The inspired leadership of Joan of Arc helped to break the siege of the key city of Orleans and turn the tide of the Hundred Years War. Her death at the hands of the English only strengthened French resistance to their oppressors and gave birth to a saint.

Year 1428: The war between England and France has been raging for nearly one hundred years. The English control territory to the north of the Loire, but have no control of regions beyond the river. During the summer, Bedford decides to eliminate his enemy and besieges Orléans. From October 1428 to May 1429, fierce fighting continues around the town. The situation seems to be lost for the besieged, until the arrival of a young peasant girl named Joan. The exploits of the Maid of Orléans lead to the making of her legend. Inspired by her, the French rekindle their taste for victory and go from one success to another, until the decisive battle at Patay. This is an detailed, animated and richly illustrated book which enables the reader to relive these moments of great endeavor.

Vita Sackville-West wrote Saint Joan of Arc in 1936 at the age of forty-four, and had, at that point, already been writing for thirty years. At fourteen, Sackville-West published her first book, and at fourteen Joan of Arc first heard the voices. Joan was seventeen when she took command of the armies of France--a peasant girl in the early fifteenth century in charge of a nation's forces. At nineteen she was captured by the British and tried as a witch by a church court. Before her twentieth birthday she was burned at the stake. In 1920 she was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint. In a clever, brisk voice, Vita Sackville-West tells the triumphant story of a French peasant girl raised in a country torn apart by the Hundred Years' War who rose from poverty to military greatness. With dazzling insight and clarity, Sackville-West breathes new life into Joan of Arc's beautiful and tragic story.

The battle of Marathon -- Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 B.C. -- The battle of Arbela -- The battle of the Metaurus, 207 B.C. -- Victory of Arminius over the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 9 -- The battle of Chalons, A.D. 451 -- The battle of Tours, A.D. 731 -- The battle of Hastings, A.D. 1066 -- Joan of Arc's victory over the English at Orleans, A.D. 1429 -- The defeat of the Spanish Armada, A.D. 1588, The battle of Blenheim, A.D. 1704, The battle of Pultowa, A.D. 1709 -- Victory of the American over Burgoyne at Saratoga, A.D. 1777 -- The battle of Valmy -- The battle of Waterloo, 1815.