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World at War

Hundred Years' War

1337–1453 Western Europe Status: ended Casualties: ~3 million (battle + famine + plague)

Series of conflicts over the French throne. Black Prince at Crécy and Agincourt; Joan of Arc's victories reversed English gains. Ended with France driving England from all its French territories except Calais. France's population halved.

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Belligerents

  • Kingdom of England
  • Kingdom of France
  • Duchy of Burgundy

Casualties

~3 million (battle + famine + plague)

Key events

  • 1346 — Crécy
  • 1356 — Poitiers (King John II captured)
  • 1415 — Agincourt
  • 1429 — Joan of Arc relieves Orléans
  • 1453 — Castillon (war ends)

Aftermath

Forged French and English national identities. Ended feudalism's military relevance — by 1453, France had Europe's first standing professional army. England, expelled from France, turned to the sea — preconditions for the British Empire. Guns + standing armies + central tax = the modern state.

Weapons & matériel

  • English longbow (12 arrows/min, 250m range)
  • French knight's lance & plate armour
  • Early cannon (Crécy 1346, first battlefield use in Europe)
  • Pike formations

Technology

Longbow ended cavalry dominance; cannon began ending the castle; Joan of Arc's revival fused religious authority with military command

Cost

Drove fiscal reform on both sides — emergence of permanent taxation (taille, poll tax), standing armies, and centralized states

Sources

  • Froissart's Chronicles
  • Monstrelet
  • Joan of Arc trial records
From World at War, an interactive atlas by Jairus Pereira. Figures are approximate, drawn from Wikipedia, UCDP, ACLED and academic sources — a design artefact, not an authoritative register. Contact.