Innumerable Wars and the Current Political Dispensations - Case Study Example

Regardless of whether fought using modern, cutting edge technology, such as nuclear, atom bombs and cyber warfare, which are the quintessence of 21st century knowledge, or by the primitive Stone age humans, using crude tools, wars have common characteristics that transcend and defy time and technology. They symbolize humanities primordial desire for control and dominance, and in war; despite our claim to humanity and civilization, the rules and morality go out of the window and the only thing that matters is killing and wrecking destructions on real and perceived foes. Ultimately, wars are costly business and whichever side wins, there are inimitable losses on both sides. In the last 1000 years, world nations have engaged each other in innumerable wars and the current political dispensations and global political power structures largely are determined by those wars. In the minds of most people, there have been two great wars; and this is understandable because the first and second world war was fought on a global scale by and it involved nearly all the worlds’ powerful nations at the time. Notably, in these two wars, the France and Britain have been strong allies and fought side by side mostly against east European nations and Asia. However, they were the two antagonists in what is easily the world’s longest, ergo bloodiest and possibly meaningless war. In the hundred-year war, which technically lasted one hundred and sixteen years, the two nations engaged each other in a series of on and off battles and wars, which left nearly indelible scars on the geographical, social and economic spheres of the countries. In this paper, the hundred year war will be closely examined with attention to its effects in France especially the social economic institutions and the tax system in the country and the overflow to those in the rest of Europe The war lasted between the 14th and 13th century, it was not a continuous war and it mostly involved a series of related military confrontations between the two nations; moreover, for the 116-year duration of the war, there were approximately Sixty-Eight years of truce and the rest were characterized by the hot war. Not unlike, many wars preceding and following it, it achieved little apart from colossal carnage and chaos and mayhem, the common people who might not have had any interests or even understanding as to why the fighting was even necessary. They suffered most and through those years lived in misery, fear and besides, they were heavily taxed and at times forcibly drafted to fight for obscure courses. To the often myopic and self-interested upper class and tyrants, they were collateral damage; a small price to pay in the quest for causes that dint always-quite pan out. Admittedly, though, the war sped both France and England in the way to the status of independent nations as opposed to parts of feudal domains (Wilde). The origins of the war were in the claims by English royalty to the French throne because Edward III England, and France purported there was the legally supposed to inherit it through Isabella his mother. It was sparked when In 1338 Edward III declared himself king and overlord of France, this was naturally, rejected by the French, as a result, who refused to concede that throne could be inherited from the mother's side; instead they put Philip I who was a cousin to the late king on the throne. Edward invaded France and the 100-year war begun, however, no side won this war although England annexed the Netherlands. After this, there was a series of truces, which were broken by the invasion of Boudreaux by Edward III's son the black prince. This was followed by invasion if Poitiers, In 1386, in west central, using Boudreaux as a base; the French King John was captured in by the English and this was resounding victory and they occupied huge areas of France. 1369 Charles V of France, renewed the war and this time the English army were on the receiving end, weakened greatly by the death of the black prince, they lost a lot of ground ant the French recaptured most of their territory. This fighting ended in by a truce around 1390, which was broken in 1414, after several more battlers the turning point came in 1929 when Joan or ark raised a critical offensive and retook Orleans, which the English had captured. The offensives continued until the French recovered nearly all their lost territories ending the war finally in 1453. In both the long and short run, the hundred-year war proved to have severe consequences on the social economic and political environment of France as well as England and the many countries that were involved in business with the French and English governments. The army caused a lot of damage, especially when it would conduct bloody raids aimed at weakening and undermining the opposition, they would kill civilians as well as burn property and buildings. These expeditions, also involved rogue soldiers who were subordinate to no one and would pillage and raid to survive or simply to enrich themselves, as a result, many areas became unoccupied as people ran away from their villages as and lives and property were destroyed. This led to the collapse of many of the cottage industries, and many farmers were forced to abandon their farmland and this reduced the land’s productivity. France had a larger population and enjoyed more prosperity than England in the pre-war years, however, during the war, it found itself faced with a myriad of fiscal problems. This is because around 90 percent of her wealth was in the hands of a minority lords and other feudal lords who were protected from taxes, this meant that the process of tax collection was considerably challenging and especially since the nobles in France were determined to retain their privileges and not pay taxes. However, in the post war, regular taxation was established and it was made quite regular, that way, the government was able to fund a standing army. This resulted to an increase in its revenues and that way they could invest in modern technology, such as, gunpowder this translated to further power for the government since it could not only hire