Though records of the longbow are found as early as the 7th century, its status as a game-changer is primarily based on its usage in several battles during the 100 Years War, most famously (as immortalized by Shakespeare) at the battle of Agincourt. Like a giant battlefield-wide version of the famous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the British simply stood to the side and said "Instead charging over there and fighting…why don’t we just shoot them?” Ranged weaponry may have long predated the longbow, but the bows size gave it the power to punch through armor. Slowly but surely, the age of hand-to-hand combat was drawing to a close.
