百年之战.docx

百年之战On English History-------- Discussion on The Hundred Years’ WarI.Introduction: The Hundred Years’ War changed history.Fought between England and France from 1337 to1453, the war introduced new weapons and tactics that marked the end of medieval warfare and sounded the death knell for chivalry and the medieval knight. It also marked the beginning of French nationalism with the advent and death of Joan of Arc, who became a French icon. While the war actually lasted 116 years, the fighting was sporadic and is commonly split into three main phases: the Edwardian War (1340-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), and the Lancastrian War (1415-1435). The Battle of Agincourt, immortalized by Shakespeare in Henry V, took place during the Lancastrian War in 1415. Henry’s victory, however, was short lived: he died only seven years later, and the French eventually prevailed.The war is commonly divided into three or four phases, separated by various unsuccessful truces: the Edwardian War (1337–1360); the Caroline War (1369–1389); the Lancastrian War (1415–1453); which saw the slow decline of Plantagenet fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Several other contemporary European conflicts were directly related to this conflict: the Breton War of Succession, the Castilian Civil War; the War of the Two Peters; and the 1383-1385 Crisis. The term "Hundred Years' War" was a later term invented by historians to describe the series of events.The conflict was punctuated by several periods of peace before the French recovery from early gains made by the English, expelling them from the majority of France by the 1450s. The Plantagenets lost most of their continental territory, including Gascony, which they had held since the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II in 1152, though they retained the Pale of Calais until its capture in 1558. However the ruling houses of England would continue to claim the French throne until 1800.The war owes its historical significance to a number of factors. Although primarily a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of both French and English nationalism. Militarily, it saw the introduction of new weapons and tactics which eroded the older system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry inWestern Europe. The first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire were introduced for the war, thus changing the role of the peasantry. For all this, as well as for its long duration, it is often viewed as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of medieval warfare. In France, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines and marauding mercenary armies turned to banditry reduced the population by about one-half.II.EventsThe background of the Hundred Years’War as far back as to William the Conqueror. When William became king in 1066 after his victory at the battle of Hasting, he united England with Normandy in France. William ruled both as his own. Under Henry II, the land owned by England by France became even lager and the kings followed found the land they owned in France too large and difficult to control. However, King John, the Lackland, lost almost all the English land in France in 1204. In 1328, Charles IV of France died. Edward III now claimed the French crown through his mother, Charles’ sister Isabella whose brothers had all died without a son . Edward has good reasons for his attempt to control France which was managing to spoil England’s wool trade, always stirring up trouble in Scotland, and which held the Pope as a prisoner and misused his influence on the English Church. Edward could not forget that western France had once belonged by right to Henry II. Weak kings had lost most it war, but a strong king could regain it by same means. If he could not get it peacefully through his claim on the crown, he was ready to fight for it. Contrary to his desire, the French decided that Philip, a cousin of Charles, should be crowned. Therefore, by 1337 Edward III was ready to fight for what he believed was his and initiated the Hundred Years’ to vindicate his claim to the French throne.While an immediate cause of the Hundred Years War was Philip VI's confiscation of Gascony, the chief cause involved Edward III's claim to the French throne. Other reasons, however, formed the foundation of conflict, chief of which was Edward himself as a potential claimant to the French throne.1. French and English Conflicts over Commercial Interests: The English in the early 14th Century still controlled large sections of France, including the wealthy Aquitaine. Revenues from this province alone dwarfed all internal English taxation. Ships leaving the Aquitaine,however, were subject to naval attacks by French pirates. In reprisal, English pirates attacked French shipping. Another cause of friction involved Flanders and the English woolen industry. Export duties represented large revenue sums for the English king. In the years be。