparation was on full boom. Previously the battles were fought casually while this battle was most organized and the extent of participation was too high involving thousands of men and the causalities were also in a high number. Several war tactics and strategies were applied that rendered the battle more conclusive and brutal as well like planned way to utilize the archers from woods, waiting for the opponents to initiate the battle, shocking tactics, etc. As we see the battle had almost been finished by the midday while the alarm to battle had been raised 2 years before, this simply shows extent of horrid will and tactics applied by the both armies. We may also see the aftermath of war as really chaotic in France after losing the battle while the victorious army too had troubles due to loss of several lives, to owe permanent disabled soldiers and the burden of war over their economy. In the entire account of battle, most interesting though painful event was the order to execute all the French prisoners after a minor resistance shown by a French group when almost the battle had been winded up. This event remains vivid yet memorable through out the battle. It does not give readers an acceptable image as the prisoners were already in the prison with limited energy and strict restrictions, then a small resistance would not have such an impact that the King had decided to put to sword all the French. It seems like revenge or egoistic move rather than a battle tactic. The account also depicts the arrogance of French knights over their strength that they counted in number but it has not been elaborated by the author. The French arrogance is an interesting theme that has been allegorically presented and at last depicted how the noble arrogance was all ruined by the ordinary soldiers and this is the crux of entire story how weak and ordinary people overcame the strong and noble ones. References Keegan, J. “The Face of Battle Agincourt, October 25, 1415” Read More