![The Battle That Cost England Everything | Castillon 1453 [Series Finale]](https://www.ffood.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1772964124_maxresdefault.jpg "The Battle That Cost England Everything | Castillon 1453 [Series Finale]")
The Battle of Castillon (1453) is widely seen as the final major battle of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France.
Join Kevin Hicks as he explores how the legendary English commander John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, marched his army into what would become a devastating trap. Facing a revolutionary French artillery force led by Jean Bureau, the English army found itself confronting a new kind of warfare — one dominated by gunpowder, cannon, and fortified field defences.
Using a detailed battlefield model, we break down the strategy, the surprise attack, and the dramatic moment when medieval warfare gave way to the age of artillery.
If you enjoy medieval history, battles, castles, and military strategy, this is the story of the battle that changed the face of warfare forever.
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46 Comments
Another outstanding video and let us not neglect to praise your brilliant model making.
The mustache is looking extra magnificent today!
The French yearned the English presence in Bordeaux… Really ?! I don't think so.
From your delicious videos, Kevin, and from other channels on the French side such as Casus Belli, I discover the 100d years war and its importance in France's history : France, as a country, as a state, really has emerged out of the 100 years war, it's clear to me now : France had to level up in order to came out of the English challenge on its territory and its very existence, and the result is patent in history and it is clear it all harks back to the war. The theory of state, the fiscality on a national level, it all goes back to then. Charles V is possibly the best king we've ever had, and Charles VII an later Louis XI, all had to follow through with a really tough, pragmatic, "realpolitik" that built this country.
"OMG the French have longbowmen" : LOL.
This was awesome in the most gritty cutest way
There's a lot of mistakes at the beginning of the video but the Bearn wasn't part of Gascony (in the map it was the southeastern part of the red Gascony) so the lands in south Gascony (those near Bayonne) were trapped between Navarre at the south and Bearn in the east.
Another thing is that Gascony didn't fell easily after Normandy but tried to resist in 1450-1451, however the anglo-gascon (7000 to 10000 men) suffered a terrible disaster at Blanquefort in November 1450 (1500-2500 killed and 1200-2500 captured) against a smaller french force (400-3000 men).
These defeat broke the gascon and especially Bordeaux's population and when Charles 7's army came back in spring summer 1451 at Bordeaux (all the gascony was already been conquered besides Bayonne), they negotiate to surrender after they gave Henry 6 3 weeks to rescued them but he never came.
The redittion was easy for Bordeaux's population because the conditions were very lenient as there was no sack to the city and anyone who wanted to go back to england could do it with his belongings, the gascons will not have to pay most of the taxes like for the other parts of the kingdom and there will be a parliament at Bordeaux for all gascony.
However, there was some issues because gascony lost most of his trading with England and when some taxes were created for the gascons unlike what the surrender's conditions said, the population from Bordeaux rebelled thanks to the small french garrison that was there in late 1452 and opened the gates for Talbot who came in Gascony with his own army (however, most of gacony did not rebelled and the anglo-gascon army led by Talbot controlled at best few lands surrounding Bordeaux).
There was also the battle of Martignas 1 month before Castillon wich was not decisive at all but where Talbot lost 500-600 archers (Talbot retreated at the beginning of the battle but the french army massacred his rearguard).
Bureau's camp was at the east of Castillon rather than at the north (the hypothesis that the camp was at the north was made by Leo Drouyn but it seems he didn't realized that the Lidoire river changed after 1496).
If Duplin Moor and Halidon Hill in 1332-1333 ring the end for the high middle ages with archery that overthrowned cavalry, Castillon and Constantinople in 1453 ring the end for the late middle ages with artillery that overthrowned archery (and unlike cavalry that tranformed to stay relevant until the 19th century, archery never really recovered)
Great video Kevin, really compacted with information. You and Julie really are an amazing team. The Timeline is so interesting, Chris Columbus was a little guy at this time, less than 50 yrs later the world really changed. History is amazing, Thanks for sharing it Kevin.
Maybe the historians of the far future will look back at this period of history, from the Great war until now and call it a the second 100 years war.
The combination of strong historical narrative and modelling to replicate the battle makes a highly informative and entertaining piece of media. Really enjoyed this, thank you.
Thanks! Great modeling.
Is this the movie depicted in the Timeline movie?
Probably why the Gascons are the coolest French. Just ask Cyrano.
Get 'em Kev!
I actually could see the battle .and the horse falling.
I appreciated your video and tone my good Englishman but one has to say that’s it’s a stretch to call English really English back then… the nobility still spoke French and a large portion of the English army was coming from the French holdings. It was more a civil war than anything
Now French Entrench and Using Longbow against English. !
