I Hate When I Miss Important Anniversaries

Agincourt: 25 October 1415. St. Crispin’s Day: ‘If We Are Mark’d to Die, We Are Enough to Do Our Country Loss’

Outnumbered two or three to one, the British, relying heavily on the Welsh Longbow - the high-tech weapon of its day - defeated the French at Agincourt.

Great victories in warfare require great risk. Even if a commander has the numerical odds in his favor, the fortunes of war are always uncertain, and there is therefore danger in undertaking any offensive operation. Certainly, history affords many examples of battles where the attacking force had every advantage, and yet the troops in the vanguard suffered shocking casualties, as in Operation Overlord, where the Americans had to fight like hell to gain a foothold at Omaha Beach.

Included is the "Band of Brothers" soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry V. You should click thru for that.

The number of French killed was equal to the entire size of Henry’s army! The French never really recovered the prestige they lost at Agincourt, and why this great defeat? Because Henry was willing to take the risk of fighting against the odds. Therefore truly, Oct. 25 “shall ne’er go by . . . to the ending of the world,” that we do not stop to recall the feats of King Henry V and his “band of brothers.”