Declaration of war....

English Civil War 

The English Civil War started in 1642 when Charles I raised his royal standard in Nottingham. Neither Parliament or Charles himself would back down over the principles that they held and so war seemed to be the inevitable solution. The country was divided into two; those who supported the king (Royalists) and those who supported Parliament (Parliamentarians).

As with most wars during the 17th century, the English Civil War was not a long continuous war, there would often be long periods of time when no fighting would occur despite England being at war at the time. This was due to factors such as; the lack of mobility and the time taken to collect the most basic of equipment, and the weather as the roads were not more than tracks and the winter could cut them up beyond use. This made the transportation of the armies very difficult, hence the delays in battles.

There were only three major battles in the English Civil War; Edge Hill 1642, Marston Moor 1644 and Naseby 1645. It is difficult to give an exact breakdown of who supported who as there were regional variations. A generalisation would be that nobility, landowners and Anglicans supported Charles, while those in towns and cities supported Parliament. However there were some noblemen who supported Parliament and there were towns such as Newark that supported Charles.

The first battle of the Civil War took place at Edge Hill. both sides claimed success, however there was no decisive result from the battle. Over the following year, a series of smaller battles proved to be equally as indecisive, neither side dealt a fatal blow to the enemy. In 1643. Oliver Cromwell formed what is known as the 'New Model Army'. This new force was to have a decisive impact on the course of the English Civil War.

In 1644, as a result of a major defeat at the Battle of Marston Moor, Charles lost control of the north of England. The combined armies of Parliament and the Scots heavily defeated the Royalists.

June 1645 saw Cromwell's New Model Army inflict a fatal blow to the king;s arm  at the Battle of Naseby. Charles did not recover form this defeat, and so in 1646 he surrendered. however rather than surrendering to Parliament, Charles surrendered to the Scots. He did this hoping that the Scottish and Parliamentary alliance was fragile and could collapse at any time. This was not the case, and the Scots took advantage of Charles, selling him to Parliament for £400,000 in January 1647.

Parliament was now faced with the problem of what to do with Charles, the decided to imprison him. However in November 1647, he escaped to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight and in 1648 the short-lived second civil war began. The supporters of the king were defeated at Preston, and so it was clear that Charles could not be trusted. As a result of this, Charles was tried at Westminster Hall in January 1649, and found guilty of high treason, and that he had 'traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament and the people therein represented.''

King Charles I was executed on 30th January 1649