The beginning and end of the Hundred Years' War: briefly about the reasons. The Hundred Years' War: causes, course and consequences

100 YEARS WAR. (1337-1453) lasted 116 years.
After the death of Philip the Handsome, relations between France and England worsened and a long war began, which went down in history as the 100-year war. The main causes of the 100 Years' War were:
1) England’s attempt to regain lost possessions in France;
2) Fight for Flanders
3) the claims of the English king to the French throne.
At this time, the cities of Flanders were on the side of England, as they had close trade relations with it. In the Hundred Years' War, the French army consisted of undisciplined knightly cavalry and mercenary infantry. The British had a well-organized army and navy. Their infantry was assembled from free peasants. Having captured Normandy, the British won victories in the Battle of Cressy (1346). In 1356, at the Battle of Poitiers, the British again won and captured the French king.
In 1358, the anti-feudal uprising of the Jacquerie Peo broke out in the north-east of France under the leadership of Guiolme Cal. The French feudal lords mockingly called the peasants "Jacques". The townspeople did not join the uprising. The courtiers invited Guiolm Kahl to negotiations and executed him. Lack of unity among the rebels and poor weapons destroyed them. However, after the uprising, the feudal lords were already wary of increasing peasant duties, freeing peasants from personal dependence. in the 15th century very few peasants remained in serfdom.
In 1360, a peace treaty was concluded between England and France. Taking advantage of this, the French king increased his mercenary army and created a navy. They began to make heavy cannons to destroy fortress walls. The French again started a war and were completely successful. But internecine wars among the French again gave a good chance for England. In 1415, the French were again defeated at the Battle of Agincourt. The Duke of Burgundy went over to the side of the English. Paris was captured and Orleans fell under siege. The fate of France was decided in Orleans. It was at this time that Joan of Arc appeared on the historical stage, who, having led the French army, liberated Orleans from the English siege in 9 days in 1429. This event became a turning point in the course of the war in favor of France.
The coronation ceremony of French kings traditionally took place in Reims. At the insistence of Jeanne, the army set out on a campaign against Reims, and King was solemnly crowned in the cathedral. However, now, Joan of Arc was no longer needed. The Burgundians captured her in the Copiène forest and sold her to the British. In 1431, the papal court of the Inquisition convicted Joan of Arc, accusing her of being a witch. In the same 1431, she was burned at the stake (a similar execution is called autodaie) in the city of Rouen.
In 1453, peace between England and France and the Hundred Years' War ended

The Bastille had a terrible reputation.

Classmates

There were rumors about the terrible conditions in which the prisoners were kept, about torture and murders in the fortress-prison
true legends...

In 1789, Parisian citizens and rebel soldiers stormed the French Bastille, freeing prisoners and seizing an ammunition depot. This event quickly became a symbol French Revolution which led to the overthrow of the absolute monarchy.

This review contains 15 facts about the Bastille and its famous prisoners.

1. The French do not call their national holiday “Bastille Day”

Bastille Day is a national holiday in France, which is also celebrated in French-speaking countries around the world. But the French themselves call this day simply and unpretentiously - “National Holiday” or “July 14th”.

2. The Bastille was originally a gate fortress

The Bastille was built as a gateway fortress to protect the eastern side of Paris from English and Burgundian forces during the Hundred Years' War.

The first stone was laid in 1370, and the fortifications were completed over the years. During the reign of Henry IV (1589 - 1610), the royal treasury was kept in the Bastille.

3. The British took the Bastille

Following the English victory under Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War, the English occupied Paris. The French capital was under occupation for 15 years, starting in 1420. British troops were stationed at the Bastille, the Louvre and the Château de Vincennes.

4. The Bastille wasn't always a prison

The Bastille began to be used as a fortress-prison only after the Hundred Years' War. Before this, French monarchs received high-ranking guests there.

5. Cardinal de Richelieu was the first to use the Bastille as a state prison

Cardinal Richelieu (whom Alexandre Dumas recalled in his novel “The Three Musketeers”), after Louis XIII came to power, proposed using the Bastille as a state prison for high-ranking persons.

Many of them were imprisoned for political or religious reasons. Sun King Louis XIV He also constantly threw his enemies or unwanted people into prison.

6. Voltaire sat in the Bastille

François-Marie Arouet, better known today as the writer Voltaire, was imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months in 1717 for satirical poems about the regent and his daughter. In prison, he wrote his first play and took the pseudonym Voltaire.

7. In fact, Voltaire was imprisoned twice

Voltaire's reputation not only did not suffer from his imprisonment in the Bastille, but on the contrary, it brought him popularity in certain circles. At 31, Voltaire was already rich and popular, but he was sent to the Bastille again in 1726.

