The war began almost as an absurd joke, almost as an excuse for a large-scale knightly tournament, and then at this “big tournament” knights of two prosperous states - England and France - began to give their lives. So what is the reason for the bloody armed conflict, more what determined the vector of development of all of Europe for a hundred years? In the imperfection of the openly rigged French laws on succession to the throne? Is it necessary for a growing England to oust France from its place as the “pan-European queen of trade and diplomacy”? The famous military historian Gordon Corrigan offers in his famous and controversial book his own, absolutely original view of the events, without which there would be no Cressy, no Poitiers, no Agincourt , nor the exploits of Joan of Arc...