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Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is Episode 119, The Road to War.

In this episode, we're going to look at the lead-up to the extended period of warfare

between England and France that has become known as the Hundred Years War.

For military historians, this is one of the most important conflicts of the Middle Ages.

But it's also important for our purposes.

As the war dragged on, a sense of nationalism arose within both countries.

And as English nationalism grew, so did the hatred and resentment of all things French.

That included the French language.

So this long extended war was an important factor in the decline of French, and the return

of English as the official language of England.

In this episode, we'll trace the events that led to that great conflict, and we'll see

how it shaped the English language.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com,

and you can sign up to support the podcast and get bonus episodes and transcripts at patreon.com

slash historyofenglish.

So let's turn to this episode and the road to the Hundred Years War.

Now this is one of those major historical events that many people have heard of, but perhaps

don't know very much about.

In this episode, I want to trace the important events that led to the war, and I'll also

discuss the early part of the war.

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