Hundred Years' War

The Battle of Cadzand was an early action of the Hundred Years' War, fought in 1337 as a raid on the Flemish island of Cadzand. Its stated purpose was to provoke the local garrison into engagement and thereby deliver an easy English victory, with the calculated aim of boosting morale in England and among Edward III's continental allies ahead of a broader invasion of the continent. The raid thus served a political and psychological function at the outset of the war rather than a purely military one. On 9 November, Sir Walter Manny led the advance troops in an attempt to take the city of Sluys, but was driven off, limiting what the engagement could achieve strategically. As one of the earliest episodes of the Hundred Years' War, it reflects the preliminary maneuvering and alliance management that characterized Edward III's opening moves on the continent.

The Battle of Arnemuiden, fought on 23 September 1338, holds two distinct places in military history. Within the Hundred Years' War, it was the first naval engagement of the conflict, occurring at the war's outset and involving English and French forces under commanders including Hugues Quiéret, Nicolas Béhuchet, and John Kingston. England sustained approximately 1,000 casualties in the engagement. Beyond its role in the opening phase of the war, Arnemuiden is the first recorded European naval battle in which artillery was deployed: the English ship Christopher carried three cannons and one handgun into the engagement, marking an early documented instance of gunpowder weapons used in a naval context. This places the battle at the beginning of a transition in European naval warfare, even if that transition would unfold over subsequent generations.

The Battle of Sluys, fought in the roadstead of the port of Sluys on an inlet between Zeeland and West Flanders, was one of the opening engagements of the Hundred Years' War. The English fleet of 120–150 ships under Edward III met a 230-strong French fleet commanded by Admiral Hugues Quiéret and Constable Nicolas Béhuchet. French casualties reached between 16,000 and 20,000, a loss on a scale that effectively stripped France of its naval capacity in the early phase of the war. By neutralizing the larger French fleet at this early stage, the battle removed a significant threat to English maritime communications across the Channel and established a degree of English naval dominance that shaped the conduct of subsequent operations in the conflict.

The Battle of Auberoche, fought near Périgueux in northern Aquitaine on 21 October 1345, was a significant engagement of the Gascon campaign of 1345 during the Hundred Years' War. An Anglo-Gascon force of 1,200 men under Henry, Earl of Derby, confronted a French army of 7,000 commanded by Louis of Poitiers — a disparity of nearly six to one — and inflicted a heavy defeat. French casualties were described as very high, and their leaders were killed or captured. The outcome demonstrated the vulnerability of numerically superior French forces to the Anglo-Gascon forces operating in Aquitaine, a territory of the English Crown that drew substantially on native Gascon troops. The defeat of a force of this size, combined with the loss of French commanders, disrupted French military capacity in northern Aquitaine and reinforced English control over the region during a critical phase of the broader conflict.

The Battle of Blanchetaque was fought on 24 August 1346 as a critical passage engagement during the Crécy campaign of the Hundred Years' War. Following their landing in the Cotentin Peninsula on 12 July, the English under Edward III had driven through some of France's richest territories, reaching within 20 miles of Paris before turning north to link with an allied Flemish army invading from Flanders. Philip VI countered by garrisoning every bridge and ford over the River Somme and pursuing the English with his field army while the surrounding area had been stripped of food stocks, effectively trapping the English force. The crossing at Blanchetaque, held by Godemar du Fay's 3,500-strong force, was therefore a strategic necessity rather than an opportunistic engagement. With French casualties recorded at 2,000 against an English force of 5,000, the English forced the crossing and broke the encirclement, freeing Edward III to continue north. The battle was a direct prerequisite for the subsequent engagement at Crécy, where the broader campaign would reach its decisive conclusion.

The Battle of Caen in 1346 was part of Edward III's chevauchée through Normandy during the opening phase of the Hundred Years' War. The English force of 12,000 faced a French garrison of 1,500 under Raoul, Count of Eu, and inflicted approximately 5,000 casualties on the French side, a disproportion that reflects the scale of the English operational success. The fall of Caen, a major Norman city, gave Edward III a significant early victory in his campaign and demonstrated the vulnerability of French territorial holdings to sustained English military pressure. The engagement formed part of the broader strategic momentum that would carry Edward's army toward the decisive confrontation at Crécy later that summer.

The Battle of Crécy was fought on 26 August 1346 in northern France as part of the Hundred Years' War, pitting a French army under King Philip VI against an English force under King Edward III. The French attacked the English while the latter were traversing northern France, and the engagement ended in a decisive English victory. French casualties were severe, recorded between 1,542 and 4,000 killed, against an English force that was substantially outnumbered, with French strength estimated at 20,000–30,000 against an English force of 7,000–15,000. The loss fell across much of the French high command, with commanders including Charles II of Alençon, Rudolph of Lorraine, Louis II of Blois, and King John of Bohemia fighting on the French side. The battle represented a significant check on French military power during the opening phase of the Hundred Years' War and demonstrated the vulnerability of larger French forces to English tactical methods during offensive operations in northern France.

