Preface
Hundred Years’ War took place between England and France for Flanders and the French provinces of Guyenne, Normandy and Anjou, which formerly were in the possession of the English king. It had great historical significance for the development of both England and France. Governmental and cultural division of England and France took place. The British and French the feudal elite clarified their relations, and an absolute monarchy established in England and France. This paper aims at analyzing the course of events in the framework of the war and finding the lessons that can be learnt from it.
Chronology
1337 Anti-French uprising in Flanders, which created proper conditions for the English invasion.
1338 Formal declaration of war, Edward III to the French king Philip VI.
1340 British victory in the naval battle of Sluys.
1346 Transfer of battles deep into France, the French army attack of Guyenne.
August 26, 1346 the British win in the Battle of Crece.
1347-1354 Armistice.
1358 "Jacquerie," the rebellion in France, angered by failure of hostilities.
1370, December 3 Battle of Pontvallain.
1374-1380 Castilian fleet commanded by Fernando Sánchez de Tovar sacks and burns English Channel ports, and Gravesend on the Thames.
1416 English defeat numerically greater French army at Valmont near Harfleur.
1423, July 31 Battle of Cravant.
1429, February 12 Battle of the Herrings.
1435 Battle of Gerbevoy: La Hire defeats an English force under Arundel.
1435 French forces take Paris.
1453, July 17 Battle of Castillon: Jean Bureau defeats Talbot to end the Hundred Years' War.
Research Results
In 1337 the French governor of Flanders arrested English merchants that traded in this area. In response to this, import of wool from Flanders to England was denied, which threatened to ruin the cities in Flanders that lived at the expense of the English trade. They stood up against the French rule, receiving open support from the British.
In November 1337 the French fleet attacked the British coast. After that, English King Edward III declared war on France. By the family line of his mother he was a grandson of King Philip IV the Fair, and claimed the French throne.
In June 1340 the English won the naval battle of Sluys in the mouth of the River Scheldt, securing control over the English Channel. In this battle the French squadron was reinforced by the courts, hired from the Genoese, but it did not save them from defeat. The English fleet, in turn, was reinforced by the Flemish light vessels. The French admirals hoped that in the tight bay enemy's fleet would not be able to maneuver freely. However, King Edward managed to reorganize his fleet to the wind and break the line of French ships. After the victory at Sluys the British won supremacy at sea.
English expeditionary block landed in Flanders, but was unable to capture the fortress of Tournai, occupied by the French garrison. English King Edward III made a truce with French King Philip VI. It lasted until 1346, when the British landed at once in Normandy, Guyenne, and Flanders.
The first success was achieved in the south, where the British troops captured almost all the castles. Basic forces acted in Normandy under the command of Edward. They consisted of 4000 cavalry, 10,000 English and Welsh archers and 6000 Irish infantry-spearmen. Edward was moving to Flanders. He walked towards the French king with 10 thousand cavalry and 40 thousand infantry. Despite the fact that the French destroyed the bridges, Edward was able to cross the Seine and the Somme in August 1346 and came to the village of Crece, where he decided to fight the French army chasing him.
The British lined up in battle formation at a gentle slope facing the enemy. The right flank was securely covered with a steep slope and dense forest, the left – with a large forested area, which required a lot of time to come around it. Edward asked his knights to leave horses and send them to the carts, covered with a reverse slope of the hill. Knights stood along with archers, who lined up in a checkerboard pattern in five rows.
On the night of August 26 the French army came to the area of Abbeville that is about 20 miles from the camp of the British. The French had a considerable numerical superiority over the enemy, especially in knightly cavalry, but they were poorly organized. There was very weak subordination of the knights to unified command. At 15 o'clock the French army approached Crece. As the knights were tired after a long march, Philip decided to postpone the attack until the next day. However, seeing the British army, the knights have already rushed into the fight. Then the French king decided to aid them with crossbowmen. But the English bows shoot farther than crossbows, and archers spent less time on each shot. Crossbowmen were not able to use their advantage in more precise shooting, and almost all fled or were killed (Wagner 2006).
Meanwhile, the French knights lined up in battle order. The left wing was commanded by Count of Alencon, the right – by the Count of Flanders. In the course of attacks equestrian knights trampled some of their crossbowmen. The French had to climb the hill under a cloud of arrows. Those who managed to reach the enemy's line could not withstand the battle with the English knights dismounted. The French managed to push back just a little of right-wing British, but Edward threw back 20 Knights to the center and quickly regained the position.
The French lost 11 princes, 1200 knights and 4000 of cavalrymen and armorbearers, as well as a large number of infantrymen. Philip's army retreated in haste from the field of battle.
The British suffered smaller losses, but did not pursue the enemy. Dismounted knights needed a lot of time to sit back on their horses, and during this time the French cavalry was already far away.
After the victory at Crece Edward besieged Calais. The fortress fell in 1347 after 11-month siege. The British occupied the territory between the rivers of Garonne and Laura. In 1347 an armistice was concluded, which lasted for eight years.
In 1355 battle actions were resumed. British troops attacked in the north and south. In 1356 the British, led by Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son of King Edward III, landed in the south-western part of France and besieged the fortress of Ramorantin near Orleans. In the British Army there were 1800 knights, 2000 archers and a few thousands of spearmen.
Soon, French King John II the Good as a head of 3 thousands of knights and infantry squad relieved the fortress. Edward withdrew to Poitiers. He began negotiations for an armistice, and then began to depart. Haunting the French avant-garde, British came under fire of archers, and were then counter-mounted by cavalry knights.
