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## Intro [00:00] hi everyone welcome back to the history in 20 podcast hope you're all keeping well so carrying on from sort of the last couple of videos I've done I'm carrying on with that theme of like the top fives or five key battles five key people Etc and this time we're looking at five key battles of the Hundred Years. ## HUNDRED YEARS' [00:16] War and I've categorized these I'll do them in chronological order so it's easy to follow but I've categorized these as why they're so significant um because obviously there was a lot of different battles and conflicts within 100 Years War um so I just thought I'd pick these five out I'll explain why as I go along why these are like the five key battles of the Hundred Years War so to start off with a quick introduction if you don't know what the 100 Years War is it was a conflict fought between England and France for 116 years not 100 um from 1337 until 1453 and the war saw estimates of between 2.3 to 3.3 million people die over the course of the conflict which in the grand scheme of things in given you know like the first world war second world war those statistics seem like nothing but you've got to remember that the population of Europe was so much smaller back then so it was a huge loss of life to Europe at the time I think it was the biggest um uh battle that took the most deaths sorry um until then the 30 Years War in 17th century which I've done a video about before and then obviously the first world war and the second world war in the 20th century so I said it was two in England and France and at this time both England and France had five Kings on the throne during this period with some of them being largely remember their positive contributions in the conflict for their respective sides but others weren't so fortunate I haven't been under having been on the receiving end of defeat on more than one occasion so this sort of podcast episode I'm so like highlight like I said earlier the five key battles of the Hundred Years War and state why they were so significant so without further Ado let's get into the first battle on this list which you might have heard me mention before in my plantagen it's mini series videos it's the Battle of Cressy on the 26th of August 1346. ## 26 AUGUST 1346 [02:09] so it was one of the first battles of the Hundred Years War and it was fought in what was known as the Edwardian fears of the war due to Edward the first of Edward III of England sorry uh ruling and commanding during this period so an English force of around 14 000 men landed in Normandy in northern France on the 12th of July 1346 and they marched northwards through the French Countryside the French King who was Philip VI he reigned from 1328 to 1350. he heard news that an English force was traversing through his kingdom and he managed to amass a force of roughly 12 000 men so it's worth noting that the armies were about evenly matched a couple thousand more in Edward III's forces so Philip's Army was made of approximately 8 000 Knights who were obviously trained soldiers and 4 000 genois crossbowmen which was a key factor in the Battle of Cressy and the Hundred Years War as a whole and I'll explain that in a minute so both armies met at Cressy and Edward prepared for the French assault so in the late afternoon of the 26th of August 1346 Phillips Army actually begun the attack so as I mentioned earlier Philip VI that employed four thousand generes crossbowmen as part of his army on the English side though Edward III had brought along a new weapon in medieval warfare the Longbow and he brought 10 000 longboard men with him so ten thousand out of Edward the thirds fourteen thousand fours were Longboat men so the genoese crosswoman led the assault but they were instantly overwhelmed by the English longboards which could not only fire further distances but they could reload faster as well which was a key component that ultimately led to the English victory at Cressy so after the crosswoman retreated the French mounted Knights began to charge but they were showered with wave after wave of arrows and at nightfall the French withdrew completely so the Contemporary french chronicler guy called Jean LaBelle described the scenes of the battle in no vague terms he said it was found that there were nine great princes lying there and around 1200 nights and a good 15 or 16 000 others Esquires genoese and others and they found only 300 English Knights dead so it's worth mentioning that although those figures are likely an exaggeration on Jean LaBelle's part casualties on the French side did include some key figures such as Charles II of Alan Shawn who was King Philip's brother King John of bohemia who was an ally of Phillips and Louis II of Nevers who was another Ally so Cressy wasn't just a major turning point in the Hundred Years War but in medieval warfare as a whole because it showed that the edge of the mounted Knight was over and the age of the longboard was in and also that the English Supremacy arms had been ushered in on a bloody Battlefield on a Hot August afternoon in France so that's why Cressy is so significant the turning point between the long ball being introduced which was utilized hugely throughout the Hundred Years War as we'll see in other battles so number two is the Battle of Poitier on the 19th. ## SEPTEMBER [05:11] of