The English Civil War

The English Civil War broke out during the reign of the Stuart ruler Charles I, who became king in 1625. Charles led a royal army who fought against the army of parliament. Charles lost the Civil War and was executed. For a time, England became a republic under the control of Oliver Cromwell.

There were religious, economic and political reasons for the war. Puritans (extreme Protestants) thought Charles favoured Catholics – he had a French Catholic wife, Queen Henrietta. Charles believed that only God gave him the right to rule and to choose his advisers. He came into conflict with parliament over raising taxes, and from 1629 tried to rule without parliament.

In 1640, Charles had to recall parliament, to raise money through taxes to fight against rebelling Scottish Protestants. He later tried to arrest his five leading opponents in the House of Commons, but they escaped. Mobs rioted in support of the members of parliament and Charles had to leave London. Both sides then raised armies of volunteers.

Neither side won the first major battle, which was fought in August 1642 at Edgehill. Thanks largely to Cromwell’s New Model Army, Parliamentarians beat the Royalists decisively at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. There followed a series of Royalist defeat and Charles’s headquarters at Oxford were captured in 1646.

Charles fled to Scots, who handed him over to parliament. He escaped and plotted with the Scots to fight again (1648), but his forces were soon crushed. Charles was tried for treason, found guilty, and executed on 31 January, 1649. In 1651, his son Charles, invading with Scots help, was beaten at Worcester on 3 September 1651. This battle ended the Civil War. After that point, England was governed as a Commonwealth (republic) by parliament, until its members quarreled and parliament was dissolved by Oliver Cromwell. From 1653, Cromwell took over the governing of the country and ruled as Lord Protector, with the backing of his army. He divided the country into 11 districts and appointed military leaders to run them. Some of these leaders were strict Puritans who were unpopular because they closed down alehouses and stopped popular pastimes and sports. When Cromwell died in 1658, his son Richard took over as Lord Protector, but he was soon removed from office. In 1660 a new parliament invited Charles II back from exile.