The Beadle Maniacs

One of the names that were prominently known during the Hundred Years’ War was Joan of Arc. Apart from being a woman who served in the army, the military strategies that she utilized and imposed on her followers were aggressive in nature. This approach deviated from what the French was used to doing which involved the adaptation of cautious military strategies. There was an instance when the French tried to utilize an offensive military approach however this did not fare well and so they reverted to their usual cautious military strategy.

Joan set out to attach the Saint Loup fortress where she eventually succeeded. She did not allow any time for rest and again travelled to another fortress the next day. It was a place named Saint Jean le Blanc and when Joan arrived there, no one was around. Again, she did not waste a day for rest and moved on to a war council. Once there she went against the wishes of Jean d’Orleans and challenged them to another dispute and a war. Jean D’Orleans was not amenable to this and so to thwart the occurrence of war, she closed the gates of her city. This did not stop Joan from attacking. She was able to coerce the town mayor into opening the city after which she and her troops were able to conquer the city’s Saint Augustins fortress.

Joan of Arc’s aggressive approach to war lead her to a lot of victories. She was confident in her leadership abilities and the loyalty of her men. On the eve of the day she captured the fortress of St. Augustins, the war council met and were able to agree on waiting for back up and more military before launching another offensive. Joan did not agree to this and she acted on her impulse to attack the English’ strongest fortress which was called les Tourelles. This siege occurred just a couple of days after she conquered St. Augustins.

A lot of Joan of Arc’s colleagues recognized her dedication to the French military and to her country. In fact, she did not rest even when an arrow hit her on the neck. She still managed to stand up for her troops and lead them into war. Because of her constant successes, the French now saw the good in taking aggressive military strategies. Joan’s charisma even influenced Charles the VII to allow her to work with the Duke John II of Alecon’s army. She was also given the go signal to take into French custody the bridges surrounding the enemy territory of a place called Rheims.

Even highly experienced military men bowed to the ingenuity of Joan’s leadership strategies. She led the French army to a lot of victories and they were able to regain control of Jargeau, Meung-sur-Loire, and Beaugency in just a week’s time. Apart from being subjected to an arrow hit, she also received a stone cannonball blow. All these injuries and other difficulties of leading a war did not prevent her from forging on working towards her goal which was to have Charles the VII crowned as the one and only Sovereign of France.