June 24, 1340 · Flanders Theater

The first major engagement of the Hundred Years' War was fought entirely at sea in the harbor of Sluys off the Flemish coast. Edward III's English fleet caught the larger French fleet anchored in formation and devastated it with volleys of arrows before boarding. The French ships were chained together — a defensive measure that turned into a death trap, preventing any escape. Nearly the entire French fleet was destroyed.

August 26, 1346 · Northern France Theater

At Crécy, Edward III's English army of roughly 12,000 met a French force perhaps three times larger and inflicted one of medieval warfare's most catastrophic defeats. English longbowmen, positioned on a ridge and firing at a rate of ten arrows per minute, devastated successive waves of French knights and Genoese crossbowmen. The French knights charged sixteen times and were repulsed every time. King John the Blind of Bohemia, allied with France, rode into the battle with his reins tied to those of his knights and died fighting. His crest — three ostrich feathers — was adopted by the Black Prince.

August 1346 – August 1347 · Northern France Theater

Following Crécy, Edward III besieged the port city of Calais, a vital strategic prize on the narrowest point of the English Channel. The English blockade by land and sea starved the city over eleven months. When Calais finally surrendered, Edward demanded six burghers — the city's leading citizens — come before him barefoot with ropes around their necks to be executed as punishment for the prolonged resistance. Queen Philippa famously interceded and saved their lives. The six burghers became one of the most celebrated images of medieval courage.

September 19, 1356 · Western France Theater

A decade after Crécy, the Black Prince repeated his father's triumph at Poitiers with a smaller English force of roughly 8,000 against a French army of perhaps 20,000. Again, English longbowmen on a ridge tore apart French cavalry charges. When the French dismounted to advance on foot, the Black Prince launched a devastating counterattack that shattered the French army. King John II of France himself was captured on the battlefield — a shocking humiliation. John was taken to London and held for a ransom of three million gold crowns, approximately twice the annual revenue of France.

October 25, 1415 · Northern France Theater

On St. Crispin's Day, 1415, Henry V's exhausted army — perhaps 6,000 men, many sick with dysentery after a long march — faced a French force of 12,000 to 36,000 on a rain-soaked field near Agincourt. Henry positioned his longbowmen on the flanks of a narrow front and baited the French to advance through churned mud that turned the field into a killing ground. The heavily armored French knights, unable to maneuver, were slaughtered by arrows and massacred when they fell. When rumors of a French counterattack threatened to divide his forces, Henry ordered the controversial execution of most French prisoners.

August 17, 1424 · Normandy Theater

Sometimes called the 'second Agincourt,' Verneuil saw the English regent of France, the Duke of Bedford, defeat a combined French and Scottish army. The Scots — fighting under the Auld Alliance with France — made up a substantial part of the anti-English force. English longbowmen once again devastated cavalry charges, and Scottish pikemen fighting on foot were killed in large numbers. The Duke of Bedford's tactical handling was superb, defeating simultaneous attacks on multiple sides.

February 12, 1429 · Loire Valley Theater

Named for its unglamorous cargo, this engagement saw English commander John Fastolf escorting a supply convoy of salt herring to the besieging forces at Orléans. A Franco-Scottish force intercepted the convoy near Rouvray. Fastolf, outnumbered, formed a defensive laager of supply wagons studded with sharpened stakes and repulsed the attackers with longbow fire — essentially repeating the Agincourt formula on a smaller scale. The French and Scottish cavalry were routed. The herrings reached Orléans.

October 1428 – May 1429 · Loire Valley Theater

Orléans was the pivot of the war. English forces had besieged the city since October 1428, and its fall would have opened all of southern France to English conquest. In October 1428, the English commander Salisbury was killed by a cannonball — an omen of things to come. Then in April 1429, a seventeen-year-old peasant girl from Lorraine arrived leading a relief army. Joan of Arc's charisma transformed French morale. In nine days of fighting that began May 4, her forces cleared the English fortifications surrounding the city and broke the siege on May 8. The English, who had besieged the city for seven months, were swept away in less than two weeks.

June 18, 1429 · Loire Valley Theater

Patay was the French answer to Crécy and Agincourt. French cavalry caught the English army before it could form its defensive line — the longbowmen who had devastated French knights for generations never got their stakes in the ground. French horsemen crashed into the unprepared English archers and routed them entirely. John Talbot, England's most feared commander in France, was captured. John Fastolf fled the field, earning lasting disgrace. Joan of Arc, having broken the siege of Orléans, now shattered the myth of English military invincibility.

April 15, 1450 · Normandy Theater

At Formigny, the French used field artillery to solve the English longbow problem. French culverin cannon were placed to enfilade the English defensive line, forcing the archers to abandon their positions and charge the guns. As they did, French cavalry caught them in the open. The English army was annihilated. Of roughly 4,000 English soldiers, nearly all were killed or captured. It was the worst English defeat in France since the start of the war.

July 17, 1453 · Gascony Theater

Castillon was the last battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first in European history decided primarily by field artillery. Jean Bureau, master of artillery to Charles VII, had prepared a fortified artillery camp with 300 cannon. When Talbot — now aged around 70 but still England's greatest captain — rashly charged the French camp after receiving false intelligence that it was being abandoned, he rode into a wall of cannon fire. Talbot was killed when his horse was felled by a cannonball and he was unable to rise in his armor; a French soldier then killed him. The English army was destroyed.