Jean-Daniel Kretzen

The Hundred Years War The Battle of Crecy was the first major battle between the English and the French in this war. The English had invaded and started a chauvee, a sort of warfare where they burned everything and anything in the armies’ way. This warfare was conducted to lure the enemy out of their castles and draw them into open battle. The plan however was unsuccessful and the English had to withdraw back to Gascony. The French started following them and offered battle at a small town called Crecy. The English were outnumbered at almost four to one as the French had about twelve thousand men and the English only had three thousand men, of who two thousand men where all archers, with giant yew bows that could shoot an arrow for almost four hundred meters and still have enough force to punch through plate armour. All through the night there was a torrential downpour, which also lasted through most of the morning. This ended up saving the English, because their bowman could take their arrow strings off and keep it dry, but the French crossbow string all got wet and could not shoot properly. The French then made a charge on horseback, but the English archers shot the horse, which allowed the men at arms to slaughter the riders, who could not get up because their armor was too heavy. At the end of t he day, almost two thousand Frenchmen were killed, with the loss of only forty Englishmen in comparison. The Geneva crossbowmen, which could not shoot because the strings were wet, all got massacred by the French cavalry, who thought their crossbowmen were just running away because they were scared. About two thousand of these men were also killed. This Battle was a major victory for the English. They defeated a major French army, captured many of the nobility, and crippling the might of the French army for a long time. It also enabled them to capture the port city of Cairlais. The Battle of Poitiers took place in 1348. This battle went much the same as the battle of Crecy. It was another rainy day in the middle of summer, and the French just charged up the hill again. The archers again shot down the horses and the men-at-arms just slaughtered the men who fell from their horses. This battle was an even bigger disaster for the French. Their King and his youngest son were captured and the King’s oldest son was killed. This victory also allowed the English to capture several French towns along the Gascony-French border. The Battle of Agincourt was fought on a rainy winter’s day in October, 1445. It was the last decisive victory of the English over the French in the war. King Henry V won the battle with the help of the yew bow and the archer again. It had rained the night before and the ground was sopping wet, with the mud clinging to the boots of all the troops on the field. Because the archers were so lightly armored, they could run around the French knight and basically beat them to death with whatever weapons they could find. The Battle of Agincourt would be the last major victory the English would have in the war. A few years after this fight, Joan of Arc rallied the French army around her and drove the English out of the country.