The one hundred year war, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, between France and England, was the longest military and political event in the history of the two powers. In fact, it was not a war, but several military campaigns, alternating between reconciliations. Disagreements between England and France originated in 1066 during the Norman conquests, when the English king, while noble nobleman in France, took possession of vast areas of land in this country. The monarchs of France, seeing this as a danger, tried to stop the expansion of English possessions. A continuation of this protracted conflict was the centennial war.
Stages of a Centenary War
The centennial war can be divided into 4 main stages. The first lasted 23 years - from the declaration of war by King Edward III of England to the armistice declared in 1360 in Brittany. During this time, France suffered many military defeats. The first days of the war, in the fall of 1337, were marked by the advance of England in Picardy. Then there was a series of victories of the British - a naval victory in 1340 at Slayle, in 1346 at Cresci, and in 1356 the eldest son of Edward III, Prince of Wales, nicknamed the “Black Prince” because of the color of his armor, captivated King John II. During this phase of the war in France, a Paris uprising took place, and in 1360 a ceasefire was concluded in Bretigny, according to which the French lost the southern lands from the Loire, and this is a third of the country's land, and the seaport of Calais.
The second stage lasted 27 years - from 1369 to 1396. In the mid 70s of the 14th century, the French liberated most of their land. In France there were uprisings caused by the discontent of the people with high taxes. In the country at that time it was very turbulent, the centennial war was aggravated by the feudal feud of the country of the Burgundians and Armagnacs, which turned into a civil war. The ceasefire in 1396 gave a respite to both sides for 18 years.
The third stage was the most fleeting, it lasted from 1415 to 1420 and was marked by new major victories for the British. Henry V, the English king, subjugated many areas of France, Normandy and defeated the French army in 1415 under Agincourt. France was without money and without an army, and the strife between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians split the country's territory. The independent sovereign of the eastern and northern lands of France, the Duke of Burgundy entered into an alliance with the British, and in 1420 a peace was signed between them in Troyes, according to which Henry the fifth became French regent. In addition, the regent entered into a marriage with Catherine, daughter of King Charles VI, realizing the union of crowns. The son of Charles VI was deprived of his royal rights.
The fourth stage lasted from 1420 to 1453, and became the most decisive and the most bloody. In 1422, King Charles VI and Regent Henry V died, after which the Duke of Burgundy, together with the British, declared the king of France and England the son of the Regent and Princess Henry VI. In turn, deprived of hereditary rights, Dauphin Carl, son of the previous king, proclaimed himself Charles VII, the French king. France split into three parts: lands conquered by the British under the rule of Henry V, areas under the political pressure of the Duke of Burgundy, and southern territories recognized by the authority of Charles VII. In 1428, the Burgundians, along with the British, besieged Orleans, which was a pass to the lands of southern France. At this moment, the population joined the war, and the popular movement, led by Joan of Arc, began the liberation of France. In 1429, Orleans was liberated, and this was a turning point in the centenary war. In July of the same year, Charles VII was solemnly crowned. The Duke of Burgundy took the side of the new king in 1435, and already in 1436 the British troops were expelled from the capital, and later from other southwestern cities and fortresses. By the summer of 1451, a century-long war was actually over, but in the fall of 1452 the British tried to recapture the south-west of France, capturing Bordeaux and some fortresses in Guyenne. In the spring of 1453, Charles VII personally led the army to liberate the south-west of the country. In the summer of that year, the French defeated the British troops at Castillon and Chatillon. And in October, the French surrendered garrison of opponents in Bordeaux - October 19, 1453 was the day the end of the centenary war.
The victory of France in the hundred-year war did not mean the liquidation of the British in the country and liberation from the conquerors, but the centralization of France, the creation of a national strong state. The memory of the war will remain in the hearts of the French, as the largest-scale clash between the two powers, a complex and bloody event that gradually gave birth to national self-awareness and fortitude in the French people.