The reason was a quarrel and a duel with an aristocrat - the Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot. In order not to sit in prison “before the trial,” Voltaire chose to leave France for England.

8. The Man in the Iron Mask Was Really a Prisoner in the Bastille

In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio played main role in the film "The Man in the Iron Mask", based on novel of the same name Alexandra Dumas. The film was extremely popular, but few people know that the movie character had real prototype- Eustache Doget.

True, the mask on his face, which he wore throughout his 34-year imprisonment, was not iron, but made of black velvet.

9. Aristocrats sent unwanted relatives to the Bastille

People could only be sent to the Bastille on the basis of a Lettre de cachet (an order for the extrajudicial arrest of a person in the form of a letter bearing the royal seal), and the prison served to “ensure public discipline.”

There were frequent cases when a father could send his disobedient son to prison, a wife could punish her husband for raising his hand against her, and an adult daughter could hand over her “mad mother” to the royal guards.

10. The Marquis de Sade wrote “The 120 Days of Sodom” at the Bastille

The Marquis de Sade spent time in prison long years. He spent ten years in the Bastille, during which time he wrote Justine (his first published book) and The 120 Days of Sodom. Manuscript last book was written in tiny letters on scraps of paper that were smuggled into the Bastille.

11. Before the revolution, prisoners in the Bastille were treated well

There were legends about torture in the Bastille, its casemates and the infernal machines with which people were dismembered. But it is known for certain that before the revolution, some prisoners enjoyed special benefits.

The king decided to pay prisoners a daily allowance of ten livres. This was enough to provide them with decent food and living conditions.

Often prisoners asked to be fed for 5 livres, and the second half of the amount was given in their hands after serving their sentence. For example, during his second imprisonment in the Bastille, Voltaire received five to six visitors a day. Moreover, he even served a day more than he was supposed to in order to settle some personal matters.

12. The government was thinking about destroying the Bastille long before 1789

The government could not help but pay attention to the growing unpopularity of the Bastille, so there was talk of closing the prison even before 1789, although Louis XVI was against it. The city architect Corbet in 1784 proposed a plan to demolish the 400-year-old fortress and completely rebuild the quarter.

13. On the site of the destroyed Bastille stood a guillotine

In June 1794, revolutionaries placed a guillotine on the Place de la Bastille. At that time, terror was raging in Paris, and Maximilian Robespierre sought to introduce a non-Catholic religion into society, which, however, unlike the controversial cult of the Revolution of Reason, presupposed the preservation of the concept of deity.

It was on this very guillotine that Robespierre was executed in July 1794. True, by that time the guillotine had been moved to Revolution Square.

14. George Washington was given the key to the Bastille

The Marquis de Lafayette, who was friendly with George Washington, sent him one of the keys to the Bastille during the American Revolution. Today this key can be seen in the Mount Vernon Presidential Residence Museum.

15. A monument to an elephant was erected on the spot.

After the destruction of the Bastille, Napoleon decided to erect a monument on this site and announced a competition. Of all the presented projects, he chose the most unusual option - a monument-fountain in the shape of an elephant.

The height of the bronze elephant was supposed to be 24 meters, and it was going to be cast from cannons captured from the Spaniards. Only a wooden model was built and stood in Paris from 1813 to 1846.

In the 14th century, a series of large-scale military clashes between the British and the French began, which went down in history as “ Hundred Years' War" Let's look at it in our article important points and the main participants in the conflict.

Reasons to start

The reason for the start of the Hundred Years' War was the death of the French king Charles ΙV (1328), who was the last direct heir of the ruling Capetian dynasty. The French crowned Philip VΙ. At the same time, the English king Edward ΙΙΙ was the grandson of Philip ΙV (the said dynasty). This gave him the right to claim the French throne.

Edward ΙΙΙ is considered the instigator of the conflict between England and France, which was provoked in 1333 by his campaign against the Scots, who were allies of the French. After the English victory at Halidon Hill, King David II of Scotland took refuge in France.

Philip VΙ planned an attack on the British Isles, but the British invaded the north of France in Picardy (1337).

Rice. 1. King Edward ΙΙΙ of England.

Chronology

The designation "Hundred Years' War" is rather arbitrary: it was isolated armed clashes between the British, French and their allies that occurred over the course of 116 years.

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Conventionally, the military actions of this period are divided into four stages, covering certain years of the Hundred Years' War:

• 1337-1360;
• 1369-1396;
• 1415-1428;
• 1429-1453.

