The English civil war

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The English civil war

Causes

  • King Charles didn't listen to Parliament
  • King Charles also got annoyed after many people wet arguing that Parliament should have more say in how the nation was governed.
  • Tied up with this were arguments over the Church and religion. There were deep divisions over what religious practices, forms of worship and organisational structure the Church should have. These two religions were Catholic and Protestant. King Charles himself was a Anglican though (Church of England).
  • In January 1642 Charles strode into the Parliament house with a body of soldiers and demanded the persons of five MPs whom he had declared to be traitors.
  • Changes to churches making them bright and colourful.
  • Charles tried to introduce a new prayer book to Scotland.
  • Charles married a Catholic.
  • Ship money: making many of the people on the coasts to pay money usually when there was a war on but Charles then demanded everybody in the country to pay.
  • Charles married a French Catholic.

Effects

  • Charles I was eventually executed and that Parliament/Oliver Cromwell formed a new government.
  • Many deaths/property damaged
  • After Charles’s execution (1649-60) England was a Republic called ‘the Commonwealth’. At first Parliament ruled the country, but in 1653 Oliver Cromwell dismissed Parliament and ruled as ‘Protector’.
  • The Army became important, under Oliver Cromwell (1653-1660).
  • The Puritans (somebody who is strict in religious circumstances who believe in moral beliefs, a member of a group of English Protestants who in the 1500s and 1600s) became powerful. During Oliver Cromwell's rule, churches were required to be plain and serious, and dancing, the theatre, pubs, gambling, Maypoles and even Christmas were banned.

Overall summary

Firstly, King charles has not respected the rights of the English people. He has forced them to pay extra taxes,like ship money for a lot of the people living on the coasts.Secondly, he has caused many losses of lives as King Charles was the reason the Civil War started because he refused to listen to parliament. Charles didn't just cause loss of lives, he also violently abused Alice Thornton's daughter and stole everything from their house, causing them to starve for twenty seven days.

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