C) First Civil War - Military Events - Mindmap in A Level and IB History

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Created on: 17-04-14 15:54

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First Civil War - Military Events
- Strengths + Weaknesses
  - Parliament
    - Controlled more populated + prosperous parts of kingdom
      - London - vital source of wealth
    - War finances on much sounder footing than Charles'
      - Pym set up efficient tax-gathering mechanisms
        Compounding - well-organised system of exploiting estates of Royalist supporters in Parliamentary areas.
        
        Monthly assessment
    - Control of Navy = control of trade
      - Able to ensure London continued to be trading capital
      - Restricted Charles' ability to trade with continent
        Military supplies + troops from neighbouring monarchs
      - Had been unpaid by Charles
      - Partly due to popularity of Earl of Warwick (appointed commander by Parliament)
  - King
    - Had advantages in early months
      - Cavalry probably better
        German nephew Prince Rupert = talented cavalry commander
    - Financial problems
      - Controlled poorer north and west
      - Had to rely partly on individual gifts + gold and silver plate given by Oxford colleges
        Many commanders paid troops themselves
      - Although fundraising = well organised in some areas, in general, money became one of the major factors in defeat
        Clarendon: 'the incurable disease of want of money'
    - In theory: war effort should have been more co-ordinated (Charles = Commander-in-Chief)
      - BUT factions + rivalries undermined the common cause
        Digby tried to turn Charles against his field commanders (esp. Rupert)
        
        Some Royalist officers (ie. Lord George Goring) = as interested in plundering as in winning battles
- Battle of Edgehill (October 1642)
  - Charles advances on London
    - Army of c.10,000
    - Parliamentary commander = Earl of Essex
      - Had some military experience
      - Gave status to parliamentary cause
      - Cautious + uninspiring leader (took coffin on expeditions - morale)
  - Battle
    - Royalist cavalry swept away Parliamentary cavalry
    - Parliamentary infantry beat Royalist infantry
      - Only saved by reappearance of Royalist cavalry
    - Essex withdrew
      - Route to London left open
  - After
    - Swift advance on London might have meant Royalist victory
      - King (perhaps shaken by first battle witnessed) = hesitant
        Took Oxford before advancing on London
    - November 1642: Essex + army move to London in front of King
      - Londoners turned out in 1000s
        Women built trenches
        
        By the time Rupert = burning Brentford (learnt in 30 years war), Essex had 24,000 ready to defend City at Turnham Green (outskirts)
    - Charles ignored Rupert's advice to force defences + withdrew to Oxford
      - Ensured war would go on
      - Best chance of quick victory
        Raw citizen soldiers might have panicked + fled
        
        Royalists might have been overwhelmed in bitter hand-to-hand street fighting by Londoners (eager to defend property against plundering)
        
        Therefore - in long run - lost whole war
- 1643
  - Armies
    - Royalist
      - Duke of Newcastle: Northern army
        Clarendon (disliked): 'as fit to be a General as a Bishop'
      - Sir Ralph Hopton in west
        Supported by cavalry of Sir George Goring
      - Main field army centred around Oxford
        Rupert commanding cavalry
    - Parliament
      - Main field army under Essex
      - Eastern Association (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Lincolnshire) under Earl of Manchester
      - Western army under Sir William Waller
      - Fairfaxes (father + son) in Yorkshire
        Fought vs. Newcastle for clothing-town strongholds of Leeds + Bradford - lost
  - Newcastle's failure
    - Advanced into Lincolnshire threatening Eastern Association heartland
      - Near Stamford (extreme south Lincolnshire), decided to retreat + besiege Hull with main forces
        Result of sharp checks he + forces received from Cromwell's newly trained cavalry
        Cromwell rose to prominence as a cavalry commander in Eastern association
        Promoted soldiers purely on merit + insisted on iron discipline
        
