This
paper explains that the Hundred Years
War was the result of three major problem areas: The French and English merchants
were in conflict over Flanders, the personal conflicts of English and French kings and national consciousness. The author points out that the losers were not only the soldiers who died or were maimed but also the populace in both England and France who suffered through heavy taxation, loss of income, reduction of trade opportunities and the dichotomy of loyalties. The
paper relates that the
war between France and England seemed inevitable because, as the 14th century dawned, the French began to see themselves as a unified country not just an assembly of duchies and estates and England, having concluded its hostilities with Scotland, began to build Great Britain, which would last until the end of WWII.