The Hundred Years' War actually lasted 116 years
England and France fought an on-and-off struggle so long that it outlived the kings who started it.
Despite its name, the Hundred Years’ War ran from 1337 to 1453 — about 116 years — making it one of the longest conflicts in European history. It pitted England against France, largely over English claims to French territory and to the French crown itself.
It was not a single continuous war but an intermittent struggle, broken up by lengthy truces, shifting alliances and the devastation of the Black Death. Generations of rulers inherited the fight from their predecessors.
The war produced some of the most famous battles of the medieval age — English longbowmen routing larger French armies at Crecy (1346) and Agincourt (1415) — and the rise of Joan of Arc, whose leadership helped turn the tide for France from 1429.
By 1453 the French had expelled the English from almost all of France, ending centuries of cross-Channel claims. The name “Hundred Years’ War” was coined by later historians, long after the fighting was over.
Sources & references
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