The main battles and significant episodes of the Hundred Years' War between England and France are presented in the table:

The war is effectively over. A formal peace treaty was not signed in the coming years. England did not attempt an attack on France until 1475 due to serious internal conflicts. The military campaign of the new English king Edward ΙV against the French was fleeting and disastrous. In 1475, Edward ΙV and Louis XΙ signed a truce agreement in Piquigny.

Rice. 2. Battle of Castiglione.

results

The end of the long military confrontation between England and France in 1453 in favor of the latter led to the following results:

• The French population decreased by more than 65%;
• France regained the southwestern territories that belonged to England under the Treaty of Paris (1259);
• England lost its continental possessions, except for the city of Calais and its environs (until 1558);
• On the territory of England, serious armed conflicts began between influential aristocratic dynasties (Wars of the Roses 1455-1485);
• The English treasury was practically empty;
• Weapons and equipment have improved;
• A standing army appeared.

England and France - two great powers medieval Europe, controlling the balance of political forces, trade routes, diplomacy and territorial division of other states. Sometimes these countries formed alliances with each other to fight a third party, and sometimes they fought against each other. There were always plenty of reasons for confrontation and another war - from religious problems to the desire of the rulers of either England or France to take the throne of the opposing side. The results of such local conflicts were civilians who died during robberies, disobedience, and surprise attacks by the enemy. Production resources, trade routes and connections were largely destroyed, and acreage was reduced.

One such conflict erupted on the European continent in the 1330s, when England again went to war against its eternal rival France. This conflict was called the Hundred Years' War in history because it lasted from 1337 to 1453. Countries have not been at war with each other for 116 years. It was a complex of local confrontations that either subsided or resumed anew.

Reasons for the Anglo-French confrontation

The immediate factor that provoked the outbreak of the war was the claims of the English Plantagenet dynasty to the throne in France. The purpose of this desire was that England lost possession of continental Europe. The Plantagenets were related in varying degrees to the Capetian dynasty, the rulers of the French state. The royal monarchs wanted to expel the English from Guienne, which had been transferred to France under the terms of the treaty concluded in Paris in 1259.

Among the main reasons that provoked the war, it is worth noting the following factors:

• The English ruler Edward the Third was closely related to the French king Philip the Fourth (he was his grandson), and declared his rights to the throne of the neighboring country. In 1328, the last direct descendant of the Capetian family, Charles the Fourth, died. Philip VI of the Valois family became the new ruler of France. According to the set of legislative acts “Salic Truth”, Edward the Third could also lay claim to the crown;
• Territorial disputes over the region of Gascony, one of the main economic centers of France, also became a stumbling block. Formally, the region was owned by England, but in fact by France.
• Edward the Third wanted to get back the lands that his father had previously owned;
• Philip the Sixth wanted the English king to recognize him as a sovereign ruler. Edward the Third took such a step only in 1331, because he home country all the time torn apart by internal troubles, constant internecine struggle;
• Two years later, the monarch decided to get involved in a war against Scotland, which was an ally of France. This step of the English king freed the hands of the French, and he gave the order to expel the British from Gascony, extending his power there. The English won the war, so David II, King of Scotland, fled to France. These events paved the way for England and France to begin preparing for war. The French king wanted to support the return of David II to the Scottish throne, so he ordered a landing on the British Isles.

The intensity of hostility led to the fact that in the fall of 1337 the English army began to advance in Picardy. The actions of Edward the Third were supported by the feudal lords, the cities of Flanders and the southwestern regions of the country.

The confrontation between England and France took place in Flanders - at the very beginning of the war, then the war moved to Aquitaine and Normandy.

In Aquitaine, the claims of Edward III were supported by feudal lords and cities who sent food, steel, wine, and dyes to Britain. This was a major trading region that France did not want to lose.

Stages

Historians divide the 100th war into several periods, taking the activity of military operations and territorial conquests as criteria:

• The 1st period is usually called the Edwardian War, which began in 1337 and lasted until 1360;
• The 2nd stage covers 1369-1396, and is called Carolingian;
• The third period lasted from 1415 to 1428, called the Lancastrian War;
• The fourth stage - the final one - began in 1428 and lasted until 1453.

The first and second stages: features of the course of the war

Hostilities began in 1337, when the English army invaded the territory of the French kingdom. King Edward the Third found allies in the burghers of this state and the rulers of the Low Countries. The support did not last long; due to the lack of positive results of the war and victories on the part of the British, the alliance collapsed in 1340.