        Also suffered supply lines becoming stretched + fear of attack on rear by Hull garrison
    - War in East returned to series of cavalry raids + skirmishes rather than determined + dangerous Royalist advance
  - Hopton's failure
    - Hopton's attack in South (Hampshire + Sussex) = most successful
    - Supply lines eventually halted him
    - Troops reluctant to march too far from home counties
  - Siege of Gloucester + Battle of Newbury (1643)
    - Strategy had broken down - decided to besiege Gloucester (held out for Parliament in Royalist West)
      - Had important position across Charles' supply lines
      - Fall would have catastrophic effect on Parliamentary morale
        Already shaken - king's strategy = breaking down but Parliament hadn't had any decisive victories + initiative still seemed to be with king
    - Essex relieved Gloucester + found King barring path at Newbury on return to London on 20 September 1643
    - Battle = draw
      - Strategic victory for Essex (forces able to continue march to Lodnon
- Scottish and Irish (Autumn 1643)
  - Scots - Solemn League + Covenant (September)
    - Scottish forces coming south would trap Newcastle's forces between them + Eastern Association
  - 1633 = indecisive fighting
    - Both sides tried to swing balance through outside help
  - Irish - Cessation
    - King negotiated ceasefire with Irish rebels
      - Able to bring back English regiments from Ireland
        No advantage - troops captured by Brereton + changed sides
- Battle of Marston Moor (July 1644)
  - Parliament (with Cromwell's cavalry in lead) attacked
    - King's Northern Army destroyed
    - Eastern Association cavalry showed to be a match for Royalist
    - Newcastle's regiment (Whitecoats) died to a man
      - Newcastle fled to continent
    - Rupert escaped with c.6,000 men
  - Rupert's mistakes
    - Offered battle at Marston Moor on 2 July
      - Should have gathered own + Newcastle's forces and retreated (as Newcastle advised)
        Inferior force - c. 9,000 less
      - May have believed orders from king = offer battle
        Dynamic, ruthless attitude to war = wanted to offer battle if possibly could
    - Believed (as evening was drawing on) there would be no battle
  - King had lost north - York surrendered within fortnight
  - Could easily have been final blow for Royalists - opportunity not taken
    - Scots went to besiege port of Newcastle
    - Fairfax engaged in 'mopping up' operations vs. individual strongholds
    - Earl of Manchester returned to East
- Problems for both sides
  - Localism
    - Throughout first 2 years
    - Reluctance of troops raised in one area to move far from home
      - London Trained Bands = anxious to return after relief of Gloucester
      - Hopton's Cornish Trained Bands = no wish to campaign in Hampshire
    - Money raised locally often spent locally, rather than on armies
      - Prob. less than 10% of monies raised by Parliamentary county committees ever left county
    - Even Eastern Association (most successful organisation in uniting county efforts) not immune
  - Disagreement + command structure
    - Parliament
      - United, in theory, after 1643
        Under command of Committee of Two Kingdoms
      - In practice - commanders would ignore their urgings
        Essex + Manchester made own decisions
    - Royalist
      - In theory, should have been more coordinated (Charles as Commander-in-Chief)
      - Mirrored court before 1642
        Factions + rivalries undermined common cause
        Digby tried to turn Charles against field commanders (esp. Rupert)
        
        Some officers (e.g. Goring) didn't always obey orders
    - Individuals tended to act alone
    - Neither side (at this stage) had coordinated grand strategy being carried out by a national military machine
      - One reason why First Civil War = so long
- Royalist recovery
  - Essex + Waller
    - Meant to advance on Oxford together
    - Rivalries = couldn't cooperate for long
      - Essex decided to attack Royalist strongholds in west (Lyme Regis still holding out for Parliament)
      - Charles defeated Waller at Cropredy Bridge (6 June)
        Waller's army disintegrated
        
        King pursued Essex in West
        Essex decided to attack Royalist strongholds in west (Lyme Regis still holding out for Parliament)
  - Earl of Manchester's failure (October)
    - Manchester failed to chase Royalists after their retreat after second Battle of Newbury
- New Model Army creation (winter 1644)
  - Cavalry
    - At first = most reliable element
      - Whole army gradually gained discipline + coherence
    - Largely drawn from old Eastern Association - Cromwell's 'Ironsides'
  - Commanders
    - Philip Skippon (professional soldier in 30 years war) commanding infantry
      - Overshadowed by Fairfax + Cromwell
  - Religious independency
    - Hostile to Anglicanism + Presbyterianism
    - Spread rapidly (esp. in cavalry)
    - Majority of officers = Independents
  - Promotion by merit
    - Revolutionary
    - Led to rise of officers from humble backgrounds
      - Caused Royalists (Hyde) + social conservatives (Holles) much concern
        Majority of senior officers were, and remained, from gentry families (Cromwell, Skippon, Lambert, Fleetwood)
        Although some prominent colonels were tradesmen
  - After failures, Cromwell accused Manchester of not wanting to win + raised fear in Parliament that war = forever unless new measures + commanders put in place
    - Polite removal of Essex + Manchester
    - Creation of New Model Army
      - Paid for by Parliament (not local organisations)
- Battle of Naseby (June 1645)
  - Rupert failed to see 'big picture'
  - Royalists = completely destroyed
    - King lost last field army capable of fighting a major pitched battle
  - After
    - New Model Army fought series of 'mopping up' operations (e.g. Goring's Langport force) + drawn-out sieges of Royalist strongholds
    - March 1646: Sir Jacob Astley (courageous commander of remaining Royalist infantry) surrendered at Stow-on-the-Wold
    - King surrendered to Scots in May 1646
    - Last Royalist stronghold (Oxford) surrendered in June 1646
- Conclusion - why Parliament won
  - Greater financial resources (East, South + London)
    - Better organisation of financial resources - Pym
      - Possession of London + East Anglia (trade + wealth)
  - Possession of London + East Anglia (trade + wealth)
  - King's strategic failures 1642-3 (still had some real chance of victory)
  - Control of sea - prevented arms/troops from abroad reaching King
  - Solemn League + Covenant = Scottish help in north
  - Eventual creation on central command structure + New Model Army
Monthly assessment
Charles ignored Rupert's advice to force defences + withdrew to Oxford
- Ensured war would go on
- Best chance of quick victory
  - Raw citizen soldiers might have panicked + fled
  - Royalists might have been overwhelmed in bitter hand-to-hand street fighting by Londoners (eager to defend property against plundering)
  - Therefore - in long run - lost whole war
Irish - Cessation
- King negotiated ceasefire with Irish rebels
  - Able to bring back English regiments from Ireland
    - No advantage - troops captured by Brereton + changed sides
Voluntarily rejoined army Essex had formed once in Parliamentary territory
- Infantry (though disarmed) = so badly treated by Royalists

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C) First Civil War - Military Events

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