History is messy. If you ask a student how did the Hundred Years War end, they’ll probably mumble something about Joan of Arc or maybe a specific date like 1453. But wars that last over a century—116 years to be pedantic—don’t just snap shut like a book. They bleed out. They fizzle. They end because one side literally forgets how to win and the other side finally learns how to stop losing.
It wasn’t a treaty that did it. Not really.
By the time the dust settled at the Battle of Castillon, the "war" had become a part of the landscape, as natural as the seasons or the plague. People had lived and died without ever knowing a world where England and France weren't trying to tear each other's throats out over a crown and a few choice pieces of real estate in Aquitaine. To understand the finish line, you have to look at how the French finally figured out gunpowder and how the English monarchy basically suffered a massive nervous breakdown.
The Myth of the Big Peace Treaty
Most people assume there was some grand meeting of kings, a quill pen, and a fancy piece of parchment that ended the whole ordeal. Nope. There was no "Treaty of 1453." In fact, the English didn't even realize the war was over for a long time. They just... stopped being able to land armies.
The French victory was a slow-motion car crash for the English. It started with the reclaiming of Normandy in 1450. Then, the French turned their eyes south toward Gascony. This was a big deal because Gascony had been English for three centuries. It wasn't just a colony; it was a massive paycheck. The wine trade there was legendary. Losing it was like a modern country losing its most profitable industrial state.
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Why the English couldn't hold on
King Henry VI was no Henry V. While his father was the warrior-king who crushed the French at Agincourt, the son was—to put it mildly—unfit for the job. He was prone to bouts of mental illness where he wouldn't speak for months. While he was staring at walls, his nobles were busy stabbing each other in the back. This internal rot is a huge part of the answer to how did the Hundred Years War end. You can't win an away game when your locker room is on fire.
The Cannon That Changed Everything
If you want a specific moment where the vibe shifted, look at the Battle of Castillon in 1453. This is widely considered the final curtain. But it wasn't won by knights in shining armor or the legendary English longbow. It was won by the Jean Bureau brothers and their massive collection of cannons.
For decades, the English longbowmen were the undisputed kings of the battlefield. They were fast, deadly, and could outrange almost anything. But at Castillon, the French did something "dishonorable" by the standards of the time: they dug in and used field artillery.
The English commander, John Talbot—a man so feared the French called him the "Achilles of England"—basically rode his horse straight into a wall of gunpowder. He thought the French were retreating. They weren't. They were waiting. When the English charged, the French opened up with over 300 guns. It was a massacre. Talbot died, his army was shredded, and with him died the English dream of a dual monarchy.
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The French "New Model" Army
We often credit Joan of Arc with the win, and sure, she gave the French their mojo back in the 1420s. But she was long dead by 1453. The real heavy lifting in the final years was done by boring administrative reform. King Charles VII—the guy Joan got crowned—actually turned out to be a decent strategist. Or at least, he was good at hiring the right people.
He created the Compagnies d'ordonnance. This was the first standing army in Europe since the Romans. Before this, kings had to beg nobles for soldiers. Now, Charles had professional troops who were paid regularly and actually stayed in the field.
- They had better equipment.
- They practiced together.
- They didn't go home for the harvest.
- They actually listened to orders.
This professionalization meant that when the English tried to muster a counter-attack, they were fighting a machine, not just a bunch of angry peasants and bored knights.
The Quiet Aftermath
After Castillon, there was a weird silence. The English didn't surrender. They just went home and started the Wars of the Roses. They were too busy fighting over who got to sit on the English throne to worry about the French one anymore.
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Interestingly, the English kings kept calling themselves "King of France" until 1801. It was a hollow title, a bit of historical LARPing that lasted through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution. They held onto one tiny scrap of land—Calais—until 1558, but for all intents and purposes, the "war" died in the mud of Gascony in 1453.
Why it mattered then (and now)
The end of the war changed what it meant to be a country. Before this, "France" and "England" were more like collections of estates owned by cousins who hated each other. By the end, people started feeling "French" or "English." It was the birth of nationalism. It also proved that the age of the knight was over. Why spend twenty years learning to use a sword when a peasant with a week of training and a cannon can blow you off your horse from 200 yards away?
If you're digging into this for a project or just because you’re a history nerd, don't just look for a date. Look for the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern world. That's the real story.
Actionable Steps for History Students and Researchers
- Look beyond 1453: If you're writing a paper, check out the Treaty of Picquigny (1475). It’s often called the "formal" end because it’s where King Edward IV of England finally took a bribe from the French to go away and stay away.
- Study the Bureau Brothers: If you want to understand the tactical shift, look up Jean and Gaspard Bureau. They are the unsung architects of the French victory.
- Analyze the Wine Trade: To see the economic impact, research the "Bordeaux wine trade" before and after 1453. The economic shock to England was massive.
- Trace the Longbow's Decline: Compare the English tactics at Agincourt (1415) to Castillon (1453). It’s a perfect case study in how technology can make a winning strategy obsolete overnight.
The war didn't end with a bang or a whimper; it ended with the sound of a cannon and the closing of a ledger. The English just couldn't afford the bill anymore, and the French finally decided they were tired of being tenants in their own home.