On the shoulders of the French cavalry the British broke in the battle order of the main forces of the French. John ordered the knights to dismount, hoping to repeat the success of Edward III at Crece, but panic-stricken army could no longer resist. Not everyone succeeded to escape. Many of the knights with the king were captured. For redemption from captivity, it was necessary to introduce a special tax (Rogers 1993).
The failures in the war and the burden of taxation caused an uprising in Paris and the cities of northern France. In 1358 a large peasant revolt broke out, called the Jacquerie, but the Dauphin (heir to the throne) Charles a few months later managed to suppress it. In 1360 in Bretigny, armistice was concluded by which France ceded Calais and south-west coast to England.
18-year-old Joan, the daughter of a peasant from the village of Domremy, in March 1429, dressed in male attire, arrived in the town of Chinon, where Charles was. She told the king that God sent her to save him and the people. Carl allowed Joan to form a team of volunteers to return Orleans. This unit was created in the town of Blois.
Joan managed to establish strict discipline among her people. She removed women from the camp, banned profanity and made mandatory visits to the church services for everyone. The people saw in Joan a new saint. In Blois, she delivered a proclamation, which appealed to the British with a stern warning: "Go away or I'll knock you out of France." These words cheered the French and inspired them to faith in victory.
On April 27, 1429, a campaign was launched for the liberation of France (Geiger 2008). At the urging of military commanders Joan led her unit to Orleans at the left bank of the Loire. She herself spoke for the movement by the right bank. Then the French would not have to cross the river, although they were forced to walk past heavily fortified castles, employed by the British. On the morning of the 29th the French passed the southern British fortifications. But they still had to cross the Loire. The head wind prevented the French vessels up the river. Jeanne predicted that soon the wind will change. Indeed, soon gave way to the fair wind, and the court arrived at Crecy, where there was a detachment of Joan. However, they proved to be too small. Joan crossed the river with only 200 horsemen, and the rest of the soldiers returned to Blois, to continue moving along the right bank of Orleans.
Upon arriving in Orleans, Joan asked the British to leave France. English commander promised to burn Joan in response, if she falls into his hands. On May 4th part of the garrison of Orleans, led by Joan went out of town for a meeting of their squad, which came from Blois. The French easily passed the English building. English besieged force was too weak to attack them. The same day, French troops attacked the fort (wooden tower) Saint-Loup, but the British resisted an attack. The French retreated in panic, but Joan could stop running and renovate the attack. Saint-Loup was also approached by the squadron of Joan under the command of Dunois. After 3 hours of attack, the Bastille was captured and destroyed. After this, the British left several neighboring fortifications.
On May 6th the French attacked the fort at St. Augustine and after a fierce battle captured it. On May 7 Joan led the attack of the last British fortifications on the left bank of the Loire. She was wounded by an arrow, but continued to inspire the troops until the English tower was not taken. The next day, the British seized the siege of Orleans and retreated.
Only a month later the French army continued releasing the Loire basin. On June 10 the troops led by the Duke of Alancen joined the army at Orleans. On June 18 in the battle at Patay the French defeated the significant forces of British. People met Joan with joy and inspiration.
On June 29, 1429, Carl with strong 12-thousand army marched to Rheims, where on July 17 he was crowned under the name of Charles VII. On August 23 part of the army led by the Duke of Alenson and Joan moved to Paris against the will of the king. The Duke was filled with confidence in the military talent and moral force of Joan. Subsequently, he wrote that "Joan was skillful in everything related to the military part." In no small measure the French owed their success to superiority in artillery. They had much more bombards than their opponents. It should be noted that in the Hundred Years' War hand guns were used - arquebuses.
On September 8, Karl allowed his army to attack the capital, but it failed. The French retreated to the Loire. The future fights were concentrated at Compiegne, where Burgundians acted, the allies of the British. In 1430 in one of the battles Burgundian squadron took Joan into captivity.
In 1431 the Maid of Orleans was tried at Rouen, where she was found guilty of witchcraft and burned at the stake as a witch. In 1456 as a result of a new trial was posthumously rehabilitated, and in 1920 the Catholic Church canonized her a saint.
The death of Joan did not change the unfavorable course of the war for the British. In 1435 the Duke of Burgundy went to Charles VII, which determined the final defeat of the British (Wilson 2009). The following year, the French troops liberated Paris. Normandy came under French control in 1450, and the Guyenne, with the exception of Bordeaux – by 1451. In 1453 the surrender of the English garrison of Bordeaux ended the Hundred Years’ War – without signing a formal peace treaty, in the natural course of events. The British managed to keep only the French port of Calais. It was returned to France only in 1558.
Conclusion
England could not conquer France, and France didn’t succeed to add the land of Flanders. French kings possessed far greater human resources than the English, which doomed to failure the English occupation of France. To keep the occupied territories, the British simply did not have enough power. In addition, they were unable to attract any of the great feudal lords of France. But the French troops, consisting mainly of courtly militia were weaker by military training than British infantry-archers. In addition, the French knights had badly subordinated unified command. All this did not allow the French to inflict a great defeat over the British Army, which would fundamentally undermine its power. The French couldn’t land in the British Isles because of the British rule over the sea. There is no reliable data on the losses of the parties in the war.
Works Cited
Geiger, Barbara. "A Friend to Compiegne." Calliope Magazine 18.8 (2008): 32–34. Print.
Rogers, Clifford J. "The Military Revolutions of the Hundred Years War." The Journal of Military History 57 (1993): 241-78. Print.
Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. Print.
Wilson, Kent. “Joan of Arc: By the Standard or by the Sword.” The Wittenberg History Journal 38 (2009): 30-39. Print.
