-
War is Declared
King Charles I, raised his stand, at Nottingham declaring war between the supporters of Charles (The Royalists) and the supporters of the rights and privileges of Parliament (The Parliamentarians). This is the beginning of the English Civil War. -
The Battle of Edgehill (Continued 1)
cavalry to the flank.The Parliamentary army started the first battle of the civil war with an array of cannon fire that ‘rained down’ on the Royalist army as described by a Royalist soldier. Prince Rupert led a Royalist cavalry charge on the right side of the battlefield, while another group of Royalist cavalry attacked the left side of the field. This proved successful as the Parliamentarians fled from the attack. The Calvary then made a fatal mistake by deciding to continue chasing the... -
The Battle of Edgehill (Continued 2)
made a fatal mistake by deciding to continue chasing the Parliamentarians troops. This left Charles without a cavalry regiment and unprotected. -
The Battle of Edgehill (Sources)
We can see from Source the sources to explain who was fighting on which sides:Source from a modern historian.:“The Civil War was fought between two minorities, struggling in a sea of neutralism and apathy.”Source from a modern school textbook :“Support for Parliament came from the rich south and east of England, the King’s support from the poor north and west. Most of the nobles fought for the King and they were joined by the gentry. Religion was also important - Cathoilics fought for the King -
The Battle of Edgehill (Sources 2)
Cathoilics fought for the King and Puritans for Parliament. Most MPs were against the King. So were the merchants.” Both of these sources are reliable as the are both modern accounts of the battles which do not favour one of the sides to another -
Battle of Edgehill
The Royalists, led by the Charles, was moving to London from Shrewsbury while the Parliamentarians, under the leadership of the Earl of Essex Robert Devereux, was on the way to Worcester from London. Prince Rupert persuaded Charles to place his army on the high ground at Edgehill, as the armies were a just few miles apart. Robert also realised that the opposing army was near and arranged his men for battle. Both leaders arranged their troops in the same way with the infantry in the middle and... -
The Battle of Adwalton Moor
The Royalists were heavily supported from the North of England. Under the Royalist commander, Duke of Newcastle William Cavendish, an attack was launched against the Parliamentarian forces based in Bradford. The Parliamentary force under the command of Fairfax, knew that he must formulate a plan to gain an advantage over the larger Royalists army. Otherwise they have no chance in a direct fight or try to defence in their fort. He chose to do the battle at Adwalton Moor as the area comprises of -
The Battle of Adwalton Moor (Continued 2)
the Parliamentarian army force them to retreat to Bradford. -
The Battle of Adwalton Moor (Sources)
We can see the killings of soldiers from these sources:“ A whole file of men, six deep, with their heads struck off with one cannon shot of ours.” Account of Captain Gwynne, a Royalist. This source is possible reliable as is glorifies the Royalist weapons.“It was somewhat dreadful when bowels and brains flew in our faces.” Account of Sergeant Foster, a Parliamentarian. This source supports the earlier source in that the Royalist weapons were superior to the Parliamentarian ones, -
The Battle of Adwalton Moor (Sourced Continued)
this source is pretty reliable as a Parliamentarian criticizing his own side writes it. -
The Battle of Adwalton Moor (Continued 1)
fields and surrounded by fences and hedges. This was not good for the Royalist cavalry and Fairfax knew that this would give him the slight upper hand in the face of a much larger Royalist army. Fairfax decided to mount a defensive stand and withstood several charges from the Royalist. Several groups of Parliamentarian soldiers decided to pursue the Royalists rather than maintaining their defensive lines. This was a major mistake as the Royalists were then easily defeated the Parliamentarian -
The Battle of Roundaway Down
The Parliamentary commander Sir William Waller, had managed to defeat the Royalist army, commanded by Lord Hopton, to Devize and force them to flee to Salisbury. He began to become over confident. Instead of pursuing the Royalist and taking advantage of the disillusion of the Royalist’s army, Waller made his army have food and rest. This enabled the Royalists to turn North for help and allow the Royalist to regroup with Lord Henry Wilmot. -
