Why Did Parliament Win The English Civil War?

In short, Parliament won the English Civil War because that had the mot powerful supports and the best military attack in place. As the king (Charles) had the support of the poorer areas it comes as surprise that they had the more fancy clothes and most expensive horseback riders to right for them in the battles. As more money was spent on this than ensure that they were going to win the battle, the King did not concentrate on the Parliaments' army and therefore underestimated them. There were many different battles throughout the English Civil War with the most important and one of the last ones being the Battle of Marston War where the Parliamentarians' army won over the King's.

Here, the victory ensured that the Parliament bettered their army to make them regular fighters by training and paying them. They also received better uniforms which made them a more professional and well respected army. Parliament finally won the English Civil War in 1645 in the Battle of Naseby where Charles was defeated and overruled by the Parliamentarians.

This then lead to the Parliament becoming more powerful than ever and the monarchy suffered as a result. Today, the monarch is still the highest ranking head within the British hierarchy but the Parliament takes control of all decisions within the country.

This could have never happened if Parliament have not won the English Civil War, and if this was the case then the monarch would still be as powerful as ever making the main decisions for the country. It showed that the monarchy was not the soul ruler of the country and that there were more powers in the running of the country and how everything was taken care of today to day.

The reasons parliament won the Civil war was because firstly the area Controlled by Parliament was a lot more than the King controlled.  Many people were forced to make a quick decision on which side to choose many people simply chose to support the side that controlled their area and because Parliament had more area more people supported them. They also controlled the richest parts of England which would help greatly in recruiting troops. Also because they controlled a greater area than Charles it meant that he had little so space to operate in without having to fight. Thus putting on more pressure to raise more troops, as the Parliament won in battles they gained more land making it even worse for Charles. The second reason was the control of the navy this was because Parliament had control over the navy therefore they controlled the sea thus making sure Charles couldn’t get any outside help. Such as troops and supplies. Another reason Parliament won was because of the Scottish help. When Scotland allied with the Parliament an extra 22,000 Scottish soldiers were added to their force this meant even more troops for Charles to deal with. Another reason parliament won was down to parliament’s military leadership and organization of its forces. Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell were brilliant leaders who had experience. They had control over the army and they were organized which was essential. The tactics they used advanced and effective, an example of this would be the Battle of Naseby, where they had a well laid out army and on top of that mounted infantry to attack from the side. Also, a key thing the Parliamentarians had which the Royalists didn't was all the troops and sub leaders present and present for the whole battle, whilst the Royalists had missing troops and cavalry and leaders all the time which was one of the main reasons that the Royalists lost at Naseby. Also the new model army helped greatly as they were more organized then Charles I troops. Another reason was the problems with the Royalists and Charles’ incompetence

It wasnt just because they were more wealthy; they had to know what to do with the money and how to control the army...aka they had better leadership skills