The English Revolution: Causes Of The English Civil War

The English Revolution was a struggle between Charles I and parliament for ultimate authority over the country. The French Revolution was directed against the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI. It began with the government’s concern to reform the tax system to save the country from bankruptcy. One common factor of these revolutions was a financial issue, in particular, taxation. Both monarchs ruled under the idea of Divine Right. Divine Right is the belief that God has chosen the king and as a result anything he does is ordained by God. Yet the people lost faith in their leaders as these two countries were not the once great kingdoms they were. Laurence Stone writes:

The most important cause, and symptom, of the decay of any government or institution is the loss of prestige and respect among the public at large, and the loss of self-confidence among the leaders themselves in their capacity to rule” (p. 79).

Louis XVI and Charles I did a poor job ruling their country by starting wars and overspending to live extravagant lifestyles. These two monarchs were incompetent and tyrannical leaders whose actions and decisions led them to their own downfall. Similarly, Louis XVI and Charles I had once

Charles won many small battles during the English Civil war, but as the war dragged on, many factors became his disadvantage. One important factor was that Parliament allied itself with Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. From then on, Parliament and Cromwell won two major battles, the Battle of Naseby and Marston Moor. (Hill, p. 95) Ideologically, Cromwell’s New Model Army was more motivated than the King’s army. Defeat against Scotland caused the unwillingness of the King’s army to fight, the “first and most necessary prelude to revolution” (L. Stone, p. 135). Another noteworthy advantage was that Parliament controlled London, its resources, and recruited most of the population. Laurence Stone