The Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict between England and France lasting over a century, reshaping medieval European warfare and national identity.
Despite its name, this conflict actually spanned well over a hundred years, punctuated by periods of uneasy truce, and fundamentally reshaped both medieval warfare and the very idea of English and French national identity.
A Dispute Over Succession
The war began in 1337 over a disputed claim to the French throne by the English king, escalating a long-simmering rivalry between the two medieval kingdoms.
Joan of Arc's Intervention
The war's course shifted dramatically following the intervention of Joan of Arc, whose leadership helped break the siege of Orléans and revitalize French military fortunes after decades of setbacks.
New Military Technology
The conflict saw significant advances in medieval warfare, including greater reliance on longbowmen and early gunpowder weapons, gradually reducing the dominance of heavily armored knights on the battlefield.
A French Victory
The war concluded in 1453 with a decisive French victory, having expelled English forces from nearly all their French territorial holdings after more than a century of conflict.
Forging National Identity
The prolonged conflict is widely credited with strengthening a distinct sense of national identity in both England and France, contributing to the eventual development of both nations as centralized states.