The first few years of the military campaign were very successful for the French; they offered serious resistance to their enemies. This applied to battles at sea and land battles. But luck turned against France in 1340, when its fleet at Sluys was defeated. As a result, the English fleet established long time control in the English Channel.

1340s can be described as successful for both the British and the French. Fortune took turns turning to one side and then to the other. But there was no real advantage in anyone's favor. In 1341, another internecine struggle began for the right to own the Breton inheritance. The main confrontation took place between Jean de Montfort (England supported him) and Charles de Blois (enjoyed the help of France). Therefore, all the battles began to take place in Brittany, the cities took turns passing from one army to another.

After the English landed on the Cotentin Peninsula in 1346, the French began to suffer constant defeats. Edward the Third managed to successfully pass through France, capturing Caen, the Low Countries. Decisive Battle occurred at Crecy on August 26, 1346. The French army fled, the ally of the King of France, Johann the Blind, ruler of Bohemia, died.

In 1346, the plague intervened in the course of the war, which began to massively take the lives of people on the European continent. The English army only by the mid-1350s. restored financial resources, which allowed the son of Edward the Third, the Black Prince, to invade Gascony, defeat the French at Pautiers, and capture King John the Second the Good. At this time, popular unrest and uprisings began in France, and the economic and political crisis deepened. Despite the existence of the London Agreement on England receiving Aquitaine, the English army again entered France. Successfully moving deeper into the country, Edward the Third refused to lay siege to the capital of the opposing state. It was enough for him that France showed weakness in military affairs and suffered constant defeats. Charles the Fifth, the Dauphin and son of Philip, went to sign a peace treaty, which happened in 1360.

As a result of the first period, Aquitaine, Poitiers, Calais, part of Brittany, half of the vassal lands of France, which lost 1/3 of their territories in Europe, went to the British crown. Despite such a number of acquired possessions in continental Europe, Edward III could not lay claim to the throne of France.

Until 1364, Louis of Anjou was considered the French king, who was at the English court as a hostage, fled, and his father, John the Second the Good, took his place. He died in England, after which the nobility proclaimed Charles the Fifth king. For a long time he was looking for a reason to start a war again, trying to regain the lost lands. In 1369, Charles again declared war on Edward the Third. Thus began the second period of the 100 Years' War. During the nine-year break, the French army was reorganized, and economic reforms were carried out in the country. All this laid the foundation for France to dominate battles and battles, achieving significant success. The British were gradually driven out of France.

England could not provide adequate resistance, since it was busy in other local conflicts, and Edward the Third could no longer command the army. In 1370, both countries were involved in a war on the Iberian Peninsula, where Castile and Portugal were at war. The first was supported by Charles the Fifth, and the second by Edward the Third and his eldest son, also Edward, Earl of Woodstock, nicknamed the Black Prince.

In 1380 Scotland again began to threaten England. In such difficult conditions, the second stage of the war took place for each side, which ended in 1396 with the signing of a truce. The reason for the agreement between the parties was the exhaustion of the parties physically, morally and financially.

Military operations resumed only in the 15th century. The reason for this was the conflict between Jean the Fearless, the ruler of Burgundy and Louis of Orleans, who was killed by the Armagnac party. In 1410 they seized power in the country. Opponents began to call on the British for help, trying to use them in inter-dynastic strife. But at this time, the British Isles were also very turbulent. The political and economic situation was deteriorating, the people were dissatisfied. In addition, Wales and Ireland began to emerge from disobedience, which Scotland took advantage of by starting military operations against the English monarch. Two wars broke out in the country itself, which were in the nature of civil confrontation. At that time, Richard II was already sitting on the English throne, he fought with the Scots, the nobles took advantage of his ill-conceived policy, removing him from power. Henry the Fourth ascended the throne.

Events of the third and fourth periods

Due to internal problems, the British did not dare to interfere in the internal affairs of France until 1415. It was only in 1415 that Henry the Fifth ordered his troops to land near Harfleur, capturing the city. The two countries are once again plunged into a violent confrontation.

The troops of Henry the Fifth made mistakes in the offensive, which provoked a transition to defense. And this was not at all part of the British plans. A kind of rehabilitation for the losses was the victory at Agincourt (1415), when the French lost. And again a series of military victories and achievements followed, which gave Henry the Fifth a chance to hope for a successful conclusion to the war. The main achievements in 1417-1421 there was the capture of Normandy, Caen and Rouen; An agreement was signed in the city of Troyes with the King of France, Charles the Sixth, nicknamed the Mad. Under the terms of the treaty, Henry the Fifth became the king's heir, despite the presence of direct heirs - the sons of Charles. The title of kings of France was borne by the English monarchies until 1801. The treaty was confirmed in 1421, when troops entered the capital of the French kingdom, the city of Paris.

