BRITISH
CIVIL WARS
TIMELINEOF...
1643
FIRSTENGLISHCIVILWAR
WarbreaksoutbetweenCharlesI andtheEnglish
Parliament.TheFirstCivilWaris alsothelongest
andlastsforfouryears.It is mostlyfought
in Englandandresultsin a Parliamentarian-
Covenantervictoryalthoughmanybloodybattles
andsiegesarefoughtbeforeitsconclusion.
1642-
23 October 1642
BATTLEOFEDGEHILL^01
Thefirstmajorpitchedbattlebetween
CharlesI andParliamentoccursin
Warwickshire.Thetwosidesarealmost
numericallyevenandtheengagement
resultsin a bloodystalemate.Charles
subsequentlyfailsto advanceon
LondonbutheestablishestheRoyalist
headquartersat Oxford.Thisensures
thatthewarcontinues.
1639-
Frontline
CELTIC UNREST
Scottish Covenanters (Presbyterians) win two
“Bishops’ Wars” against Charles I’s attempts to
impose uniform practices between the churches
of Scotland and England. Meanwhile, Irish Catholic
rebels rise up to seize control of the Protestant
English administration in Ireland. This weakens
Charles’s authority and encourages an increasingly
assertive Parliament to assert its rights.
STALEMATE
Neither the Royalists nor Parliamentarians
are able to make significant headway during
1643 although both sides win substantial
engagements. Among other clashes, the
Royalists win the Battle of Roundway Down
while the Parliamentarians are victorious at
the First Battle of Newbury.
The Siege of Basing House
The Stuart dynasty fought three conflicts against
England’s Parliament in a decade that wrought
unprecedented bloodshed across the British Isles
Parliament is deeply unsettled by propaganda
depictions of English Protestant settlers in
Ireland being massacred by Irish Catholics
The British Civil Wars officially begin when Charles
I raises his Royal Standard against Parliament at
Nottingham, 22 August 1642