<P> The Siege of Orléans ( 12 October 1428 -- 8 May 1429 ) was the watershed of the Hundred Years ' War between France and England . It was the French royal army 's first major military victory to follow the crushing defeat at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 , and also the first while Joan of Arc was with the army . The siege took place at the pinnacle of English power during the later stages of the war . The city held strategic and symbolic significance to both sides of the conflict . The consensus among contemporaries was that the English regent , John of Lancaster , would have succeeded in realizing his brother the English king Henry V 's dream of conquering all of France if Orléans fell . For half a year the English and their French allies appeared to be winning but the siege collapsed nine days after Joan 's arrival . </P>
who was the peasant girl who fought against england with the french troops
Joan of Arc