The English Civil War

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The English Civil War

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 favouritism 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 em...

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...igions emerged and formed and the Monarchy was completely dissolved only to be revived again by the winners of the war- Parliament. However, once the dust had settled, there were only a few changes which had occurred in English society. Everything else was like the “clocks had been turned back to before the Civil War.”: The English Civil War was different then the ones in Scotland or Ireland since there were no major long-term effects. It is believed that this is because the Civil War in England was simply a product of short-term events as well as miscalculations from the king, and not because of long-term effects building up like those in Ireland and Scotland. Although the English Civil War disrupted the entire society of England while it took place, England and it’s infrastructure was almost identical only a few short years after, as it was before the war began.

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