That same year, the Scottish army came to the aid of the French. The Battle of Bogue took place, during which many outstanding military figures of that time died. In addition, the British army was left without leadership. A few months later, Henry the Fifth died in Meaux (1422), and his son, who was only one year old at that time, was chosen as monarch instead. The Armagnacs took the side of the Dauphin of France, and the confrontations continued.

The French suffered a series of defeats in 1423, but continued to resist. In subsequent years, the third period of the Hundred Years' War was characterized by the following events:

• 1428 – siege of Orleans, a battle called in historiography “The Battle of the Herrings”. It was won by the British, which significantly worsened the condition of the French army and the entire population of the country;
• Peasants, artisans, townspeople, and small knights rebelled against the invaders. Residents of the northern regions of France resisted especially actively - Maine, Picardy, Normandy, where a guerrilla war against the British unfolded;
• One of the most powerful peasant uprisings broke out on the border of Champagne and Lorraine, led by Joan of Arc. The myth of the Maid of Orleans, who was sent to fight against English dominance and occupation, quickly spread among French soldiers. The courage, bravery and skill of Joan of Arc showed the military leaders that it was necessary to move from defense to offense, to change the tactics of warfare.

The turning point in the Hundred Years' War came in 1428, when Joan of Arc with the army of Charles the Seventh lifted the siege of Orleans. The uprising became a powerful impetus for a radical change in the situation in the Hundred Years' War. The king reorganized the army, formed a new government, and the troops began to liberate cities and other populated areas one by one.

In 1449, Raun was recaptured, then Caen and Gascony. In 1453, the British lost at Catilion, after which there were no battles in the Hundred Years' War. A few years later, the British garrison capitulated in Bordeaux, which put an end to more than a century of confrontation between the two states. The English monarchy continued to control only the city of Calais and the district until the late 1550s.

Results and consequences of the war

France has suffered enormous human losses over such a long period, both among the civilian population and among the military. The results of the Hundred Years' War for

French state steel:

• Restoration of state sovereignty;
• Removal of the English threat and claims to the French throne, lands and possessions;
• The process of forming a centralized apparatus of power and the country continued;
• Famine and plague devastated the cities and villages of France, as in many European countries;
• Military spending drained the country's treasury;
• Constant uprisings and social riots exacerbated the crisis in society;
• Observe crisis phenomena in culture and art.

England also lost a lot during the entire period of the Hundred Years' War. Having lost its possessions on the continent, the monarchy came under public pressure and was constantly displeased by the nobles. Civil strife began in the country, and anarchy was observed. The main struggle took place between the York and Lancaster families.

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The Hundred Years' War (French Guerre de Cent Ans, English Hundred Years "War) - a series of military conflicts between England and its allies, on the one hand, and France and its allies, on the other, lasting from approximately 1337 to 1453. The reason for these conflicts were the claims to the French throne of the English royal dynasty of Plantagenets, seeking to return territories on the continent that previously belonged to the English kings. The Plantagenets were also related by ties of kinship to the French Capetian dynasty. France, in turn, sought to oust the English from Guienne, which was assigned to them. The Treaty of Paris in 1259. Despite initial successes, England never achieved its goal in the war, and as a result of the war, it only had the port of Calais on the continent, which it held until 1558.

The war lasted 116 years (with interruptions). Strictly speaking, it was more of a series of conflicts: the first (Edwardian War) lasted from 1337-1360, the second (Carolingian War) - from 1369-1389, the third (Lancaster War) - from 1415-1429, the fourth - from 1429-1453. The term “Hundred Years' War” as a general name for these conflicts appeared later. Beginning with a dynastic conflict, the war subsequently acquired a national connotation in connection with the formation of the English and French nations. Due to numerous military clashes, epidemics, famine and murder, the population of France was reduced by two thirds as a result of the war. From the point of view of military affairs, during the war new types of weapons and military equipment, new tactical and strategic techniques were developed that destroyed the foundations of the old feudal armies. In particular, the first standing armies appeared.

Causes

The war was started by the English king Edward III, who was on the maternal side the grandson of the French king Philip IV the Fair from the Capetian dynasty. Following the death in 1328 of Charles IV, the last of the direct Capetian branch, and the coronation of Philip VI (Valois) under Salic law, Edward laid claim to the French throne. In addition, the monarchs argued over the economically important region of Gascony, which was nominally the property of the English king but was actually controlled by France. In addition, Edward wanted to regain the territories lost by his father. For his part, Philip VI demanded that Edward III recognize him as a sovereign sovereign. The compromise homage concluded in 1329 did not satisfy either side. However, in 1331, faced with internal problems, Edward recognized Philip as king of France and abandoned his claims to the French throne (in exchange, the British retained their rights to Gascony).

