The Five Most Interesting Conflicts - The Hundred Years' War

by Hannah Gent

Over the next five weeks I will be looking at some of the most interesting conflicts since the fourteenth century. Although there are many other remarkable, historical wars, the five that I have chosen are conflicts that are famous by name but their details are not so well-known.

These are the conflicts that I will be writing about each week in chronological order:

• The Hundred Years' War: 1337-1453
• Boer Wars: 1880-1902
• WWI: 1914-1918
• The Arab Israeli Conflict: 1948-present day
• The Vietnam War: 1955-1975

In this article, I will be explaining what the Hundred Years' War was, what was the cause of the conflict and why I find this period of interesting.



The Hundred Years' War actually lasted 116 years and is one of many wars that England and France have fought in the last thousand years. It started in 1337 and was primarily caused because King Edward III of England believed that he had a stronger claim to the vacant throne of France than Philip VI of Valois, who the French barons had installed as king. King Edwards's mother had been the daughter of Philip the Fair and Philip VI of Valois was Philip the Fair's nephew. Another important cause of the war was the economic conflict. The French king tried to make towns in Northern Europe, which were wealthy due to trade and cloth-making, pay additional taxes. Furthermore, the trade was dependent on English wool, which meant that these towns supported the English monarchy, Edward III.




The main reason why I think this is a very interesting war is because of the young peasant girl who helped rescue the French from being ruled under one crown by the English. Joan of Arc is famous for being a martyr but not many people actually understand the full extent of what she did for her country and her faith. Joan of Arc was an illiterate peasant girl and at the age of thirteen, she believed that she heard the voices of certain saints. These 'voices' told her to go and rescue her country so after moralising the French troops she led them into battle. She liberated the French from the English during the Battle of Orleans. However, she was captured and burnt at stake by the English thereofore making herself a martyr.

The Hundred Years' War had a very dramatic impact on England. Shortly after the end of the Hundred Years' War a civil war occurred in England, known as the 'Wars of the Roses'. It happened because the French had destabilised the English monarchy and the leading houses of the English nobility started turning against one another. These civil wars are very important in the history of England because they resulted in the founding of the Tudor dynasty and the unification of the houses of Lancaster and York. The Tudors ruled from 1485 to 1603 and consisted of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I who were some of the strongest monarchy ever in the history of England.