In the 14th century, a huge conflict began when the King of England, Edward III, claimed he was the rightful King of France. This wasn't just about the crown; they were also fighting over rich lands like Aquitaine. The English army invaded France, bringing a terrifying new weapon: the longbow. The longbow was much more powerful than the French crossbows. First, its massive size (about 1.8 meters) allowed it to store incredible energy. Second, trained longbowmen used their whole body to pull the string, shooting 10-12 arrows per minute, compared to a crossbow's 1-2 shots. At the Battle of Crécy, the English rained down a storm of heavy arrows, easily defeating the famous, heavily armored French knights. To weaken France, the English also launched brutal raids called 'chevauchée,' burning villages and crops across the countryside to destroy the French economy.
The war continued for decades, interrupted only by the devastating Black Death. Edward the Black Prince, the brave son of the English king, led another invasion and won a huge victory at the Battle of Poitiers, even capturing the French King John II. During the battle, while many French nobles fled, King John II bravely fought on the front lines wielding a battleaxe until he was completely surrounded and forced to surrender. He was taken to England and later released to raise his own massive ransom, leaving his son behind as a hostage. When France struggled to pay and his son dishonorably escaped from England, a deeply principled John II decided to uphold his royal honor and chivalric vows by voluntarily returning to his English prison, where he eventually passed away from illness. Despite the chaos of losing their king, France eventually fought back using clever hit-and-run tactics to regain much of their lost territory. However, years later, the English King Henry V launched a fresh invasion. At the famous Battle of Agincourt, his tired troops won an incredible victory against a massive French army. At the time, the French King Charles VI was suffering from severe mental illness, leaving the country in chaos. Taking advantage of the incapacitated king, Henry V forced Charles VI to sign the disastrous Treaty of Troyes. This treaty disinherited the French crown prince and made Henry the legal heir to the French throne.
Just when it looked like France would completely fall under English rule, a miracle happened. A teenage peasant girl named Joan of Arc appeared, claiming she had a divine mission to save her country. She inspired the discouraged French soldiers and led them to a stunning victory at the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the entire war. Capitalizing on this momentum, Joan led a daring campaign deep into enemy territory to recapture Reims, the traditional city where French kings were crowned. Thanks to her, the ousted Dauphin Charles was officially crowned King Charles VII at Reims Cathedral, solidly establishing his legitimacy. Though Joan was later tragically captured and burned at the stake, the hope she sparked did not die. The French army grew stronger, modernizing their forces and introducing a new, powerful weapon on the battlefield: cannons.
In 1453, the two sides met at the Battle of Castillon. This time, it was the French who had the technological advantage, using massed field artillery to utterly shatter the English forces. The French army built a fortified camp with earthworks and positioned over 300 cannons of various sizes along the walls. They lured the English forces into charging their position, and once the enemy was in range, they unleashed a devastating, coordinated bombardment that literally blew the charging English troops to pieces. After 116 years of fighting, England lost nearly all its lands in France, and the Hundred Years' War finally came to an end. This war not only brought great destruction but fundamentally changed the world. Early in the war, the English 'longbow' pierced the armor of the seemingly invincible knights, and later, the French 'cannon' smashed the high walls of noble castles. The era of the heavily armored medieval knight came to an end. Furthermore, because only Kings could afford the massive expenses of cannons and professional standing armies, the power of local lords declined while the monarchy grew immensely powerful. Through this long and brutal conflict, the people of both England and France began to feel like unified, independent nations rather than just subjects of various lords. Astonishingly, in 1453—the exact same year the Hundred Years' War ended—the thousand-year-old Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) also fell to the Ottoman Empire, whose massive cannons smashed the impregnable walls of Constantinople. Together, these monumental events in 1453 are widely considered by historians to mark the definitive end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Early Modern Period, leading directly into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