Sacre bleu et f**king 'ell, the French have bowmen?!! Doomed I tell you, doomed.
Thank you!
A notable statement made by Joan of Arc was, "Of the love or hatred God has for the English, I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be thrown out of France, except those who die there." It is good to know some lived and stayed there.
I was waiting for this one for so long ! I've been part of a live show in Castillon that shows the battle for the past 12 years, it's far from perfect historicaly but it's super fun, and so interesting to see this great video ! (La bataille de Castillon for those interested if you are in the south west of France in the summer, it's only in french but really enjoyable even if you don't understand what's being said, we're 600 volunteers with around 40 horses)
Hey Kevin! I’m catching up on your videos because I’ve been in police academy, almost done! I took inspiration from you as well. Hope you and Julie are doing fantastic
"as the crow flies". I think I first read this phrase in Tolkien's LOTR along with "as the wolf runs". I find them an interesting way to express distances in much the same way that I perceive a dollop of cream in my coffee is measured by the sound it makes rather than some graduated container. I don't recall this battle although I expect a long time ago I read about it in either Lynn Montross' War through the Ages or Dupuy & Dupuy's Encyclopedia of Military History. I wonder if this arrangement of palisades and cannon was a kind of precursor to the star forts of the following century. As always I greatly enjoyed your description of this battle. Thanks, Kevin.
As you are an Englishman, I finallly can pose you this question: Why are the English so focused on the battles you won, when you finally lost everything?
Are you really that American that you can't take a failure at face value?
all things come to an end even after 100 years but sigh 😔. As the bard sings it many die for the folly of kings 😢 ❤
And possibly countless windfall apples 😅
A good end to a long running series sir and lovely models 😊 ❤❤❤❤
Mark
With all that gunpowder in the French camp I wonder why Talbot didn't tell his archers to use incendiary arrows or cage fire heads to try and ignite blow up the camp.
Kevin made a model. God is in his heaven and all is right with the world!😁
It pays to be organised! Your uniform is splendid ,chain mail and ' battle hat' make YOU the Model. Excellent.
What a model! that was a flipping work of medieval art!
Well done again, captivatingly educational 😂. Funnily enough… this battle was the first well known effective victory using artillery. I’d argue today artillery is finally beginning to be obsolete as FPV/drone/robotic warfare takes over. It’s a much deadlier and more cost effective SCARY weapon. A human being cannot hide anymore… what a nightmare- god bless modern infantry.
Keep the YouTube hype train going – choo choo!❤from Texas
An excellent rendition of the battlefield aids the narrative immensely.
It seems a shame to leave this period behind. It is one of the reasons why I started watching this channel all those years ago. I can probably assume this was your favourite period, as it was a last hurrah for the bow and arrow, before the heavy use of the fired projectile. It seems crazy that the Romans had mighty artillery, and chariots, but by the 1450s they were still charging men into battle like a rabble of militia, and right up to the first world war. As mentioned in the stream, the advancement of the cannon and the musket really took off fast, and was enough for the Spanish to take over half of the Americas. Still, we must see the 100 years war it as an occupational war, where we decided to take lands beyond the confines of Gascony and Aquitaine, and it was only right that the natives stood up to fight to take those lands back. Rather than offering irresistible taxation and diplomacy, instead it was a hero making war of t*t for tat. And we are lucky the French didnt land grab a load of England in retribution. Maybe if Joan were still alive?
Anyway, talking of French land grabbing, I guess we should now move back to the Plantagenets, and their ideas about wine and roses.
When I saw the model, I was giddy as a school boy.
These models are so refreshing in this world full of cheap AI and fake videos.
Great job on this whole series Kevin! I managed to get out today before the rain and dark with my newly oiled and finished longbow! Took a few shots and my shoulder said thats enough, still working up to the new weight slowly 👍🏹
You have one of the best channels I love the models armor and such a delightfully description you can hear the historical passion in your voice keep up the great work
thank you for your work!
The coolest model and such a fitting end to the Hundred Years’ War series
I salute you sir
Kevin, I love the detail that you put in your models. Thank you for another great video !
Great video. Awesome model.
Guess who else loved artillery= NAPOLEON
An hour of pointless head-long attack is not courage. It is stupidity.
Looking forward to watching this later when I get some time to focus
Real human narrator with real human heart. Great model making
I never click on a video faster than when I see a new video from the history squad😊
What was the difference between English and French back then? I mean the ruling class, clergy and landlords were mostly french speakers and english kings considered France as their homeland.
We lost relatives in the Castillon charge on the artillery park
To this day Peugeot Talbots