The Hundred Years War was a conflict between France and England from 1337 to 1453 and it began because of two distinct reasons; first, Edward III, an English king, believed he should be crowned king of France since he was a close relative of the former king, Charles IV. However, Philip VI gained the throne. Secondly, multiple kings of both France and England believed they should control Guyenne, a part of French territory under English rule, because of the power it gave them (Encyclopedia Britannica 849). As the spite for one another grew, France and England went to war with one another and the fight for control continued over a century. Towards the end of the war, around the year 1429, the English were …show more content…
The French Army was no longer afraid of the English and England had left behind their sick men and prisoners of war in Orleans in order to escape before Joan decided to attack them again (Paine 179). Therefore, the Siege of Orleans was a turning point in the war for France. Charles VII gave Joan of Arc a chance to take Paris back from the English but she got captured by the English and burned at the stake in Rouen before she could get Paris. Henry VI, the king of England at the time, crowned himself king of France after the English defeated the French; however, because he did not know the operations of France, French armies, still on the offensive, slowly began to take back parts of France. By 1449 Charles VII pushed the English back into the town of Formigny and out of northern France, causing them to lose four thousand men, leaving only one thousand English soldiers behind. By late 1453, England has lost the war and the only French territory that they had was the coast of Calais (“The Hundred”).
Joan of Arc managed to convince French royalty that she was a messenger from God sent to help the French win the Siege of Orleans and crown Charles VII the king of France. She became an idol to the French people and a renowned military captain because of her miraculous victory at Orleans and religious views. After her victory in Orleans, France finally gained the advantage in the Hundred Years war and slowly pushed the English out of Northern France, eventually winning the