 |
Coins for Sale |
 |
|
|
|
 |
Information |
|
|
|
| 0 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Seven Battles of the English Civil War
Edgehill 23rd October 1642
The Royalist army, commanded by the King himself, was marching from Shrewsbury to London. At the same time Cromwell's army, commanded by Robert Devereux, the third Earl of Essex was marching from London to Worcester. Charles took to the high ground at Edgehill whilst Essex readied his troops for battle when he realised the Royalist troops were so close. Both armies had formed their ranks and the Parliamentary army opened the battle with a volley of cannon fire. The Royalist cavalry commanders attacked up the right and left flanks sending the Parliamentarians running. They continued after their foe instead of rejoining Charles, who was left with no cavalry at hand.
Had they rejoined Charles the Royalists may have won the battle. Essex saw the situation and commanded a general assault on the Royalists. The Royalists held ground for a while but soon many decided to run. Essex had sent a cavalry regiment to the back of the field to cut down any who chose to flee. Fortunately, one of the Cavalry commanders, Prince Rupert had returned with his cavalry and saved this from happening. It was getting late and neither side now had any advantage. The battle was therefore stopped and accepted as a draw!
Adwalton Moor 30th June 1643
Royalists were well supported in the North of England. This influenced William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, to try and enclose the Parliamentarian army in Bradford. Fairfax, the Parliamentary commander realised his army would be in a far better position if they met the Royalists in open battle rather than being surrounded and forced to surrender.
They met at Adwalton Moor, an area enclosed by fences and hedges. Fairfax knew that this would give him an advantage even though his army was heavily outnumbered as he could adopt a defensive position. Having withstood several charges the Parliamentarians decided to push home their ‘advantage’ and left their defensive positions. It was then easy for the Royalists to get the advantage and force the individual groups to retreat to Bradford.
Roundaway Down 13th July 1643
Having managed to push back the Royalist army, commanded by Lord Hopton to Devizes, Sir William Waller, the parliamentarian commander, knew the Royalists were in a bad way and left them to flee to Salisbury. He decided to let his Army rest for a while before mounting a final assault on the Royalists. He didn’t know that the Royalists, on reaching Salisbury, had turned north to get help.
Lord Henry Wilmot was the Royalist commander who brought a force to help Hopton. Waller took up battle position on Roundaway Down when he realised Hopton was approaching. The Royalists were the first to charge and after several charges the Parliamentary cavalry had fled. The Parliamentary infantry held firm until a force led by Hopton attacked them from behind. Caught between the two Royalist armies most of Waller’s’ soldiers simply fled the battlefield.
First Battle of Newbury 20th September1643
Returning to London having re-equipped an army in Gloucester, Robert Deveraux was attacked by a small company led by Prince Rupert, whose purpose was to slow his return to London. This would allow Charles I to reach the Parliamentarian town of Newbury before Essex.
Charles had his army ready across Deveraux’ route, giving the Parliamentarians no choice but to fight. The Parliamentarians stationed their artillery on Round Hill, which the Royalists mistakenly chose to attack first.
were unable to mount a successful attack because the area was covered with hedgerows and bushes made it difficult for the cavalry to be effective and the Royalists suffering a number of losses, were driven back. A second Royalist attack on Round Hill was more successful and the Parliamentarians were pushed back. The Royalist cavalry had been badly fired upon so no further attacks were made. The battle was declared a draw.
Marston Moor 2nd July 1644
In the north of England, Prince Rupert was marching to York to relieve a trapped Royalist army. When Oliver Cromwell heard the news he sent an army to meet the Royalists.
Rupert outmanoeuvred the Parliamentarians. He sent some cavalry south to Marston Moor while taking the rest of his army to York and then onto Marston Moor by another route. On his way, he sent a message to the Duke of Newcastle, William Cavendish, to meet him at Marston Moor.
The two forces were outnumbered by the Parliamentarians but decided to fight anyway. They reached their battle positions in the early evening assuming nothing would happen till the morning. Taking them by surprise the Parliamentarians attacked that same evening and caught them unawares.
Rupert's cavalry, at one end were beaten by a Parliamentarian cavalry charge, but at the other end of the field the Parliamentarians were beaten back. Having defeated Rupert, the Parliamentarians successfully ended up defeating the Royalist infantry and killed all those who did not flee.
Second Battle of Newbury 27th October 1644
Charles positioned his army to defend the northern border of Newbury. Although his position was strong he still hoped the Parliamentarians would not attack until he was joined by Prince Rupert’s’ forces
The Parliamentarian army commanded by Edward Montague was positioned on the north-eastern ridge. Knowing it was going to be difficult to defeat the Royalists, the Parliamentarian commanders embarked on a daring plan. Waller led a large force of Parliamentarians around the edge of the Royalist army. At day break on the 27th October, both Edward Montague and William Waller attacked. Waller succeeded in only taking a Royalist outpost and the Royalists managed to hold off the attack by Montague.
Every time the Parliamentarians made gains they were beaten back and heavy losses were sustained. By nightfall, both armies were exhausted and Charles decided to retreat to Oxford. Both sides had had enough. As no chase ensued the Royalists were able to flee the battle scene safely.
The Battle of Naseby 14th June 1645
General Fairfax had laid siege to Oxford knowing he could lure Charles into battle. He was quite right because as soon as Charles heard that his Royalist capital had been laid to siege he immediately marched to Oxford to relieve the City.
When he heard Charles was on the way, Fairfax immediately broke the siege and set off North to met Charles. Not wanting to be forced into battle against Fairfax, Charles turned north. Unfortunately for him they could not outmarch the Parliamentarians and had to turn and fight.
Taking up a good defensive position they waited for word of Fairfax's position. Prince Rupert discovered the Parliamentarians were camped near Naseby and suggested they should advance on Fairfax. This was the first mistake Fairfax had hoped for. The Royalists had left a strong defensive position and also, Fairfax had some more troops hidden away
Both sides took up their usual positions, infantrymen in the centre and cavalry on the flanks. The Parliamentarian cavalry were commanded by Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton. The Royalist cavalry were commanded by Marmaduke Langdale and Prince Rupert. The cavalry, under Prince Rupert, made the first attack and pushed back the Parliamentarian cavalry. The Royalist infantry also had some success over parliament. Langdale's cavalry had not fared so well and had been pushed back by Cromwell.
The Parliamentarian New Model Army took to the field and concentrated on the Royalist infantry. They were unable to withstand this attack, completely outnumbered and overwhelmed, many foot soldiers surrendered. The artillery was totally lost and most of the Royalist foot soldiers were killed or taken prisoner.
The battle had only lasted three hours Charles fled the battlefield as soon as it became apparent that all was lost! |
|
|
|
|
