The famous battle of Crescy took place in 1346. It was the battle of the very first period of the long Hundred Years War between France and England.
Background
In 1337, the English king Edward III announced his claim to the French throne. He equipped a large expedition and tried to capture Paris. His first campaign took place in Flanders - a region in modern Belgium. The English army failed to invade France. This was due to the financial difficulties of the king, as well as his unsuccessful diplomacy.
A few years later, Edward III decided to make another attempt. This time his army landed in Normandy. The army was led by the king himself and his eldest son Edward the Black Prince, who bore the title of Prince of Wales. At the head of the French army was the French monarch Philip VI of the Valois dynasty. It was these commanders who faced each other in Normandy. The culmination of that campaign was the battle of Crecy.
The landing of the British in Normandy
All summer 1346, Edward tried to provoke a general battle. Philip was indecisive and retreated several times at the crucial moment. Because of this strategy, the British had already occupied all of Normandy and threatened northern France, including Paris.
Finally, on August 26, Edward III took up a position on a ridge near the place of Crecy in Picardy. British intelligence did not fail the commander in chief. Scouts reported that the French monarch would certainly attack the wagging English. With each new month of the war in France, an economic crisis was increasingly noticeable. In addition, the northern provinces were plundered by an enemy army, which was fed by the local population.
From the moment Edward landed in Normandy, he lost about a tenth of his army. On the eve of the battle, under his leadership, there were about 12 thousand soldiers. It was a formidable force. Alfred Byrne wrote in detail about the British army of that type. The Battle of Cresia is one of his most famous non-fiction books on the Middle Ages.
Troop building
The English vanguard was led by the heir to the crown - the Black Prince. Its parts were on the right flank. Such a construction was traditionally for the medieval army. He was assisted by experienced military leaders - Earl of Oxford and Earl of Warwick. The right flank was on a small embankment towering over the rest of the English army.
On the whole, the entire army was located on a slope turning into a river valley. The rear guard was on the left flank. He was led by the famous military leader Earl of Northampton. In the center behind the defensive line was a reserve regiment. These units were under the direct control of King Edward III. A nearby mill came in handy as an observation post.
Edward Army
Interestingly, the English king decided that the battle of Crescy should be a foot battle. On the eve of the British army sent all their horses to the convoy. He was in the rear and was carefully guarded by a reserve detachment. Edward made this decision on the advice of the Earl of Northampton. This commander proposed to use his previous successful experience of the foot battle in the Battle of Morla, which took place several years before.
Archers played an important role in Edward's army. He previously indicated the positions on which special recesses were dug for convenient storage of arrows and reloading bows. During the battle, each shooter fired 30-40 arrows in a few minutes. Since the British were the first to take their positions, they managed to conduct a combat review and prepare a strategy in case the French approached.
French intelligence failures
The important battle of Crescy came as a complete surprise to French intelligence. In 1346, it was noticeably inferior to the English opponents, who were always a few steps ahead. First, Philip went to catch up with the enemy army in the wrong direction. When the scouts finally realized their mistake, French communications had stretched for several kilometers. Soon, the king managed to restore discipline and go the right way, but erroneous maneuvers cost him valuable time, which later affected his preparedness for battle.
The battle of Crescy in 1346 was a difficult test for the heterogeneous French army, which can be divided into three parts. In the first were the Genoese mercenaries and the personal guard of the king. The size of this detachment was 6 thousand people. On the eve of the battle, it was he who restrained the periodic attacks of the British during mutual maneuvers, so he was significantly battered.
Foreign allies
The presence of the Genoese is not surprising - many foreigners fought for Philip IV. Among them were monarchs. For example, the Bohemian king John of Luxembourg. He was old (by medieval standards) and blind, but still came to the rescue of his long-standing ally, who had to struggle with the English intervention. In addition, in previous years, John spent a lot of time at the French court. Also in the army of Philip were numerous German mercenaries and small detachments of the German dukes and other minor princes.
French militia
Finally, the third part of the French army was the peasant militia. Residents of the villages eagerly responded to the call of the authorities to fight against foreign aggression. Although medieval wars have never had a pronounced national character, this case is an exception. The peasants had a poor idea of military strategy. Many of them generally appeared in the army for the first time.
