Introduction
The Hundred Years War lasted from 1337 through 1453, over a century. The war lasted several generations. The causes of the war were quite complicated. Edward II thought he was the rightful king of France, and the French King disagreed. There was also a region called Aquitaine that was ruled by the English, although it was in France. It still had to pay taxes to France. All of this culminated to cause Edward to decide to invade France.
The Edwardian Era (1337-1360)
The first battle of the Hundred Years War took place in 1340. It was a sea battle. Edward III of England sailed his ships towards France. The French retaliated by sending out their navy as well. The English faked retreat, heading back toward England until the wind changed and they had the sun to their backs. The English completely crushed the French fleet and held the English Channel for the rest of the war.
The Battle of Crecy (1346) was the next major battle of the Hundred Years War. Edward captured Caen in one day. He pushed forward to continue the conquest of France, until Philip VI of France attempted to put a stop to his attack, but the English absolutely crushed Philip’s army into the ground. The French then called upon their Scottish allies to attack the English, and the English crushed them as well. The English moved on to the French city of Calais, taking it with no resistance. The English would hold onto this sea port for the rest of the war, and it allowed them to keep troops in France at all times.
The Black Death then came and caused the war to be put on hold for several years. The next battle was led by Edward III’s son, Edward the Black Prince. It was called The Battle of Poitiers (1356). Prince Edward won another great victory, and even captured the new French King John II. The aftermath of this battle was chaos. The French Nobles turned into tyrants over the peasants (I’m not sure why). This caused a peasant uprising, and Edward decided it was the perfect time to invade. He went to Reims, the coronation city of France, and tried to crown himself king of France. When they fought him back, he went to Paris, but they also fought him back. The Treaty of Bretigny resulted in the first peace of the war from 1360-1369.
The Caroline War (1369-1389)
Aquitaine revolted from France over tax reasons in 1369. This marked the end of the peace. France, again, had a new king. Charles V invited Edward the Black Prince to Paris for a council. Edward responded with “I’ll come to Paris with 40,000 men behind me” Edward III, Edward the Black Prince, and Charles V all died between 1376 and 1380, leaving their heirs to continue the fighting. Richard II was the new boy English king, and Charles VI was the new French King. Richard declared a peace, and there was peace from 1389-1415.
The Lancastrian Era (1415-1453)
In 1415 Richard II was deposed in favor of Henry V. Henry made another campaign on France, but after about five weeks, he stopped the fighting to go back to Calais. The French did not like this so they imitated combat at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). Agincourt was a muddy field between two woods, which won the battle for Henry, as he had foot soldiers. The English crushed the French again. The Treaty of Troyes was made, in which Henry married the daughter of Charles V and it stated that their son would rule France and England. Both kings died shortly after, but in time for Henry to have a son. An English duke was charged with the Kingdom until the king could grow up. Because the infant king was too young to rule, the Treaty of Troyes did not take effect, and so the Duke continued the war with Charles VII.
Joan of Arc was a young peasant girl of 16. She had visions from God, and he told her to go fight the English and force them out of England. She did just that, crowning Charles VII the new King of France. Charles and Joan then pushed the English out of France for good, ending the Hundred Years War in 1453.
The Aftermath
Before the Hundred Years War, most of the troops were very heavily armored cavalry. The English king, Edward III had his troops dismount and fight on foot instead of horses. They only rode on horses for transportation and chasing retreating armies. Another new type of cavalry was invented as well. These were the hobelars. They rode on unarmed horses, and fought on foot when possible. They could ride where normal cavalry couldn’t. The use of knights in battle also became obsolete. Basically, military greatly evolved because of the Hundred Years war.