The wars of 14th and 15th century

Explore the major wars of the 14th and 15th centuries, including their causes, key conflicts, political impacts, and how prolonged warfare reshaped medieval Europe’s society, economy, and state power. Understand the wars of the 14th and 15th centuries, their major conflicts, causes, key battles, and long-term effects on medieval Europe, including the decline of feudalism and the rise of centralized states.

The wars of 14th and 15th century

The wars of 14th and 15th century

Introduction

The wars of the 14th and 15th centuries marked a decisive and turbulent phase in medieval European history. This period was characterized by prolonged conflicts, dynastic struggles, and territorial rivalries that reshaped the political map of Europe. Major wars such as the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of the Roses, and numerous regional and religious conflicts reflected the weakening of feudal structures and the growing power of monarchies. Advances in military technology, including the widespread use of gunpowder, longbows, and professional armies, transformed the nature of warfare. At the same time, continuous warfare placed heavy burdens on society and the economy, accelerating social change and contributing to the transition from the medieval world toward the early modern era.

Frequent civil wars

Famine and disease were not the only disasters to strike late medieval Europe. The fourteenth century also saw an increase in both civil wars and wars between states. The Holy Roman Empire saw nearly a decade of civil war (1314 – 1326) between rival emperors and, because of the close relations of their kings, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway experienced frequent combinations of civil and interstate war until the 1397 Union of Kalmar brought the three together under one crown.

Hundred Years’ War

• (1) The longest-running of these wars was between England and France, the so-called Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453). In 1328, the French king Charles IV died without a direct heir. England’s king, Edward III (r. 1327 – 1377), related to the French royal family, claimed to be rightful heir to the crown of France.
• (2) The resulting war would last over a century, although it was broken by frequent, lengthy truces. Although France had many more people than England, the kingdom of England was often able to defeat it. The main reason was that the English kings made increasing use of trained, disciplined infantry armies.
• (3) Horses are effective in battle against raiders or other horsemen. A horse, however, is less effective when an infantry formation is able to present a solid front against the horses and use missile weapons on those horses before they can close with their enemy.
• (4) Using a combination of archers and infantry, the English were able to inflict severe defeats on the French at both Crecy (26 August 1346) and Poitiers (19 September 1356).

Cruelty to farmers

The war was particularly hard on the civilians of the French countryside: the method of waging war of a pre-modern army often involved invading enemy territory and burning crops, looting villages, and murdering civilians. French peasants, who had suffered first from the Plague and then from war, rose in rebellion in 1358, but this rebellion was ruthlessly crushed, with the peasants slaughtered and leaders brutally executed.

Castilian Civil War

The Hundred Years’ War would spill over into Spain, which itself was suffering from a vicious war between Castile and Aragon that eventually caused a Castilian civil war, with both French and English intervening.

Equipment used in war

The wars of the fourteenth and especially fifteenth century saw not only an increasing use of trained, professional armies, but also the employment of gunpowder weapons, invented in Song China and first seen in Europe in the early 1300s. At first, firearms were limited to heavy, cumbersome artillery pieces that were deployed from fixed points. Their use on the battlefield and in sieges was limited, although by the fifteenth century, cannons could blast open the gates of most existing fortifications. By the mid-1400s, the harquebus, a man-transportable firearm, appeared on the battlefield in Spain, bringing gunpowder to the individual infantryman.

Conclusion

The wars of the 14th and 15th centuries played a crucial role in transforming medieval Europe. Prolonged conflicts weakened the feudal system, reduced the power of the nobility, and strengthened centralized monarchies. These wars encouraged military innovations, such as the use of gunpowder weapons and standing armies, which changed the character of warfare. Although the period was marked by destruction, population loss, and economic hardship, it also laid the foundation for the rise of strong nation-states and a new political order. Thus, the wars of this era acted as a bridge between the medieval and early modern worlds, shaping the future course of European history.

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