Due to the scarcity of sources of that era, researchers still cannot determine the exact size of Philip’s troops. For example, English chroniclers even cited the figure of 100 thousand people. However, such data is hard to believe. The victorious side often overestimated their own merits. But one thing is for sure: the French army was at least twice as large as the English (at least 30 thousand people). This difference gave Philip self-confidence. However, not at all, as the king planned, the battle of Crecy was over. The winner was already waiting for him in carefully prepared positions ...
Organization Difference
On August 26, 1346, at 4 p.m., the French army reached the valley of the small Meieux River. The army was seen by guards at the mill. Urgent news was immediately reported to Edward III. The British army instantly took their positions. Knights, armor, archers - they all carefully watched the picture on the opposite side of the valley. The French army was lining up there.
Even before the battle of Crecy (1346) began, the British realized that they had an indisputable advantage. It was about discipline. A well-trained British army was selected for a long time before being on ships bound for Normandy. All the orders of Edward and the Black Prince were executed as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the French army could not boast of such training and discipline. The problem was that the militias, royal troops, and foreign mercenaries did not understand each other well. Rows pressed on neighbors. In the French ranks, even before the start of the battle, confusion and mess were observed, which was noticeable to the British.
The unexpected start of the battle
Among other things, Philip again failed intelligence. He was not informed of the actual location of the enemy army. The king, not far from Crescy, was not about to give battle on the same day. When he realized that the enemy squad was only a few kilometers away, he had to convene an urgent military council on which the question was posed with an edge: to go or not to go on the offensive on the same day?
Most senior French officers were in favor of postponing the battle until the next morning. This decision was logical - before that, the army had been on the road all day and was rather tired. The soldiers needed rest. Philip also did not rush anywhere. He agreed with the advice and gave the order to stop.
However, here the human factor took place, because of which the battle of Cresius began. In short, the smug French knights, seeing their numerical superiority, decided to attack the enemy that very evening. They were the first to attack. The construction of the army was such that before the knights stood the Genoese mercenaries. They also had to go forward so as not to be hit by their own reckless comrades. Thus began the battle of Crecy. Opponents and the winner decided that it would take place only in the morning, but the frivolous behavior of part of the French army accelerated the denouement.
The defeat of the French
The first serious losses of the army were suffered after a shootout occurred between the English archers and the Italian crossbowmen who served Philip. Its outcome was logical. The British fired more effectively than the enemy due to the high rate of fire of long bows. In addition, it rained before the battle, and the crosses of the Genoese were very wet, which made them unusable.
The battle of Crecy took place in the era of the birth of artillery. The English guns fired several salvos toward the French. There were no nuclei yet - the guns were loaded with buckshot. In any case, even this primitive technique frightened part of the French army.
Following the crossbowmen, the cavalry went on the offensive. The knights of Philip had to overcome a lot of natural obstacles, including a steep climb, on top of which the British were. The French launched more than 16 bloody attacks. Not one of them was successful.
The losses were huge. They totaled tens of thousands of human lives. Philip himself was wounded. So bad for him ended 1346. The battle of Crecy confirmed the British advantage. Now Edward could continue his campaign in the north of France. He headed towards the important coastal fortress of Calais.
The reasons for the victory of the British
The outcome of the battle was shocking to the French. So why did the British win? Several reasons can be formulated, which ultimately result in one. Between the two enemy armies lay a huge organizational abyss. The British were well trained, armed, and knew what they were doing. They fought in a foreign country, behind them was only the sea, which meant that they had nothing to lose.
The French army consisted of barely trained soldiers, as well as mercenaries recruited from different countries. This huge human tangle was full of contradictions and internal conflicts. The knights did not trust the Genoese, the peasants were suspicious of the feudal lords. All this was the reason for the helplessness of King Philip IV.
Effects
The battle of Crecy took many lives. The date of the battle was a mourning day for all of France. In battle, the ally of Philip, King of Bohemia, John of Luxembourg, also died. The battle showed the effectiveness of the long bows used by the British. This new type of weapon completely changed the tactical science of the Middle Ages. The prologue of all these changes was precisely the year 1346. The Battle of Crecy was also the first battle in which artillery was massively used.
Success on the battlefield allowed Edward to freely occupy the whole of northern France. He soon besieged and captured the important port of Calais. After the break caused by the plague, the British army defeated the French several more times. In 1360, the first stage of the Hundred Years War ended. According to its results, the English crown received Normandy, Calais, Brittany and Aquitaine - more than half of France. But this did not end the centenary war. The Battle of Crescy was only one of the many episodes of the longest bloodshed in medieval Europe.