The Battle of Neville's Cross, fought half a mile west of Durham on 17 October 1346, resulted in the defeat of a Scottish invading force of 12,000 by an English army of approximately 6,000–7,000 men. The engagement occurred within the broader context of the Second War of Scottish Independence, which itself intersected with the Hundred Years' War: Scotland's invasion of northern England was mounted while English forces under Edward III were campaigning in France, exploiting English commitments on the continent. The defeat was severe for Scotland, with Scottish casualties estimated between 1,000 and 3,000, and the outcome effectively neutralized Scotland's ability to press its advantage during England's continental absence. The battle took its name from an Anglo-Saxon stone cross standing on the hill where the Scottish army made its stand; following the English victory, Ralph Neville, the English commander, paid to have a new cross erected on the site to commemorate the engagement.

The Siege of Calais followed the English victory at Crécy and saw Edward III commit an English force of approximately 5,000 against a French garrison and relief force under Jean de Vienne that reached some 20,000. The disparity in recorded forces indicates the scale of French effort to relieve the town within the broader Hundred Years' War. No outcome is recorded in the available data, and no further detail can be established from the supplied facts alone.

The Battle of Winchelsea, also known as Les Espagnols sur Mer, was a naval engagement fought during the Hundred Years' War in which an English fleet of 50 ships under King Edward III defeated a Castilian fleet of 47 larger vessels commanded by Charles de la Cerda. Between 14 and 26 Castilian ships were captured and several were sunk, against a loss of only two English vessels, though with significant English casualties. The engagement demonstrated English capacity to defeat a numerically comparable but individually larger enemy fleet, securing control of the waters and preventing Castilian naval power from being brought to bear against English interests in the context of the wider Anglo-French conflict. The presence of Edward the Black Prince among the commanders indicates the strategic weight attached to the action by the English crown.

The Battle of Poitiers, fought near Poitiers in western France on 19 September 1356, was a significant English victory during the Hundred Years' War. A French force of 14,000 to 16,000 men under King John II attacked an Anglo-Gascon army of roughly 6,000 under Edward, the Black Prince, and suffered approximately 4,500 casualties. The engagement stands alongside other major Anglo-French battles of the period as an instance in which a substantially larger French force was defeated by a smaller English-led army holding a prepared defensive position. The capture or death of French commanders and the scale of French losses imposed both military and political costs on the French crown at a critical phase of the war.

The Battle of Montiel, fought on 14 March 1369, set Franco-Castilian forces under Henry of Trastámara and Bertrand du Guesclin against the Granadian-Castilian forces loyal to the reigning Peter of Castile. The engagement was a direct expression of the Hundred Years' War's reach into the Iberian Peninsula, where French strategic interests aligned with Henry's dynastic challenge to Peter's rule over Castile. The battle represented a decisive moment in the Castilian civil war that ran alongside the wider Anglo-French conflict, with English backing having previously supported Peter and French support now behind Henry. The outcome of this contest over the Castilian throne had direct implications for the balance of naval and military power available to France and England respectively in the broader Hundred Years' War.

The Battle of La Rochelle was a naval engagement fought on 22 and 23 June 1372 during the Hundred Years' War, pitting a Castilian fleet under Admiral Ambrosio Boccanegra against an English fleet commanded by John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. The battle arose in the context of a French siege of La Rochelle, with the Castilian fleet dispatched to strike the English forces operating in support of that effort. English casualties reached 8,000, indicating a severe defeat for the English fleet. The outcome demonstrated the strategic weight of the Castilian alliance with France, which allowed the Franco-Castilian coalition to project naval force against English positions along the Atlantic coast during this phase of the Hundred Years' War.

The Battle of Agincourt, fought on 25 October 1415 near Azincourt in northern France, produced an unexpected English victory over a substantially larger French force — English troops numbered between 6,000 and 8,100 against a French army of 14,000 to 15,000, with French casualties reaching approximately 6,000. The outcome boosted English morale and crippled France, inaugurating a new phase of English dominance in the Hundred Years' War. This advantage held for fourteen years until England's defeat at the Siege of Orléans in 1429, which reversed the strategic momentum. Agincourt thus marks a pivotal turning point within the longer conflict: a single engagement that reshuffled the balance between the two powers and defined the character of the war's middle decades.