The Battle of Roundaway Down (Continued 1)
Sir William Waller was then forced to reconsider his option instead of direct attack on Salisbury. His army settled at Roundaway Down, just north of Devizes. He positioned his infantry in the middle and cavalry at each side, which was a conventional tactic. -
The Battle of Roundaway Down (Continued 2)
The Royalists were the first to charge and unexpectedly, there was no counter-charge by Parliamentarian forces. After two more waves of attacks, the Parliamentary cavalry fled. Waller then turned had to place his faith into the Parliamentary infantry. However, they stood firm until a force led by Hopton attacked them from behind. Caught between two Royalist forces, the majority of Parliamentarian soldiers simply fled from the battlefield and were defeated. -
The First Battle of Newbury
Robert Devereux and his army were moving from London to Gloucester to re-supply the Parliamentary forces. On the return journey, a small Royalist force led by Prince Rupert, attacked him and his army. Rupert managed to slow the Parliamentarians on their journey, enough to allow Charles I to reach the Parliamentarian owned town of Newbury before Essex. -
The First Battle of Newbury (Continued 1)
Charles placed his army across the route to Essex ensuring that the Parliamentarians would have no choice but to fight the Royalist army. As the two sides were positioning their soldiers, Charles foolishly allowed the Parliamentarians to station a group of artillerymen and a army of infantrymen on Round Hill. -
The First Battle of Newbury (Continued 2)
The Royalists chose to attack Round Hill first. However, they were unable to mount a successful attack because the area was covered with hedgerows and bushes. The cavalry could not be used effective in these surroundings. The Royalists suffered numerous losses and were driven back.The Royalists refused to give up and finally managed to push back the Parliamentarians from Round Hill. But the Royalist cavalry had been badly fired upon and no further attacks were made.The battle was declared a draw -
The Battle of Marston Moor
Prince Rupert was marching across the North of England to relieve a Royalist army trapped in York. News of Rupert's position in the North reached Oliver Cromwell, the Parliamentary Lieutenant General, Oliver Cromwell, and he sent an army to combat the Royalist threat. -
The Battle of Marston Moor (Continued 1)
Rupert outmanoeuvred the Parliamentarians by sending a cavalry group south to Marston Moor while taking the rest of the Royalist army to York and then to Marston Moor by a Northern route. Meanwhile, Rupert sent a message to Duke of Newcastle, William Cavendish, to meet him at Marston Moor. -
The Battle of Marston Moor (Continued 2)
The combined Royalist forces were outnumbered by the Parliamentarians but decided to fight anyway. They reached their battle positions in the early evening and assumed that the battle would not begin until the early morning. Unfortunately for them the Parliamentarians had decided to mount an attack that evening and the Royalists were totally unprepared for the attack. -
The Battle of Marston Moor (Sources 1)
The scene of the war can be seen from the following sources:Source Written by a Parliamentary officer“We advanced down the hill through a great field of corn, to ditch which we controlled. We were losing on the right wing and gaining on the left.” -
The Battle of Marston Moor (Sources 2)
Source Written by Cornwell’s Scoutmaster-General who was on the left with Cornwell“We came down in the bravest order, and with the greatest resolution that ever was seen. In a moment we were past the ditch onto the Moor, upon equal grounds with enemy.” Both of thee sourced are written by a member of the Parliamentarian force, therefore we know that it could be slightly one handed, but we know that both sources hold some truth to them. -
The Battle of Marston Moor (Continued 3)
For the first time since the Civil War had begun. Rupert's cavalry, at one end of the field, were beaten by a Parliamentarian cavalry charge. Things were better for the Royalists on the opposite side of the field where the Parliamentarians had been beaten back. With Rupert defeated, the Parliamentarians were feeling optimistic and successfully defeated the Royalist infantry, killing those who did not flee. -
The Second Battle of Newbury
