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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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!
Hussite war wagons proved so effective that within 100 years this tactic spread from Bohemia all the way to India!
In 1526 Mughal Emperor Babur employed war wagons to win the First Battle of Panipat.
A short thread on how this style of warfare spread over the world. 🧵
The tactic of "wagenburg" (wagon fort) was adopted in the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) by the Hussites, a religious movement which fought armies of crusader knights from all over Europe.
The use of such war wagons enabled them to withstand the cavalry charges of armored knights.
The purpose of these war wagons was not just to present an obstacle for the cavalry but also to give handgunners protection to fire their weapons at the enemy.
The main weakness of handguns at the time was the long reloading time, during which handgunners were vulnerable.
There was a scene in the movie Lord of the Rings where they light signal fires to warn of an attack.
But this is how the defense system of Habsburg lands actually worked against the Ottoman threat!
A network of bonfires was in place to warn people of incoming Ottoman raids. 🧵
In the Lord of the Rings these are called the Beacon-hills of Gondor.
They are permanently manned stations across the hills where great fireplaces are kept in the state of readiness.
In this manner, people all over the kingdom can be informed of an attack quickly.
People might think this is something that belongs to the fictional world, but in 15-16th centuries the Habsburgs actually established a similar system like this.
The mountainous regions of Carniola and Styria offered many good strategic positions!