The Warrior King and the Invasion of France

Description

Presenting a radical new look at Henry V—as a brilliant and brutal warmonger—this dynamic historical narrative will change our modern attitudes toward this warrior king.In the course of the Hundred Years War, Henry V was the English figure most responsible for the mutual antipathy that existed between France and England. His art of attacking an opponent by making total war on civilians, as well as soldiers, created tremendous distrust and enmity between the two countries, which survives even to this day. He was a man of many contradictions, a perverse mix of rigorous orthodoxy—exemplified by his fanatical and intolerant religion—and of neurotic insecurity, stemming in part from the dubious nature of his claim to the English throne.Henry V owed his popularity at home to victories against the French that gratified an emerging English nationalism. A tremendously ardent military strategist who experimented with ballistics and built the first...