September 1356. so following the victory at Cressy the Hundred Years War had begun to turn in favor of the English so Edward III had gone on to besiege color a year later but it was actually the bottle of patio on the 19th September 1356 which really solidified the English position in the conflict so the reason that partier makes this list is because it was a classic Underdog Story estimates of between 14 to 16 000 French troops under the command of King John II who reigned fronts from 1350 to 64. also known as John the good he attacked an English Garrison of around 6 000 troops about five miles from the town of Portia in France so although England was still under the rule of king Edward III it was his son also called Edward who commanded the English army at Poitier and this Edward it's not Edward IV he comes later later on in the uh 15th century it was a guy called Edward the black prince and he was called that due to the color of his arm of the thing um so at the time Poitier the black prince was only 26 years old and he showed his wealth of experience from an early age so once again the French army used crossbowmen and failing to learn from their past experience they were unsuccessful against the superior English longboards so estimates of up to 7 000 members of the French army were either killed or captured but what made protea so significant is that John II the French King himself was captured so not only had protea shown that the English were militarily Superior it also showed that the French had to worry for a long time the black prince was only 26 and had already captured the French King what else could he achieve in his military career particularly if it was as long as his father's so both poetier and Chrissy were key victories in the Edwardian phase of the Hundred Years War but for the next key conflict we go into the 15th century to the lancastrian phrase because it was under the House of Lancaster and visit one of the greatest military victories of all time the battle of ajinko so number three on this list is the. ## 25 OCTOBER 1415 [07:13] Battle of agincour which took place on the 25th of October 1415. so it's probably one of those battles that you've heard of whether you've studied at school or college or university but it's one of those key turning points in English history let alone just 100 Years War so it's been described as one of the pivotal moments in both 100 Years War and English History so following Decades of relative peace with the odd Skirmish here and there but nothing overtly serious the war resumed in 1415 amid the failure and breakdown of negotiations between both sides so this phrase of the Hundred Years War from 1415 to its culmination in 1453 is referred to as the lancastrian phrase due to monarchs from the House of Lancaster and England ruling the country and leading the English forces at agincour was King Henry V of England who reigned from 1413 to 22 and he quickly became one of the most celebrated monarchs in English History so during the 1415 campaign many English troops had died from disease so they attempted to withdraw back to color which was English territory at the time but their route back was blocked by French forces so the numerically inferior is about 7 000 English to 25 000 French nearly almost outnumbered sort of one to three uh the numerical inferior English forces had no option whether to take on the French forces in battle near the village of Agincourt in northern France so the conditions on the day definitely helped the English as well uh there was recent bounce of heavy rain ensured that the battlefield was muddy with the Contemporary French monk of Dennis stating that the mud was up to the French troops knees trudging through these conditions in full play time it also meant that the troops were fatigued before they reached the battlefield so you unusually although understandably given the circumstances for this time the French army were not coming commanded by their King Charles the sick he reigned from 1380 to 1422 because he suffered from bouts of Madness which we presume today to be psychosis so instead the French forces were commanded by the Constable of France Charles dalbra so once again in the Hundred Years War longbows were still the superior weapon this is almost 100 years later or certainly 70 odd years later still the superior weapon so estimates of up to 80 percent of that 7 000 strong English Force were longboarming so during the fighting Henry V's brother Humphrey who was the Duke of Gloucester had been wounded and Henry himself stood guard over his brother's body until he could be dragged to safety a sensational Act of Bravery particularly when Henry received an ax blow to his head which knocked off part of his helmet so nevertheless he lived to tell the tale as did the majority of the English forces estimates of 6 000 Englishmen lost of 600 sorry 600 Englishmen lost their lives Agincourt in comparison to 6 000 French a large number of whom were members of the nobility including Charles dalbra and Duke and John the first the Duke of Alan shun so once again the Hundred Years War turned in favor of the English but it wouldn't end up staying this way because shortly after in 1422 Henry V died aged only 35. his nine-month-old son succeeded him as King Henry VI of England he ran twice from 1422 to 61 then 1470-71 and his Reign was an absolute disaster whereas