Major
battles of the English Civil War
The
first battle of the Civil War was at Edgehill near
Birmingham in 1642. At the battle of Edgehill so that
the soldiers could tell which side they were on, they
wore coloured belts tied round their waists. These
belts were called sashes. During the battle some
soldiers that supported parliament changed sides and
decided to support the king. Some of the soldiers
forgot to take off their belts and they ended up being
shot by the kings men. This was the first battle of
the war and not many weapons had been made. About 400
of the kings men did not have guns, they just had
wooden sticks called clubs. The king won this battle.
After the battle the king went to London but they
wouldn't let him into the city.
The
Battle of Marston Moor was fought in July 1644. Marston
Moor is in Yorkshire. The kings army was lead by a man
called Prince Rupert. Until now Prince Rupert had been
the most successful of the kings generals. The kings
army was well beaten, 4,000 men died. Cromwell with the
help of soldiers from Scotland won. After this battle
Cromwell was seen as one of the most important
parliamentary generals.
The
Battle of Naseby in Northamptonshire took place in
June 1645 Cromwell won because he had a bigger army.
Parliament were fighting with their new model army.
Cromwell had more men than the king. This was really
the end for the Royalists. 4,500 prisoners were taken,
the rest of the Royalist army died. After the battle
king Charles escaped to Wales. The New Model Army went
on to defeat another Royalist Army in Somerset.
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