Why did the Hundred Years war last for so long?

Question

Why did the Hundred Years war last for so long?

Answer 1

The Hundred Years' War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans) was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois, and the House of Plantagenet. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets from England claimed to be Kings of France and England. The Plantagenet Kings in England, also known as the House of Anjou, had their roots in the French regions of Anjou and Normandy. French soldiers fought on both sides, with Burgundy and Aquitaine providing notable support for the Plantagenet side.

The conflict lasted 116 years but was punctuated by several brief periods of peace, and two lengthy periods of peace, before it finally ended in the expulsion of the Plantagenets from France (except the Calais Pale). Subtracting the two long periods of peace from 1360–69 and 1389–1415, the war was fought for about 81 years.

The war was in fact a series of conflicts and is commonly divided into three or four phases: the Edwardian War (1337–1360), the Caroline War (1369–1389), the Lancastrian War (1415–1429), and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Several other contemporary European conflicts were directly related to the conflict between England and France: the Breton War of Succession, the Castilian Civil War, and the War of the Two Peters. The term "Hundred Years' War" was a later term invented by historians to describe the series of events.

The war owes its historical significance to a number of factors. Though primarily a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of both French and English nationality. Militarily, it saw the introduction of new weapons and tactics, which eroded the older system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. The first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire were introduced for the war, thus changing the role of the peasantry. For all this, as well as for its long duration, it is often viewed as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of medieval warfare. In France, the English invasion, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines and marauding mercenary armies turned to banditry which reduced the population by two-thirds.

Answer 2

because no one could win decisively. that the royalty married left and right with friendly and enemy countries did much to prolong the war. allies became enemies overnight and vice versa.  

Answer 3

Because it wasn't, despite it's misleading name, a single war. Rather, it was a series of intertwined wars.

Answer 4

Three primary reasons:

1.  Religious war

2.  The dozens of city-states typifying Europe at that time made a coordinated beginning and end far less likely.

3.  Because of the many duchal armies the religious hatred and mercenary tone of Europe at that time provided an extended opportunity for taking from one's neighbor to enrich oneself - at every level of society - from marauder, to pillaging soldier, to lords seizing lands from feudal lords.  

Answer 5

Cas if it didnt it wouldnt be the Hundred Years war

Answer 6

It was not a continuous war. It just too a long time to become resolved, so that the war could officially come to an end.