Charles VI France died in 1422 and he was succeeded by a much stronger King Charles VII who reigned from 1422 to 61 and this is undoubtedly another turning point in the Hundred Years War and it's to the French victories that we turn next so battle number four on this list is. ## JUNE 1429 [10:54] the Battle of Pate which took place on the 18th of June 1429. so despite the victory at agincoin 1415 the final years of the war turned in France's favor and led to their ultimate Victory well penultimate Victory I suppose at the end of the brutal 116 Year campaign so one of the key turning points of the Hundred Years War was the Battle of Pate fought just north of Orleans in France and the battle was the result of the eight-month law campaign led by one of the most famous Medieval women of all time Joan of Arc so following the French victory at the siege of Orleans on the 8th of May 1429 many of the English troops withdrew the Loire River to reach various English garrisons dotted along its banks the French army who at the time were under the command of John II Duke of Alan Sean gathered supplies and besieged a number of English garrisons on their way up the Loire so the English force is numbered about 5 000 while the French had 180 nights and were later reinforced by 1300 men at Arms so the English who were understandably confident of their longboard tactics at Cressi party and ajinko displayed a force predominantly made up of lung Romans situated behind a barrier of sharpened sticks to offset any Cavalry Charges by the French however the English force is rambushed by the French Knights who were soon joined by a much larger band of men at arms and they roundly defeated the English so approximately 100 French soldiers were dead or wounded after the battle of Pate compared to two and a half thousand dead or wounded English so in other words what half of the English Army and the victory at Pate was so huge for the French forces it was described as what ajinkar was to the English an underdog Victory which spurred on the French forces and hugely increased morale in France and it's to the very final battle of the Hundred Years War that we turn at last a victory which established French military Supremacy on. ## JULY 1453 [12:44] the continent for centuries the battle of castion and that took place on the 17th of July 1453. so from the siege of Orleans onwards the French forces had slowly begun to Take Back Control of their country one Garrison then one city at a time so by 1451 King Charles II was ready to take back his country from the English for good so he first conquered Bordeaux but to his surprise the citizens of Bordeaux did not want to be ruled by the French and this was because Bordeaux had been a part of the English Plantation Empire for almost three centuries and the Bordeaux citizens identified as more English than French so in response to Charles VII's Invasion the Bordeaux citizens sent word to the English King Henry VI for help but unfortunately for the citizens of Bordeaux they're pleased fell largely on deaf ears Henry VI was mentally ill and the early stage of what was to become the wars of the Roses were brewing in England however the Earl of Shrewsbury who's a man called John Talbot was prepared to help and have one last push for the English at Bordeaux so on the 17th of October 1452 he arrived at Bordeaux with a force of 3 000 men the locals supported talboton as men and revolted against the French garrisons which gave England another albeit small relatively unchallenged foothold in France Charles VII obviously was outraged and he spent the winter months Gathering troops for a counter-attack Talbot received more support but was still hugely outnumbered so in addition the French had also constructed an artillery Camp outside the town of castion so Talbot and his forces rushed to defend it so initially Talbot defeated a flurry of French archers but he was desperate to make another sudden attack the French had predicted this and they were ready for him the French also had cannons and a cannonball hit Talbot's horse and horse in Talbot and breaking his leg as he fell pinned to the ground under his horse French commanders surrounded the English forces kill Talbot and the rest of the English forces panicked and broke Rank and in the end almost four thousand of their 6 000 soldiers were killed in the following onslaught so following a three-month Siege Bordeaux surrendered to Charles VII on the 19th of October 1453 and the Hundred Years War finally came to an end when the news reached Henry VI of England he reportedly fell into a delusional State and this was ultimately another huge turning point in English History the mentally ill King and rival factions fighting for the throne led to one of English to history's bloodiest civil conflicts the wars of the Roses so I hope you enjoyed this video it's a bit of a short one probably again but um just let me know what you think of this format of like top five top ten because when I did the 30 Years War video I know that was a bit of a struggle getting it into 20 minutes so I thought I'd rather go for Quality rather than quantity and cram everything into a 20 minute video for the Hundred Years War but let me know what you think anyone if you like this kind of thing leave some feedback below comment like subscribe Etc and I'll see you at the next one thanks again catch you later.