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The English Civil Wars were fought between 1639-1651 in the British
Isles. They are generally characterised as being between King and
Parliament, although the real situation was, of course, much more complex.
The wars fall naturally into a number of phases:
These arose because of the Scottish antipathy to the imposition of episcopy and a prayer book on their Kirk. Uniting in a bond, (The National Covenant) they rose in revolt. The English government was obliged to raise an army to counter this rebellion. Conflict also arose in Scotland where there also were religious differences.
The first English army was slow to organise and a peace was arranged while King Charles visited Scotland. In 1640 a more serious attempt was made leading to the Battle of Newburn (25 August 1640) and the English loss of Newcastle. Peace was made at the Treaty of Ripon, but Charles was forced to recall Parliament to pay for the costs of the war and treaty. This exposed the divisions in English political and religious life.
Charles recalled his strong man in Ireland, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, to deal with his English opponents. The removal of this powerful official allowed the native Irish to arise in rebellion. With some brutality (grossly exaggerated on the English side) they drove the English settlers into the fortfied towns. A brutal and damaging war ensued, which was not settled until the question of who should command the English army to be sent to quell it was decided. This took until the end of the First English Civil War, as it was this issue which largely caused the final breach between King and Parliament. The Irish reached a cessation with Charles (1643) but were defeated by the New Model Army lead by Cromwell in 1649.
This is the main civil war in England and Scotland. Initially, the King, relying on his superior horse lead by his nephew Prince Rupert of the Rhine, was sucessful, and captured the west and most of the north. Battles in this phase include Edgehill (23 October 1642) and the first Battle of Newbury (20 September 1643). The uniting of the Scottish Covenant and English Parliament causes in 1643 started to threaten the Kings hold on the north, and Scots and English besieged York in summer 1644. The spectacular loss of the north following the Battle of Marston Moor (2 July 1644) marked the beginning of the end of the Royalist cause. However divisions among his opponents permitted the King to relieve a number of garrisons and stave off defeat at the second Battle of Newbury (27 October 1644). The emergance of a Royalist force in Scotland lead by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, gave the King new hope and lesened the effectivness of the Convenant army in England, but his opponents regrouped and formed a new army, the 'New Model'. This defeated the Kings main army at the Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645) and then mopped up the remaining Royal forces. The King surrendered to the Scots in 1646 at newark, and was handed over to Parliament.
The King, in prison, kept attempting to raise his fortunes again by intrigue. Eventually, a number of old Royalists rose in England and Wales and hoped to link up with a Scottish Engager army moving south. These events were poorly co-ordinated and Fairfax and Cromwell were able to contain the English revolts at Colchester and Pembroke, both of which were besieged. The Scots moved south slowly, and were hit in flank by Cromwell's rapidly moving army, and dispersed at the Battle of Preston (17/18 August 1648). These events were largely instrumental in convincing the Parliamentry leaders of the futility of negotiating with Charles, and lead to his execution in January 1649.
After defeating the Irish (see above) Cromwell moved on the Scots who were unimpressed by the execution of Charles (who was also King of Scotland) and also had serious religious differences with the current English regime. The Scots declared Charles' son, also called Charles to be king. Cromwell moved north and defeated the Scots at the battle of Dunbar (3 September 1650) and captured Edinburgh Castle. Finally, the Scots attempted to march on England, but gained little support and were finally caught and defeated at the Battle of Worcester (3 September 1651). Charles escaped to Europe, but the English Civil Wars were over.
