The English Civil Wars

The English Civil Wars saw the monarchy destroyed and then re-established over time. In the 1600s the then king, Charles I, was in conflict with his parliament. Charles was a Catholic sympathiser whilst his parliament had a Puritan focus. This led to a lot of problems between the two parties. And, in 1629, Charles I dissolved his parliament when they argued about his right to raise taxes.

For the next decade or so England had no parliament and the sole rule in the country was the king’s. In order to raise money to keep the country solvent he was forced to bring back a range of historic taxes however, by 1640, a lot of his subjects were not paying these taxes leaving Charles with no choice but to bring back parliament.

This parliament was often known as the ‘Long Parliament’ - it was led by a group of Puritan reformers (including Oliver Cromwell) who decided to curb the king’s powers. In 1642 there was a Catholic uprising in Ireland but England at that time had no real armed forces ready to go to war. Unable to persuade parliament to raise an army Charles was forced to go to his nobles and raise one from their ranks - believing that parliament had acted treasonably, Charles decided to use his army against the parliamentary forces and the first of the three English Civil Wars began.

Britain was generally split between the parliamentary forces (known as the Roundheads) in the south and the King’s army (known as the Cavaliers or Royalists) in the rest of the country. The war was patchy and soldiers were ill-equipped and often unpaid. But, as time progressed, Cromwell shaped his army into the ‘New Model Army’ and they became better organised, winning the Battle of Marston Moor.

In 1645 the Roundheads defeated the Royalist army in the Battle of Naseby and Charles surrendered to the Scots. Parliament paid the Scots a fee to get Charles back and he was put in prison at Hampton Court Palace. This was a difficult time for Cromwell who had to quell various uprisings amongst his own supporters. It also gave Charles I the chance to set up the ‘Treaty of Engagement’ with the Scots with the aim of attacking the north of England before moving further south in what was to become known as the second English Civil War.

This war was soon over and Cromwell’s troops defeated the Royalists again at the Battle of Preston. The Puritans considered that Charles’s agreement with the Scots was treasonous and in 1649 the ‘Rump Parliament’ put the king on trial and executed him. The country was now run by parliament however the people were not happy. Puritan rule was strict and the two wars had left the country in a dire economic state.

In 1649 the Royalists began to reband around Charles’s son in Ireland, beginning the third Civil War. Although Cromwell defeated the Royalists in Ireland and later in Scotland Charles II was crowned king in Scotland in 1651. He managed to raise more troops from Scotland however Cromwell defeated him again and he was forced to retreat to France.

This saw the end of the civil wars and the unification of England and Scotland. Parliament ruled for another 10 years under Cromwell who took on the title of Lord Protector. After his death Charles II returned as king and the monarchy was restored.