In 1333, Edward went to war with the Scottish king David II, an ally of France. In conditions when the attention of the British was focused on Scotland, Philip VI decided to take the opportunity and annex Gascony. However, the war was successful for the British, and David was forced to flee to France in July after the defeat at Halidon Hill. In 1336, Philip began making plans to land on the British Isles for the coronation of David II on the Scottish throne, while simultaneously planning to annex Gascony. Hostility in relations between the two countries has escalated to the limit.

In the autumn of 1337, the British launched an offensive in Picardy. They were supported by the Flanders cities and feudal lords and the cities of southwestern France.

State armed forces France on the eve of the war

The French army at the start of the war consisted of a feudal knightly militia, soldiers called up for war on a contract basis (they included both commoners and representatives of the nobility, with whom the government entered into oral or written contracts) and foreign mercenaries (they included and detachments of the famous Genoese crossbowmen). The military elite consisted of feudal militia units. By the time the conflict began, the number of knights capable of bearing arms was 2350-4000 warriors. The knightly class had by that time become practically a closed caste. The system of universal conscription, which formally existed in France, had practically disappeared by the time the war began. Cities, however, were able to field large military contingents, including cavalry and artillery. All soldiers received payment for their service. The infantry outnumbered the cavalry.

First stage

The start of the war was successful for Edward III. During the first years of the war, Edward managed to conclude alliances with the rulers of the Low Countries and the burghers of Flanders, but after several unsuccessful campaigns the alliance collapsed in 1340. The subsidies allocated by Edward III to the German princes, as well as the costs of maintaining the army abroad, led to the bankruptcy of the English treasury, severely damaging Edward's prestige. At first, France had superiority at sea, hiring ships and sailors from Genoa. This raised constant fears of a possible threat of invasion of the British Isles by Philip’s troops, which forced Edward III to make additional expenses by purchasing wood from Flanders for the construction of ships. Be that as it may, the French fleet, which prevented the landing of English troops on the continent, was almost completely destroyed in the naval battle of Sluys in 1340. After this, until the end of the war, the fleet of Edward III had supremacy at sea, controlling the English Channel.

In 1341, the War of the Breton Succession broke out, in which Edward supported Jean de Montfort and Philip supported Charles de Blois. Over the next years, the war took place in Brittany, and the city of Vannes changed hands several times. Further military campaigns in Gascony met with mixed success for both sides. In 1346, Edward crossed the English Channel and invaded France, landing with an army on the Cotentin Peninsula. Within one day, the English army captured Caen, which bewildered the French command, who expected a long siege of the city. Philip, having gathered an army, moved towards Edward. Edward moved his troops north into the Low Countries. Along the way, his army plundered and pillaged, and the king himself made no effort to systematically seize and retain the territory. Unable to outmaneuver the enemy, Edward positioned his forces in preparation for the coming battle. Philip's troops attacked Edward's army at the famous Battle of Crécy on August 26, 1346, which ended in a catastrophic defeat for the French forces. English troops continued their unhindered advance north and besieged Calais, which was taken in 1347. This event was a major strategic success for the English, allowing Edward III to maintain his forces on the continent. In the same year, after the victory at Neville's Cross and the capture of David II, the threat from Scotland was eliminated.

In the years 1346-1351, a plague pandemic swept across Europe (“ Black Death"), which carried away hundreds of times more lives than the war, and undoubtedly influenced the activity of military operations. One of the notable military episodes of this period is the battle of thirty between thirty English knights and squires and thirty French knights and squires, which took place on March 26, 1351.

By 1356, England, after the plague epidemic, was able to restore its finances. In 1356, an English army of 30,000 under the command of Edward III's son, the Black Prince, launched an invasion from Gascony and inflicted a crushing defeat on the French at the Battle of Poitiers, capturing King John II the Good. John the Good signed a truce with Edward. During his captivity, the French government began to fall apart. In 1359, the Peace of London was signed, according to which the English crown received Aquitaine, and John was released. Military failures and economic difficulties led to popular outrage - the Parisian Uprising (1357-1358) and the Jacquerie (1358). Edward's troops invaded France for the third time. Taking advantage of the advantageous situation, Edward tried to take Paris and seize the throne. Despite the difficult situation in which France was, Edward failed to capture either Paris or Reims. The Dauphin of France, the future king Charles V, was forced to conclude a humiliating peace for himself in Bretigny (1360). As a result of the first stage of the war, Edward III acquired half of Brittany, Aquitaine, Calais, Ponthieu, and about half of the vassal possessions of France. The French crown thus lost a third of the territory of France.

