The 100 Years War 1337-1453

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The 100 Years War 1337-1453

• Longest recorded war in history
• Actually 116 years

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Long Term Causes

• Weakness of French crown existence of powerful
  vassals, e.g. Duke of Burgundy
• French ancestry of English Kings, this meant
  Edward III as Duke of Guienne was vassal to
  Charles IV of France.
• Lack of any effective way of settling disputes -
  always had to go to war
• England and Flanders relied on each other for
  trade (wool)

The feudal system
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Short Term Causes 1
Salic Law

• Charles IV - the last Capetian King died with no
  heir to the throne.
• Edward III claimed the throne of France.(His
  mother was Charles IVs sister)
• The French assembly chose Philip VI (cousin to
  Charles IV)

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Short Term cause 2

• The problem was that England could not grow
  grapes to produce the wine that many of the
  English now favored and had to import it. A
  triangular trade arose in which English fleece
  was exchanged for Flemish cloth, which was then
  taken to southern France and exchanged for wine,
  which was then shipped into England and Ireland,
  primarily through the ports of Dublin, Bristol,
  and London.

Flemish Cloth
English Wool
Wine from France
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Short Term Cause 2

• Flanders had grown to be the industrial center
  of northern Europe and had become extremely
  wealthy through its cloth manufacture. It
  could not produce enough wool to
  satisfy its market and imported fine fleece from
  England. England depended upon this trade for
  its foreign exchange.
• During the 1200's, the upper-class English had
  adopted Norman fashions and switched from beer to
  wine.

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What the cool people drank
Yeah!
Yuck
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War Begins

• In 1337 Edward III (of England) took an army of
  10000 to Flanders
• 1340 Battle of Sluys French attempt to get
  control of the English Channel. Philip sent a
  huge fleet to support his army. The English sent
  in Fire ships and won the battle.

Fire!
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New Weapons
Gunpowder
Crossbow
Canons
Longbow
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Decisive Battle 2

• With the English safe from French Invasion they
  once again invaded France in 1345BIG MISTAKE!

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Decisive Battles- Crecy 1345

• With the English army weakened by plague the
  French tried to force them into battle at Crecy.
  Backed up onto a hill the English won a decisive
  victory by skillful use of the Long-bow

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Decisive Battles Poiters 1356
French Lost!

• Facing much the same battlefield situation some
  ten years later, the French employed the same
  tactics they had used at Crecy, with the same
  dismal result, at the battle of Poiters (1356).
• The French king and many nobles were captured,
  and many, many others were killed.
• Old fashioned feudal warfare, in which knights
  fought for glory, was ended. The first phase of
  the war ended with a treaty in 1360, but France
  continued to suffer.
• The English had employed mercenaries who, once
  they were no longer paid, lived off the country
  by theft and plunder. Most French peasants would
  have found it difficult to distinguish between
  war and this sort of peace.

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Decisive Battle Agincort 1415
French Lost!

• In the reign of Henry V, the English took the
  offensive once again. At Agincourt, not far from
  Crecy, the French relapsed into their old tactics
  of feudal warfare once again, and were again
  disastrously defeated (1415). The English
  recovered much of the ground they had lost, and a
  new peace was based upon Henry's marriage to the
  French princess Katherine.

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Joan Of Arc

• In the following years, the French developed a
  sense of national identity, as illustrated by
  Joan of Arc, a peasant girl who led the French
  armies to victory over the English until she was
  captured and burned by the English as a witch.

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End of the War

• The French now had a greater unity, and the
  French king was able to field massive armies on
  much the same model as the British. In addition,
  however, the French government began to
  appreciate the "modern" style of warfare, and new
  military commanders, such as Bertran du Guesclin,
  began to use guerilla and "small war" tactics of
  fighting.

Crossbow
In 1453 England lost all claims - except Calais
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Europe 1470
Europe in 1430
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Results of the War

• End of English attempts to control continental
  territory and the beginning of its emphasis upon
  maritime supremacy.
• By Henry V's marriage into the House of Valois,
  an hereditary strain of mental disorder was
  introduced into the English royal family.
• There were great advances in military technology
  and science during the period, and the military
  value of the feudal knight was thoroughly
  discredited. Castles were no longer safe!

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More Results

• The order of knighthood ended, in a wave of civil
  wars (eg Wars of the Roses) that racked the
  countries of Western Europe.
• The European countries began to establish
  professional standing armies and to develop the
  modern state necessary to maintain such forces.
• The nation states of Europe were formed with
  people becoming more nationalistic

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Even More Results
End of the Feudal System