a larger army, but also arm it with better weapons. This further escalate the losses for the nobles and knights since the emergence of gunpowder and other fighting techniques rendered them redundant and the also lost much of their military influence since the feudal lords could ill afford gunpowder while the king could (Henneman 298). This was a majors step in absolutist monarchy, which would later play a critical role in the happing’s of the latter centuries; post war kings used the army to strengthen their position both internally and externally and in the endeavor maintain it since it was synonymous with their continued dominance, they would heavily tax the citizens. This oppression is a great part of what led to the French civil war and revolution many years after the fact. Compounded with the losses of the war, the French tax system suffered an even more serious blow with the arrival of the bubonic plague (The Black Death) in 1348 and it spread around the country decimating millions of the French citizens and as consequently cutting down the heath tax by over 40 percent. This further escalated the already delicate position of the French economy because the state was spread thin since it spent resources mitigating the effects of the plague and fighting the English. Another significant impact of the hundred-year war on Europe was the end of the era of chivalry; this is because the nobles whose main occupation was warfare were being turned into obsolete relics by changes in technology. Knights in most of Europe particularly France and England owed their allegiance to feudal lords who supplied them with “fiefs” in exchange for their duty as warriors. However, changes in time and warfare were turning them into an anachronism. The decline of feudal was eminent and knights on hose back were being replaced by mercenaries who had adapted to the new methods of warfare. The main reasons why England was able to gain so much ground against the French was because they were fast adapting and instead of using clumsy crossbows, they used longbows which were faster and deadlier. They also employed more foot soldiers and archers; these changes, forced the French to adapt to the new fighting methods and stop using the outdated fighting styles and strategies. The knell for horseback fighters was sounded loud and clears in the battle of Agincourt where the superiority of the English archers over French knights men was asserted. In a huge slaughter of many of the French knights, they charged the English army only to be stopped by a volley of arrows. These not only slowed the charge by the knights, but the dead horses prevented the cavalry from advancing fast enough. The war not only led to death and destruction for the enemy, but also from within; there was anarchy in both France and England and many rebellions by the common people broke out. Rebellions ensued as the people rose against their governments in protest to the exploitation and extreme taxation impede by the government in the war effort. The peasants living around Paris decided they had had enough of forced labor; which included castle fortifications marauding’s by soldiers from both sides. This group called the Jacquie went around the country in a rampage; raiding, killing and looting, they also raped the wives and daughters of the nobles. They caused wide scale destruction and destroyed thousands of castles many of them set on fire from inside. However, the aristocracy united against the rebels and by virtue of their wealth and higher organization, and a powerful army, struck back in kind. Thousands of peasants were killed indiscriminately without whether they had taken part in the original offensive or not. Such occurrences were also common in England; it is that the vigilante groups were formed including bands like Robin hoods, claiming to be against corruption and exploitation by the nobles (Macro History Pg. 4). The English peasant, fearing the nobles would take back the land they had given them after the plague also rebelled like never before. They were also embittered by the fact the state would impose higher taxes in order to cover the cost incurred in the wasteful and senseless war. Consequently, mobs of peasants marched from Kent to London and on the way tore down any building suspected to contain tax records and registers, the demanded from the king that the state assist in paying for the war. The war marked the end of one age to another (Medieval to Modern); this could be compounded with the fact that the war caused a distinct separation between the two countries and each pursued its path no nationalism of the other. It can be postulated that the future relations between the two countries improved because of recognition of the futility of antagonism in retrospect although in the years after the war each looked at the other with suspicion. Since the English still held two of the captured territories and the France kept, expecting them to come back hence still expended her resources on military preparation until they were finally returned. In conclusion, the hundred years’ war diametrically altered the course of history and it had far reaching effects in the social political of English and French structure. The powers of nobles declined considerably in England although it was more gradual in France, but the war set the stage for their exit and consequent rise, of wealth people in French society not because of their noble heritage, but their accumulated wealth and the power of local nobles declined, and the strength of kings and national government. The French government was forced to consolidate its tax system since they realized they needed to fund military activity; this later served to strengthen their government and economy. The economy suffered a lot before it could be fixed and greatest losers were the peasants who were caught between conflicts, beyond their comprehension. Works Cited John B. Henneman, “Financing the Hundred Years' War: Royal Taxation in France in 1340” Speculum Medieval Academy of America, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr. 1967), pp. 275-298. Wilde, Robert. “Aftermath of the Hundred Years War” About.com. n.d. Web. 26 November 2012. Read More