Peaceful period (1360-1369)

When John II the Good's son, Louis of Anjou, sent to England as a hostage and guarantee that John II would not escape, escaped in 1362, John II, following his knightly honor, returned to English captivity. After John died in honorable captivity in 1364, Charles V became king of France.

The peace signed at Bretigny excluded Edward's right to claim the French crown. At the same time, Edward expanded his possessions in Aquitaine and firmly secured Calais. In fact, Edward never again laid claim to the French throne, and Charles V began to make plans to reconquer the lands captured by the English. In 1369, under the pretext of Edward's non-compliance with the terms of the peace treaty signed in Bretigny, Charles announced

Strengthening France. Truce

Taking advantage of the respite, King Charles V of the French reorganized the army, strengthening it with artillery, and carried out economic reforms. This allowed the French to achieve significant military successes in the second stage of the war, in the 1370s. The British were driven out of the country. Despite the fact that the War of the Breton Succession ended with the English victory at the Battle of Auray, the Breton dukes showed loyalty to the French authorities, and the Breton knight Bertrand du Guesclin even became constable of France. At the same time, the Black Prince had been busy with the war on the Iberian Peninsula since 1366, and Edward III was too old to command troops. All this favored France. Pedro of Castile, whose daughters Constance and Isabella were married to the Black Prince's brothers John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley, was dethroned in 1370 by Enrique II with the support of the French under du Guesclin. A war broke out between Castile and France, on the one hand, and Portugal and England, on the other. With the death of Sir John Chandos, Seneschal of Poitou, and the capture of Captal de Bouche, England lost its best military leaders in them. Du Guesclin, following a cautious "Fabian" strategy, liberated many cities in a series of campaigns, avoiding clashes with large English armies, such as Poitiers (1372) and Bergerac (1377). The allied Franco-Castilian fleet won a landslide victory at La Rochelle, destroying the English squadron. For its part, the English command launched a series of destructive predatory raids, but du Guesclin again managed to avoid clashes.

With the death of the Black Prince in 1376 and Edward III in 1377, the prince's minor son, Richard II, ascended the English throne. Bertrand du Guesclin died in 1380, but England faced a new threat in the north from Scotland. In 1388, English troops were defeated by the Scots at the Battle of Otterbourne. Due to extreme exhaustion on both sides, in 1396 they concluded a truce.

Truce (1396-1415)

At this time, the French king Charles VI went mad, and soon a new armed conflict broke out between his cousin, Duke of Burgundy Jean the Fearless, and his brother, Louis of Orleans. After the assassination of Louis, the Armagnacs, who opposed the party of Jean the Fearless, seized power. By 1410, both sides wanted to call on English troops to help them. England, weakened by internal unrest and uprisings in Ireland and Wales, entered into new war with Scotland. In addition, two more civil wars raged in the country. Richard II spent most of his reign fighting against Ireland. By the time of Richard's removal and Henry IV's accession to the English throne, the Irish problem had not been resolved. On top of this, a rebellion broke out in Wales under the leadership of Owain Glyndŵr, which was finally suppressed only in 1415. For several years Wales was effectively an independent country. Taking advantage of the change of kings in England, the Scots conducted several raids into English lands. However, English troops launched a counter-offensive and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Homildon Hill in 1402. Following these events, Count Henry Percy rebelled against the king, which resulted in a long and bloody struggle that ended only in 1408. During these difficult years, England, among other things, experienced raids by French and Scandinavian pirates, which dealt a heavy blow to its fleet and trade. Due to all these problems, intervention in French affairs was postponed until 1415.

Third stage (1415-1420). Battle of Agincourt and occupation of France

From the time he ascended the throne, the English king Henry IV made plans to invade France. However, only his son, Henry V, managed to implement these plans. In 1414, he refused the Armagnacs an alliance. His plans included the return of territories that belonged to the English crown under Henry II. In August 1415, his army landed near Harfleu and captured the city. Wanting to march to Paris, the king, out of caution, chose another route, which ran to British-occupied Calais. Due to the fact that there was not enough food in the English army, and the English command made a number of strategic miscalculations, Henry V was forced to go on the defensive. Despite an inauspicious start to the campaign, the English won a decisive victory over superior French forces at the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415.

