How long was the one-hundred-year war?

According to the historical tradition, the Hundred Years War between England and France is a series of consecutive military conflicts that lasted from 1337 to 1453.

It ended on October 19, 1453, the capitulation of the British 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 of Wilhelm in 1066, after winning the battle of Hastings, became the new English king, he united England with the Norman duchy, which 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 only two regions in France - Aquitaine and Pontieux.

When the last of the French kings of the Capetian dynasty, Charles IV Beautiful died in 1328, the closest male relative was his nephew Edward III English (the mother of Isabella was the sister of Charles and the daughter of Philip IV the Beautiful).

The French nobility aspired to the fact that the throne was occupied by Philip of the genus Valois (as King Philip VI), not only because Edward's rights to the French crown were passed on the female line. First of all, he was an Englishman, so he was an unsuitable challenger. Edward III, although he was then fifteen years old, was furious, but he could not do anything.

In 1337, Philip, in punishment for the fact that Edward gave shelter to his cousin and the enemy of Philip Robert d'Artois, demanded the return of Aquitaine to France. Edward in return, claiming for himself the crown of France by birthright, declared to Philip war.

The Counts of Flanders supported the claims of the British during the period of the Hundred Years War, because of personal interest - between England and Flanders, mutually beneficial trade in wool and fabrics was carried out. The dukes of Brittany and Normandy, united with the English, were afraid of the aspirations of those who wanted to create a strong centralized French kingdom.

In 1340, Edward officially took the title of "King of France and the French Royal Emblem." Modern historians are debating whether he really believed that he could occupy the French throne. But whatever his claims or hopes, it gave him important levers of control in dealing with Philip. Thanks to the title, he could provoke more than one problem, encourage dissatisfied French to choose himself king instead of Philip, use it as a powerful weapon during the negotiations, offering to abandon large territorial concessions in France in exchange for a crown.

During the period of the Hundred Years War, the British won brilliant victories at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, at Poitiers in 1356, at Azencourt in 1415. The starry hour of the English came when Henry V took control of Paris, Normandy, most of northern France. He married the daughter of Charles VI of Mad Catherine Valois and compelled the French king to recognize him as regent of France and successor to the French throne.

In 1422 Charles 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 English.

Henry VI was the only English king, truly crowned as the King of France at the age of ten in Paris in 1431. But gradually the independent territories, which were on the other side of the English Channel, left the British control.

In 1436, the French flooded Aquitaine and took Bordeaux, which was in the hands of the British for three hundred years and was the center of a flourishing wine trade. The 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 on the territory of France. It is believed that the population of the country during this period was reduced by half.

The forces of about 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 English at Castillon, and Talbot himself, an outstanding military leader 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 hundred-year war last a total? It covers a period of 116 years (from 1337 to 1453) with more or less prolonged interruptions. Although no important battle took place after 1453, the official centenary war ended on August 29, 1475, with the signing of a peace treaty in Piquinia between King of France Louis XI and King Edward IV of England .