Why Did England Have a Civil War? | History in a Nutshell | Animated History

history in a nutshell why did England have a civil war between 1642 and 1651 England was torn apart by a bunch of Wars between Parliament and royalists that resulted in the deaths of roughly 190 000 people including the king of England Charles the first but why did the conflict kick off in the first place from the moment Charlie's head was crowned in 1625 right up until it was chopped off in 1649 the King was falling out of parliament over three main things religion power and money religion religion was one of the big political topics of

the day England had been officially Protestant since 1559 but there was plenty of disagreement over what religious worship should involve some like the Puritans and Presbyterians thought worship should be very plain and serious and that further Reformation of the church was required but others who had the support of the king held different views and preferred elaborate and ceremonial styles of worship which Puritan suspected as being too close to Catholic ritual Charles was suspected of being sympathetic to Catholics and even married the Catholic princess Henrietta Maria of France which made him deeply unpopular with the Puritans

power Charles was a big believer in the divine right of kings the idea that he'd been hand-picked to rule by God himself and that he should rule as he saw fit the trouble was many parliamentarians like to have their say on how the country was governed and while Parliament wasn't as powerful as it is today with the Monarch able to summon or dismiss it at any time they did have one crucial function the ability to raise money through tax which brings us to money Charles kicked off his reign with a war against Spain but the

first big Expedition ended in Failure after the English soldiers got drunk in Cadiz in 1625 an absolutely fuming Parliament refused to Grant more taxes for the war so instead the king levied a forced loan and imprisoned those who refused to pay Parliament tried to stop him but in 1629 Charles simply dismissed Parliament and didn't recall it for another 11 years deciding that he'd rather go without taxes than deal with his opponents now that's a power play without taxes Charles couldn't afford to go to war so he decided to exploit old laws to raise revenues and

introduced new money-making schemes none of which were popular and he was still managing to annoy people with his religious policies in fact so annoyed with the Scots at being told to use a new book of common prayer that they waged a rebellion against Charles in 1639. Charles recalled parliament in 1640 to raise money for the war but despite missed it again three weeks later then the Scots invaded and occupied most of northern England leaving Charles no choice but to bring Parliament back once again to pay them off Parliament was not in the mood to play

nice they impeached some of the king's key advisors it even executed one of them Charles agreed to some of their demands but in January 1642 he marched into Parliament with 400 soldiers and tried to arrest five of his main opponents but the men had escaped this was not a good look for Charles and fearing for the security of his family if they stayed in London he left the capital and traveled to York for his safety both sides printed propaganda to rile up their supporters and across the country cities and regions decided which corner to back

T Parliament nicknamed the round heads or team Charles also known as the Cavaliers it all came to a head on the 1st of June 1642 when Parliament published the 19 propositions which proposed religious reforms and sweeping powers for Parliament Within the king's government Charles rejected it and after a few weeks of skirmishes and scuffles he raised his standard at Nottingham on the 22nd of August War had begun so there we have it after years of tension and debate between reform-minded parliamentarians and the King mostly over religion power and money England was dragged into the catastrophe

and Chaos of a full-blown Civil War as the war progressed Charles lost battle after battle and eventually lost his head but the outcome of all the Bloodshed didn't last very long after 11 years of England without a monarchy Charles II was invited back to be king in 1660. however he not only had to forgive all those responsible for the Civil War he also had to agree to restrictions on Royal power made by Parliament and accepted by his dad back in 1641 Charles's acceptance of these terms brought about a new era for the monarchy and no

future king or queen would ever ruled with the same absolute power again