Henry captured most of Normandy, including Caen (1417) and Rouen (1419). Having entered into an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy, who captured Paris after the assassination of Jean the Fearless in 1419, in five years the English king subjugated approximately half of the territory of France. In 1420, Henry met in negotiations with the mad king Charles VI, with whom he signed the Treaty of Troyes, according to which Henry V was declared the heir of Charles VI the Mad, bypassing the legal heir of the Dauphin Charles (in the future - King Charles VII). After the Treaty of Troyes, until 1801, the kings of England bore the title of kings of France. The following year, Henry entered Paris, where the treaty was officially confirmed by the Estates General.

Henry's successes ended with the landing of a six-thousand-strong Scottish army in France. In 1421, John Stewart, Earl of Buchan defeated a numerically superior English army at the Battle of Bogea. The English commander and most of the high-ranking English commanders died in the battle. Shortly after this defeat, King Henry V dies at Meaux in 1422. His only one year old son was immediately crowned king of England and France, but the Armagnacs remained loyal to the son of King Charles, and therefore the war continued.

In 1423, at the Battle of Cravan, Franco-Scottish troops suffered heavy losses. In this battle, about 4 thousand British managed to win, fighting against an enemy three times their number. As a result of the defeat of the French troops, communication between Picardy and the south of France was interrupted. The territory that still supported the “rightful king” was “cut” in half. Both parts were henceforth forced to fight separately, unable to come to each other's aid, which caused severe damage to the cause of Charles VII. The defeat at Kravan led to several more lost battles.

Continuing hostilities, in 1428 the British besieged Orleans. The French attack on the English food train near the village of Rouvray near Orleans resulted in a battle that became known in history as the “Battle of the Herrings” and ended in victory for the British under the leadership of knight John Fastolf. The year 1430 marked the appearance of Joan of Arc on the political scene.
Progress of the Hundred Years' War

The final break. Displacement of the British from France

In 1424, Henry VI's uncles began a war of regency, and one of them, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, having married Jacob, Countess of Gennegau, seized Holland to restore her authority over her former possessions, which led to conflict with the Burgundian Duke Philip III.

By 1428, the English continued the war by laying siege to Orleans. Their forces were not enough to organize a complete blockade of the city, but the French troops, which were superior in number, did not take any action. In 1429, Joan of Arc convinced the Dauphin to give her troops to lift the siege of Orleans. Having raised the morale of her soldiers, at the head of her troops she attacked the English siege fortifications, forcing the enemy to retreat, lifting the siege from the city. Inspired by Joan, the French liberated a number of important fortified points in the Loire. Soon after this, Joan defeated the English troops at Pat, opening the road to Reims, where the Dauphin was crowned Charles VII.

In 1430, Joan was captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the British. But even her execution in 1431 did not affect the further course of the war. In 1435, the Burgundians sided with the king of France, and Philip III, having signed the Treaty of Arras with Charles, handed over Paris to him. The loyalty of the Burgundians was unreliable, but, be that as it may, the Burgundians, having concentrated their forces on conquests in the Netherlands, could no longer continue active military operations in France. All this allowed Charles to reorganize the army and government. The French commanders, repeating du Guesclin's strategy, liberated city after city. In 1449 the French recaptured Rouen. At the Battle of Formigny, the Comte de Clermont completely defeated the English troops. On July 6, the French liberated Caen. An attempt by English troops under the command of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury to recapture Gascony, which remained loyal to the English crown, failed: English troops suffered a crushing defeat at Castiglione in 1453. This battle was the last battle of the Hundred Years' War. In 1453, the surrender of the English garrison in Bordeaux brought an end to the Hundred Years' War.

Consequences of the war

As a result of the war, England lost all its possessions on the continent, except for Calais, which remained part of England until 1558. The English crown lost vast territories in southwestern France, which it had controlled since the 12th century. The madness of the English king plunged the country into a period of anarchy and civil strife, in which the central actors The warring houses of Lancaster and York spoke out. In connection with the unfolding civil war England did not have the strength and means to return the territories on the continent that were lost, as it turned out, forever. On top of this, the treasury was devastated by military expenses.

During the war, its character changed: starting with a classic feudal conflict between two claimants to lands subordinate to the French crown, it then grew into a war between two sovereign monarchs, becoming more and more national character with wide involvement in the conflict of representatives of various strata of society. The war had a strong influence on the development of military affairs: the role of infantry on the battlefield increased, requiring less expenditure when creating large armies, and the first standing armies appeared. New types of weapons were invented, and favorable conditions appeared for the development of firearms.