War!

The English Civil War Gazette

The Starting Of the War:

The English Civil War was about parliament fighting against the monarch or king. It was from 1642 to 1647. It started when Queen Elizabeth died, and did not leave a heir to take over as queen or king. Mary Stuart’s son, James I became king after Elizabeth died. James spent too much money on the government, and did not want to work with parliament. He wanted to rule alone, and become the supreme leader. Another reason why parliament and James did not like each other was because James was Catholic, and parliament was made up of mostly puritans. After James died, his son Charles I became the new king. Charles was a lot worse than James and still wanted to be the supreme leader. Charles as well spent too much money on the government. Parliament got angry and wanted him to sign an agreement called “The Petition of Rights”, to make things more fair. Charles said no and did not meet with parliament for about 11 years. The only reason why he called them together after all those years was to get more money. However, it was too late; war broke out between the Round-heads, and the Cavaliers….

The War and the Aftermath:

After Charles I refused to sign “The Petition of Rights”, a group of “Round-heads”, fought against a group called “Cavaliers”. Round-heads were for parliament, and cavaliers wanted the king to rule. The leader of the round-heads was Oliver Cromwell. The war lasted for about 5 years, but resulted in King Charles being beheaded. The aftermath of the war was not any better, and turned out as no one expected. Oliver Cromwell became the next leader, but became a dictator. Nobody liked this, so parliament threw him out of office, and put a new king in. This was known as the English Revolution. After Cromwell was thrown out, they put in a new king that’s name apparently was Charles II. Charles II was a better leader who worked with parliament. He was more fair, and he still accepted people with different religions.