Charles positioned his army to defend the northern border of Newbury. He knew that he had a strong position and hoped that the Parliamentarians would not attack until Prince Rupert had joined him and reinforced his army further. -
Second Battle of Newbury (Continued 1)
The Parliamentarian commander, Edward Montague, setup his army on the north-eastern ridge. The Parliamentarians knew that it was going to be difficult to defeat the Royalists so they used a very cunning plan. Sir William Waller led a large force of Parliamentarians around the edge of the Royalist army. As day broke on the 27th October, Edward Montague and William Waller attacked the Royalist army at the same time.Waller only succeeded in taking a Royalist outpost. Meanwhile the Royalists managed -
Second Battle of Newbury (Continued 2)
to hold off ground from the force led by Montague.The battle lasted all day with the Royalists surrounded between two Parliamentarian forces. Each time the Parliamentarians made some ground they were forced back by the Royalists. The Parliamentarians took heavy losses. By nightfall, both armies were exhausted and Charles decided to retreat to Oxford. Although Cromwell wanted to pursue the Royalists, he did not have the backing of his army commanders and the Royalists were able to flee the. -
Second Battle of Newbury (Continued 3)
Royalists were able to flee the battle scene safely. -
The Battle of Naseby (Continued 1)
They setup a good defensive position and waited for news of Fairfax's position. Prince Rupert discovered that the Parliamentarians had camped near Naseby and suggested to Charles that the Royalists should have a move on Fairfax. Royalists left their strong defensive position as the decision to move was taken and to make an attack. This was a bad choice as Fairfax had sent his army in a very strong position, with some troops hidden. -
The Battle of Naseby (Continued 4)
Three hours was how long the battle lasted and in that time most of the Royalist soldiers were killed or taken prisoners. The Royalists also lost all of their artillery and most of their weapons. Charles fled the battlefield as soon as it became clear that he had lost the battle. -
The Battle of Naseby (Sources)
We can see from the source that by being lenient, the Parliament could get more soldiers and reduce the support for the King. This enabled the war to end earlier. Source Part of a letter from Sir Thomas Myddleton to the Speaker of the House of Commons -
The Battle of Naseby (Sources 1)
“The plundering of the soldiers makes most people hate the very name of a soldier. I think the common people will be quickly won over to our side if Parliament declared against plundering and against all Commanders who allow it and do not punish guilty soldiers.” -
The Battle of Naseby
The Parliamentarian, General Fairfax, had planned a siege to Oxford in a trap to make Charles go into battle. Hearing that his Royalist 'capital' had succumbed to attack. Immediately Charles marched to Oxford to defend the city. As Charles reached Oxford, Fairfax changed plans and marched north to fight Charles. Not wanting to be in a battle against Fairfax, Charles headed north. Unfortunately for the Royalists, they could not out move the Parliamentarians and was forced into a battle. -
The Battle of Naseby (Continued 2)
Both sides took up their usual and conventional positions with infantrymen in the centre and cavalry on the flanks. Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton commanded the Parliamentarian cavalry. While Marmaduke Langdale and Prince Rupert commanded the Royalist cavalry. The Royalist cavalry, under Prince Rupert, made the first attack and pushed the Parliamentarian cavalry back. Meanwhile the Royalist infantry had some success over parliament. Unfortunately, Cromwell pushed Langdale’s cavalry back. -
The Battle of Naseby (Continued 3)
The Parliamentarian New Model Army then took to the field concentrating mainly on the Royalist infantry. Charles' army were unable to withstand this new attack from the newly trained army and many of the Royalist’s men surrendered to the new army. -
Conclusion
The civil war is between the King and the MPs.Power struggle and greed lead to battles with suffering to the people.The ordinary people are either forced to fight or forced to pay taxes to support the war or provide food and shelter for soldiers.The battles were pretty even and a lot of soldiers and common people died.The Civil War split and divided families from each other causing even brothers and fathers to fight each other.Most of the battles were won or lost through tactics and timing.
