The Hundred Years War? Essay -- War England France Papers

The Hundred Years' War The start of hostilities in 1337 sees the balance of power stacked distinctly in the favor of France. Its population is large, its lands fertile, and its cities prosperous. A population of over 10 million make it one of, if not the strongest population base in Western Europe, with Paris laying claim to title as perhaps the sole great city in Latin Christendom . In contrast, the population of England totals only a third or a fourth of its adversary, with lands less developed and people less prosperous. Additionally, England still faces challenges from Scotland to the north, and though slightly less perilous in nature, revolts of the Welsh and Irish to the west. The marked difference in resource base allows French kings to continually field larger armies for the entire duration of the conflict. The defensive nature of the war for France also conveys considerable inherent advantages. Siege weapons have yet to catch up to the fortifications of the day, and larger walled cities and strongholds are often considered impregnable , requiring attacking armies to resort to the lengthy process of starving out a garrison before the city could be relieved. "The worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. " Such a process, as in the case of Calais, could take months on end, with a high cost in men and resources which imposed a severe limitation on how much territory could be assaulted, broken, and held in any given amount of time. An army invading a territory as vast as the lands of France, whose landscape is dotted with fortified towns and castles, would be hard pressed to make any permanent inroads without the most tenacious and lengthy of operations. Defending a consolidated position of home territories al... ...t had enjoyed for so long not only vanish, but take root in the minds of their adversary, turning the balance of power so far from their favor as to make the continued struggle in the last years of the war entirely hopeless, carried on only due to the stubborn national pride of an island never willing to concede defeat. Bibliography Burne, Lt-Col. Alfred H. The Crecy War. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1955. Burne, Lt-Col. Alfred H. The Agincourt War. Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1956. Giles, Lionel (translator). The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Hodder and Stoughton, 1981. Oman, Sir Charles. A History of The Art of War in the Middle Ages, Volume II. Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1924. Perroy, Edouard. The Hundred Years War. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959. Thompson, Peter E. (translator). Contemporary Chronicles of the Hundred Years' War. The Folio Society Ltd, 1966.