Today 12 February is anniversary of the Battle of the Herrings during the Hundred Years' War in 1429. The French attacked the English supply convoy of around 300 wagons which carried weapons and food, including barrels of herring (type of fish)! The English beat the attackers!
The English had been besieging the city of Orléans and a supply convoy was headed from Paris led by Sir John Fastolf. He commanded a force of around 1000 archers and some light cavalry that escorted around 300 carts and wagons carried to the besiegers at Orléans!
Sir John Fastolf was a brave man and a very capable commander. An experienced veteran who was also a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter! He was entrusted to bring safely to Orléans the convoy which also carried salted fish, "herring and Lenten stuff"!
This fish herring was for the meatless Lenten days that were approaching! On the way to Orléans they encountered a much larger French force of around 4000 led by Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Clermont. This French force also included many Scottish soldiers!
Fastolf needed to react quickly and decided to use the supply wagons for defense, forming a wagon fort and enforcing it with wooden stakes to make it even harder for the enemy to come near. He then placed the famed English longbowmen to defend it!
Duke of Clermont wisely avoided assaulting this improvised English fortress and ordered his artillery to fire at the wagon fort. Even though artillery was still primitive back then, it had success and caused casualties among the English as well as destroying some wagons!
However the restless Scottish soldiers in French service ignored the orders of Clermont forbidding any attack and charged at English positions. This forced the French to stop the bombardment in order not to hit their own troops. Longbowmen fired at the Scots and killed many!
Longbowmen were massacring the lightly armored Scottish and the French cavalry tried to assist them but were stopped by the stakes. The French infantry was less eager to participate in this suicidal mission and stayed back. The French forces were in total chaos and disarray!
Sensing opportunity, Fastolf ordered his light cavalry known as the hobilars to charge at the disorganized enemy! The charge was successful and the French routed in panic. This was yet another spectacular victory for the English! But the tide would start to turn soon...
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It's wild how Denmark had colonies in India for more than 200 years from 1620 to 1869.
Fort Dansborg, built in 1620, still stands today in the Bay of Bengal.
They had forts, factories, trading posts. But they eventually sold their possessions to British Empire.
The Danish presence in India was of little significance to the major European powers as they presented neither a military nor a mercantile threat so they let them carve out their own niche.
A map of Danish trade routes in the region.
The operation was initially conducted by Danish East India Company.
But the early years of the Danish adventure in India in 1620s were horrible. Almost two-thirds of all the trading vessels dispatched from Denmark were lost.
English explorer John Smith, famous for his involvement in establishing the Jamestown colony in America in 1607.
His coat of arms featured the heads of three Ottoman soldiers whom he beheaded in duels while serving as a mercenary in Transylvania during the Long Turkish War.
John Smith is known today for his role in managing the colony of Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and his connection with a Powhatan woman called Pocahontas.
But John Smith was also a powerful warrior and mercenary prior to that.
Born in England, he set off to sea in 1596 at age 16 after his father died to become a mercenary, fighting for the French against the Spanish.
He was looking for what he called "brave adventures".
After a truce was made in 1598, he joined a French pirate crew in Mediterranean.
Many Irishmen served the Habsburgs over centuries and distinguished themselves.
Over 100 Irishmen were field marshals, generals, or admirals in the Austrian Army!
Some of the illustrious Irish warriors serving the Habsburg emperors. 🧵
In 1853 there was an assassination attempt on emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna by a Hungarian nationalist.
But the emperor's life was saved by Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell who cut the assassin down with a sabre.
O'Donnell was a descendant of Irish nobility!
Maximilian ancestors -the powerful O'Donnell clan- left Ireland during the Flight of the Earls in 1607, when Irish earls and their followers left Ireland in the aftermath of their defeat against the English Crown in the Nine Years' War in 1603.
Many inns appeared in medieval Europe, offering foods, drinks and a place to socialize, as well as lodging for travelers, helping transportation logistics.
In this thread I will present some of the old medieval inns that survived to this day, from various European countries!🧵
The George Inn. Norton St Philip in Somerset, England 🏴.
Built in 14th century and completed in 15th century, this is a proper medieval inn.
Being an innkeeper was a respected social position. In medieval England, innkeepers were generally wealthy and held influence in towns!
Stiftskeller St. Peter. St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, Austria 🇦🇹.
Often mentioned as the oldest inn in Central Europe, for it was first mentioned in 803 in a letter to Charlemagne.
It operated as part of the monastery to give food to pilgrims. Now a prestigious restaurant.
This is the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen made in 1937.
I was always fascinated with this car.
It's crazy how in 1938 this car recorded a speed of 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph). This remained the fastest ever officially timed speed on a public road until broken in 2017.
The record was set by German driver Rudolf Caracciola who drove this car on the Reichs-Autobahn A5 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt on 28 January 1938.
This reflected the obsession with breaking records and showcasing industrial prowess of nations at the time.
The onlookers who observed the spectacle of a car racing at astonishing 432.7 km/h past them also noted the brutal boom of the side spewing exhaust stacks as the silver car hurtled past.
It must have been an incredible spectacle to witness!