The Battle of Baugé, fought east of Angers in France, was a major defeat for the English in the Hundred Years' War. An English force of approximately 4,000 under Thomas, Duke of Clarence — brother of King Henry V — was defeated by a Franco-Scots army of around 5,000 commanded jointly by John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and Gilbert Motier de La Fayette, Marshal of France. English casualties reached approximately 1,000, and Clarence himself was killed in the action. The death of the king's brother and the scale of the defeat represented a significant blow to English prestige and to the high command in France at a critical phase of the war, coming shortly after the Treaty of Troyes had positioned Henry V as heir to the French crown. The presence of Scottish forces fighting alongside the French illustrates the practical operation of the Franco-Scottish alliance during this period, with the Scots contributing meaningfully to a Franco-Scots victory that checked English momentum in the region.

The Battle of Verneuil, fought near Verneuil-sur-Avre in Normandy on 17 August 1424, was a significant English victory in the Hundred Years' War. Facing a combined Franco-Scottish force augmented by Milanese heavy cavalry and numerically superior — between 14,000 and 16,000 against 8,000 to 9,000 — the English under the Duke of Bedford and the Earl of Salisbury inflicted approximately 6,000 casualties on their opponents while sustaining around 1,600 of their own. The scale of the disparity in losses against a larger force led the English to characterize the battle as a second Agincourt, placing it within the tradition of their most celebrated victories of the war. The presence of the Earls of Douglas and Buchan among the Franco-Scottish commanders, and their defeat here, represented a serious blow to the Franco-Scottish alliance that had brought Scottish forces onto French soil as a counterweight to English military power in Normandy.

The Siege of Orléans was a major engagement of the Hundred Years' War, pitting an English force of approximately 5,300 against a French garrison and relief force of around 6,400. English commanders included Thomas Montagu, William de la Pole, John Talbot, and William Glasdale, while the French side was led by Jean de Dunois, La Hire, and Joan of Arc. Recorded casualties — approximately 4,000 on the English side and 2,000 on the French — indicate that the siege ended at considerable cost to the English. The presence of Joan of Arc among the French commanders places this engagement at one of the pivotal moments of the later Hundred Years' War, when French fortunes in the conflict were substantially at stake.

The Battle of Patay on 18 June 1429 was the culminating engagement of the Loire Campaign during the Hundred Years' War. The French vanguard inflicted approximately 2,000 casualties on an English force of 5,000, with the heaviest losses falling on the English longbowmen as the English cavalry fled the field. Beyond the casualty toll, virtually all senior English commanders — including John Talbot, Thomas Baron Scales, and Thomas Rempston — were captured, decapitating English operational leadership in the region. The battle effectively reversed the terms under which the English had dominated open-field engagements in the preceding decades, with the French cavalry overwhelming an English force before it could establish the defensive formation that had proven decisive at earlier engagements. Though the victory has historically been credited to Joan of Arc, she was not present at Patay, having remained with the main body of the French army; command on the day rested with La Hire and Jean de Xaintrailles.

The siege of Compiègne was initiated by Duke Philip III of Burgundy after the town refused to transfer allegiance to him under the terms of a treaty with Charles VII of France. By the siege's own military and political weight it was a minor operation, and it ended in a Burgundian defeat. Its lasting importance derives from a single event within it: on 23 May 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundian troops during a skirmish outside the town walls while accompanying an Armagnac force. That capture proved one of the consequential moments of the Hundred Years' War, removing from the field the commander whose leadership had been closely identified with the revival of the Armagnac cause and the coronation of Charles VII. The siege of Compiègne thus occupies an outsized place in the history of the conflict relative to its operational significance, remembered primarily as the circumstances in which Joan of Arc passed into Burgundian — and ultimately English — custody.

The Battle of Formigny, fought on 15 April 1450, was a decisive French victory that effectively ended England's capacity to hold Normandy. By destroying the last significant English field army in the duchy, the battle removed the principal military obstacle to French reconquest. With no comparable force remaining to contest the territory, France was positioned to systematically reduce the English-held strongholds that remained. The engagement thus stands as a turning point in the final phase of the Hundred Years' War, accelerating the collapse of English territorial control in Normandy that had been consolidated over decades of occupation. The French force of approximately 4,200, under Jean de Clermont, Arthur de Richemont, and Pierre de Brézé, faced an English army of roughly 4,000 under Thomas Kyriell. French casualties of around 1,000 indicate the engagement was genuinely contested despite the decisive strategic outcome.

The Battle of Castillon, fought in Gascony on 17 July 1453, is conventionally regarded as the concluding engagement of the Hundred Years' War, ending more than a century of intermittent Anglo-French conflict over the French crown and English territorial holdings on the continent. The English force suffered approximately 4,000 casualties, and the death of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury — one of the most prominent English commanders of the war — at Castillon effectively ended English military capacity to contest Gascony. The battle's outcome secured French control over the region and extinguished the last significant English foothold in France outside Calais. Beyond its place in the Hundred Years' War, Castillon holds a wider significance in military history as the first major European battle decided through the extensive use of field artillery, marking a shift in the conduct of open engagements that would define warfare in the coming centuries.