The English Civil War Essay Research Paper

The English Civil War Essay, Research Paper

The English Civil War was a complicated, intellectual war between the two most powerful forces in England: Parliament and the King. Conflicts between the two powers began when King Charles I dissolved Parliament in 1625 because they would not give him the money he demanded to fund his war against Spain. Parliament, who was lead by John Pym, felt that the King was showing favoritism towards the Roman Catholics, especially since Charles had recently married the Roman Catholic French Princess. Although Charles recalled Parliament in 1626, he proceeded to dissolve the second Parliament mainly because it attempted to impeach him. John Pym, who had been prevented from being elected to the second Parliament, was re-elected into the third Parliament and was looking for revenge on King Charles. He refused to give Charles supplies for his war until certain issues such as forced loans, compulsory billeting and arbitrary imprisonment had been addressed. The King attempted to bargain with Parliament, agreeing that Parliament could no longer be dissolved and that it had to be called regularly. When the Irish rebellion broke out, Pym took the opportunity to blame Charles and his administration for the rebellion. Pym stated that the parties at fault should be dismissed and replaced with people approved by Parliament. Charles attempted to impeach Pym and others, but word of his plans leaked out and the individuals got away. This was the beginning of conflicts between Parliament and the King and although discussions between the two groups went on until March of 1641, war was inevitable. When the war began, it was clear that the King held the upper hand. However, after four years of fighting (1642 – 1646), Parliament emerged victorious, lead by Oliver Cromwell who had obtained leadership after the Marston Moor battle. Although it took more then eighteen years for the results of the civil war to settle, there were no long term effects of the war. While there were minor reforms to the system, the people, the Church and the Monarchy of England went back to living their lives relatively the same as they had before the start of the English Civil War.

Violence during the English Civil war effected hundreds of thousands of English civilians. However, .while violence killed thousands of people…the impact of the war – as a war – was surprisingly limited.. Casualties during the war were high: 190 000 people died in England and 868 000, or 11.6% of the population, perished within the British Isles. This number was only a third of the amount of people who died in England during the great plague of 1570 – 1670. King Charles II was content with putting things aside and starting over again, and it seemed like the people of England were too. Although women and children lost husbands and fathers, their loses were quickly replaced by new husbands or relatives to help out. By the end of the war, most people simply wanted to get on with their lives since there was nothing that they could about the people they lost during the war. Many people forgot their differences and were found even marrying across the barriers which were created during the war. Damaged property was quickly repaired since it created jobs for civilians looking for work. Buildings were destroyed, but since the war was not as explosive as the wars we know today, they were easily rebuilt. Cities were sacked, however most were mended; citizens lost possessions, but they were easily rebought; royalists forced residents of London to cut down trees for fuel by cutting off their coal supply, but the trees grew back. It seemed like civilians were anxious to forget the wars and restore their lives to what it was before the war by returning to life as it were. A more difficult transition for the common folk of England was the re-civilization of the soldiers, but even that did not create many effects. It was a complicated procedure to merge the soldiers into society as every day working people, however since it took place at two different times; once when Cromwell was dissolving the army and once when the new Parliament was attempting to rid themselves of the army completely. Because of this, it affected both sides in different ways at different times. This process limited the war.s long-term effects. The city of London literally .scratched out it.s history of cooperating with Cromwell by drawing lines through the appropriate pages of it.s record books.. It was almost as if the people of England erased the memory of the Civil War and started their lives where they left off before the war started.

Another aspect of society which was effected during the English Civil War was the Church and religion. In a sense, religion played a role in the suspicion which arose within Parliament. It was because of a suspected favoritism towards Roman Catholics that John Pym turned against King Charles I. And because of the Irish Rebellion in which the Irish rose up against the English Protestants, Parliament felt that there was a conspiracy against English liberty in which Charles was participating. Parliament, who was composed of mainly Puritans, was fighting a war for their freedom in what they believed was a conspiracy against them. In 1645, six days before the execution of Archbishop Land, the Book of Common Prayer was abolished in favour of the Presbyterian directory of worship. This appeared to be the end of an era