18. The Hundred Years’ War, lasting actually 116 years in length, saw the loss of between 2,300,000 and 3,300,000 lives
The Hundred Years’ War was a prolonged series of conflicts fought between the Kingdom of England, ruled by the House of Plantagenet, and the Kingdom of France, ruled by the House of Valois, to determine territorial ownership over France. Involving five generations of kings and soldiers, lasting from 1337 until 1453, the conflict is often considered by historians to mark the endpoint of the medieval period of European history. The Kings of England, from 1066, were of Norman and Angevin blood and consequently the English monarch historically enjoyed lands both in the British Isles and on mainland Europe; unwilling to serve as vassals to the Kings of France, by 1337 much of the French holdings of the Plantagenets had been stripped away.
After the childless death of Charles IV in 1328, Edward III of England tried to claim the French throne; failing in this attempt, Philip VI, Count of Valois, was offered the crown and sought to confiscate his distant relation’s lands in France for the attempted usurpation. The English cause seemed initially hopeful; victories at Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt rendered belief that with further investment the war might be won. However, lacking the resources of the Kingdom of France, England could never complete its conquest and from 1429 the tide turned. The war ended with England having lost much of its possessions on the European continent, with the immense costs of the war a major contributing factor behind the War of the Roses (1455-1485) and the downfall of the Plantagenet dynasty.