If Britain had won the Hundred Years War, British monarchs may have held court in Burgundy or eventually Paris. After all the weather was better. England may have existed as a middling, continental power subservient to Rome.

This scenario is that France loses the Hundred Years’ War and becomes a vassal state for the British. Because the European nations (Britain in particular) will have a stronger longer lasting influence on their colonies.

The war, boosted by stirring medieval literature, poems and popular songs, fostered a greater feeling of nationalism on both sides. Kings appealed to their armies prior to battles to fight for their king and country.

The Hundred Years War inflicted untold misery on France. Farmlands were laid waste, the population was decimated by war, famine, and the Black Death (see plague), and marauders terrorized the countryside.

The US and France formed something of an alliance during our Revolution because each side was enemies with Britain. They continued to trade even during the near war that developed between them around the turn of the century.

In recent years the two countries have experienced a quite close relationship, especially on defence and foreign policy issues; the two countries tend, however, to disagree on a range of other matters, most notably the European Union.

A long conflict inevitably ensued, in which the French kings steadily reduced and weakened the Angevin empire. This struggle, which could well be termed the “First Hundred Years’ War,” was ended by the Treaty of Paris between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France, which was finally ratified in December 1259.

Battle of Thymbra

The immediate causes of the Hundred Years War were the dissatisfaction of Edward III of England with the nonfulfillment by Philip VI of France of his pledges to restore a part of Guienne taken by Charles IV; the English attempts to control Flanders, an important market for English wool and a source of cloth; and …

Medieval wars

Wars and armed conflicts

World War II