Oliver Cromwell became the most important general on the Parliamentarian side and Prince Rupert on the Royalist side. Oliver Cromwell was famous for his well thought out tactics and his well disciplined army, where as Rupert, the kings nephew, made decisions without thinking them through and was not always in full control of his men. Before the war, Oliver Cromwell was worrying whether or not his army would want to fight the king because in those days it was said that the king is Gods representative. The king also had much more money because he was supported by some very wealthy men, so he had more money. However, as the war went on, the king’s money dwindled away, and Parliament raised taxes, therefore they had more money than the king.
The pilgrimage of grace was orchestrated to help stop the attacks against the Church in England and the monasteries. The uprising can be considered a serious threat to the Tudor monarchy because firstly it was a revolt that involved up to 40,000 men from the North which outnumbered Henry’s forces 4 to 1. It can be said that if Robert Aske decided to not trust in Henry and instead take force to grant the rebels commands then in fact the Tudor monarchy could have been taken over and in consequence ended at Henrys reign instead of his daughters Elizabeth I. If this was the case then the Northern force would have stood great chance because not only did they outnumber the crown but many of the men included had already fought against the Scots. Moreover, it wasn’t just a commoners revolt as a variety of classes were involved such as some nobility like Lord Darcy and the Percy’s and also gentry and priests stood against parliament.
In 1216 the Barons of England rebelled against King John, the Barons rebelled for a number of reasons, they include the trust between the King and the Barons, how John increased the taxes, the church and the rule breaking of the Magna Carta, some of the reasons were caused at the beginning of John’s reign, known as long term causes, and some of King John’s poor decisions triggered the rebellion, known as short term causes. One imperative reason that supports the fact why the Barons rebelled against King John was the fact that he did not ask their advice, a good King should always listen to the advice of the Barons. Instead he preferred to listen to the advice of foreign advisers such as Gerard d’ Athee. This annoyed the Barons and made them choose to not abide by the King. Consequently when he asked the Barons to provide an army to win back his land in France they refused.
There were many events in the wars that had an effect on England, Scotland and Ireland, with these wars came many casualties and benefits and because of these facts, the wars were seen as a success or/and failure. The First English Civil War began in early 1642 and at first, most of the country remained neutral, but most of the cities were in favor of the Parliament. Neither side had many supporters at first, but eventually support spread and involved all the levels of society. Although many areas tried to be neutral, they found it hard to go against the King and the Parliament. The King and his supporters were fighting for a traditional government in the Church and State, while supporters of the Parliament were defending the traditional balance of the Church and State.
This was particularly significant in 1639-40 when an invading Scottish army, challenged Charles’ authority. Historian Conrad Russell also highlighted another fundamental; 'The need to maintain the prestige expected of an early modern ruler, with revenues depleted by inflationary pressures and the deficient financial management of his royal predecessors.' This meant that a last resort of unparliamentary sources for revenue such as the extension of Ship Money from the maritime counties to inland area. On the other hand it could be seen as though the key aspect of the Civil War starting was due to Charles' policies. Historian; John Adamson as well as many others try to make a positive case for the King's
The Parliament that assembled 3 November 1640 was fundamentally hostile to Charles I. Candidates associated with the court had been defeated, and almost everyone elected was aggrieved at some aspect of Charles' policies. Parliament had been assembled only because Charles needed money to pay the Scots army. To ensure that it was not dissolved as soon as the Scots army disbanded, Parliament forced Charles to sign an Act (10 May 1641) agreeing that this Parliament would not be dissolved without its own consent. The threat of the Scottish army was also used to persuade the King to consent to the Triennial Act (15 February 1641).
Many people opposed the King for these reasons; Parliament and more importantly, Oliver Cromwell were one of these people. So was Cromwell to become a hero or villain? After becoming an MP for Huntingdon, Cromwell was asked to help fight against King Charles. He had no military experience, but between 1649 and 1658 he had more power than anyone in Britain. He created the New Model Army.
The origins of rebellion arose when people in England opposed Mary’s catholic standing and were worrying over the possible return of papal authority over England, since mary’s coronation was in 1553 she quickly placed people of catholic standing in positions within the kingdom, including many positions in the privy council the most influential body within the government. This quick changeover within England is arguably what caused the Wyatt rebellion as it made the people feel anxious of the possible threat of going back to a papal authority, this can be reinforced by the following source ‘and yet thhe it be said in counsel as to my friend, we mind only the restitution of God’s word, but no words!’qhich was written by wyatts son showing us that Wyatt was rebelling to the threat Mary posed to religion, but it can also be inferred that although this was his motive he felt that this reason wasn’t acceptable to cause a greater enough rebellion to remove Mary from the throne so he says that they should use a different reason, as generally it can be argued that Mary’s catholic influence across England were relatively popular, possibly why the rebellion was shown little support. There
She had become increasingly under the influence of the one man who seemingly had the power to help her son, Alexis, afflicted by hemophilia. Others, appalled at his influence over the tsarina, called him the “Mad Monk” – though not in public unless they wanted to incur the wrath of Alexandra. Rasputin had always clashed with the Duma. They saw his position within the monarchy as a direct threat to their position. Alexandra responded to their complaints about Rasputin’s power by introducing legislation that further limited the Duma’s power.
Before the 1600s, when there was a war, people would have been picked off the street and been given weapons but not trained or qualified to fight. Oliver Cromwell picked up on this and took people off the street and trained them how to fight. This would have made the parliament really like him because if he has a trained army, they are much more likely to win the war. Obviously, this would make the opposite side despise him much more and they did copy his idea to train the army. This process took a very long time to get all the people, train them, give them weapons and to fight.