According to historical tradition, the Hundred Years War between England and France is a series of successive military conflicts that lasted from 1337 to 1453.
It ended on October 19, 1453 with the surrender of the English garrison in Bordeaux and the abandonment of Calais, the last English possession in France.
The prerequisites for conflicts throughout the entire period that the Hundred Years War lasted were already in the distant past, still in the reign of William the Conqueror. When the Norman Duke William in 1066, after winning the Battle of Hastings, became the new English king, he united England with the Norman Duchy, who was in France.
Under Henry II Plantagenet, the lands that belonged to England in France expanded, but the kings who succeeded him found them too large and difficult to manage.
By 1327, England owned in France only two areas - Aquitaine and Pontieux.
When the last of the French kings of the Capetian dynasty, Charles IV the Beautiful, died in 1328, the closest male relative was his nephew Edward III of England (Isabella's mother was Carl's sister and daughter of Philip IV the Beautiful).
The French nobility strove to ensure that the throne was taken by Philippe of the Valois family (as King Philip VI), not only because Edward’s rights to the French crown were transferred along the female line. First of all, he was an Englishman, which means an unsuitable challenger. Edward III, although he was then fifteen years old, was furious, but could not do anything.
In 1337, Philip, as punishment for Edward providing shelter to his cousin and enemy of Philip Robert d'Artois, demanded the return of France to Aquitaine. Edward, in response, demanding for himself the crown of France by right of origin, declared war on Philip.
The counts of Flanders supported the British claims during the period of the Hundred Years War, due to personal interest - a mutually beneficial trade in wool and fabrics was carried out between England and Flanders. The dukes of Brittany and Normandy, united with the British, feared the aspirations of those who wanted to create a strong centralized French kingdom.
In 1340, Edward officially accepted the title "King of France and the French Royal Coat of Arms." Modern historians are debating whether he really believed that he could take the French throne. But regardless of his claims or hopes, this gave him important leverage in relations with Philip. Thanks to the title, he could provoke more than one problem, encourage dissatisfied Frenchmen to choose themselves king instead of Philip, use it as a powerful weapon during negotiations, offering to abandon large territorial concessions in France in exchange for a crown.
In the period that the Hundred Years War lasted, the British won brilliant victories at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, at Poitiers in 1356, at Agincourt in 1415. The finest hour of the British came when Henry V took control of Paris, Normandy, most of northern France. He married the daughter of Charles VI the Mad Catherine Valois and forced the French king to recognize him as regent of France and the successor to the French throne.
In 1422, Karl and Henry died. The eighth dauphin of France in 1429 was crowned as Charles VII, inspired by the victories of Joan of Arc over the British.
Henry VI was the only English king truly crowned king of France at the age of ten in Paris in 1431. But gradually, independent territories on the other side of the English Channel left British control.
In 1436, the French invaded Aquitaine and took Bordeaux, which had been in the hands of the British for three hundred years and was the center of a thriving wine trade. A deputation of citizens arrived in England in 1452 to ask for help from Henry VI.
All military conflicts, how long the Hundred Years War lasted, took place in France. It is believed that the country's population during this period decreased by half.
A force of approximately 3,000 men under the command of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, moved to France. Talbot was able to return most of western Aquitaine, but in July 1453 the French army defeated the British at Castillon, and Talbot himself, an outstanding commander who was admired by both the French and the British, was killed.
When it became clear that no more help would come from England, Bordeaux surrendered in October, which marked the end of the war. How many years did the centenary war last in total? It covers a period of 116 years (from 1337 to 1453) with more or less long interruptions. Although no important battle took place after 1453, the centennial war officially ended on August 29, 1475 with the signing of a peace treaty in Pikigny between King Louis XI of France and Edward IV of England.