English Civil War Crossword Puzzle for Kids

The English Civil War happened in the mid-17th century. A civil war is a war in which the sides involved in the fighting are from the same country.

At the centre, there was a struggle between King Charles I and the Parliament of England over how England should be ruled. The King wanted to rule without Parliament telling him what to do. At first, Parliament wanted to reduce the King's power, but it later decided that the country did not need a king. Charles's supporters were known as the Royalists and were nicknamed "Cavaliers". Parliament's supporters were known as the Parliamentarians and were nicknamed "Roundheads".

From 1639 to 1653, there was fighting in England, Scotland and Ireland, three separate countries that were ruled by the same king. The fighting in each of those countries broke out at different times and for different reasons. In England, it lasted from 1642 to 1651. Some people think of this as one big war, and others think of it as three separate wars: the First English Civil War (1642-46), the Second English Civil War (1648) and the Third English Civil War (1649-51). The wars are also sometimes known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, including the Bishops' Wars in Scotland in 1639 to 1640 and the Irish Rebellion from 1641 to 1653.

The Parliamentarians won the war. Charles I was captured, put on trial and was in 1649 executed. His son Charles II then tried to take over the country but lost and escaped abroad. As a result, the three kingdoms spent 11 years without a king. For most of that time, they were run by Oliver Cromwell, a former Parliamentarian general who called himself "Lord Protector". After Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored under Charles II. However, the kings became never as powerful as they had been before the war.

Causes

The reasons for the fighting had mostly to do with power, money and religion.

In the 17th century, the king had a lot of power over England with one exception: he could not raise taxes unless the Parliament of England agreed to it. Parliament represented the gentry (middle class), and no king could raise taxes without its help. Scotland and Ireland also had parliaments, but they did not have nearly as much power. When King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne and became James I of England, he disliked having to work with parliament. He was more used to ruling in Scotland, where the king was far more powerful. James I also spent more money than previous kings and queens.

Both James I and his son Charles I believed in the "divine right of kings" that God gave kings the right to do anything they wanted over their lands. However, there was a difference between them since James I accepted that he could not get what he wanted all the time, but Charles I always wanted to get his way.

After becoming king in 1625, Charles I quickly got into arguments with Members of Parliament. From 1629 to 1640, he shut Parliament down and ruled without it. That was legal as long as he did not raise taxes. He used some legal tricks to raise money without bringing back Parliament. For example, he used "ship money", a tax that had been paid by coastal towns in times of war. Charles I started charging it to all towns even when there was no war. That was unpopular, but judges decided that it was legal. Those years were known as the "Eleven Years' Tyranny" by the king's enemies.

In the previous century, the Protestant Reformation, including the English Reformation, had encouraged new ideas and struggles. In England, there was a movement called the Puritans, who wanted a "pure" religion. They believed that the Church of England was too much like the Catholic Church, which it had left. In particular, they did not want the church to have bishops. There was a similar movement in Scotland. The Church of Scotland had bishops as well but had many differences from the Church of England.

The wars

In mid-1642, both sides started travelling around the country to gather supporters and weapons. On 22 August, Charles raised the royal flag in Nottingham. By doing so, he was announcing that he was at war with Parliament.

The King found more support in the countryside, the poorer parts of the country, and northern and western England. Parliament found more support in most cities, ports, richer parts of the country, and southern and eastern England. Most of those who were secretly Catholic supported the King. The Royal Navy and most Puritans supported Parliament. Some areas supported Parliament because of local problems such as the land drainage works in The Fens.

The Royalist armies were led by Prince Rupert, the king's nephew. The Parliamentarian arms were at first led by the Earl of Essex. The Royalists decided they would try to fight the Parliamentarians quickly and so went to meet them in Warwickshire. The first major battle was the Battle of Edgehill, in October 1642, which ended in a draw. The King tried to return to London but was blocked by the Parliamentarian army. He moved with his arms to Oxford, where he had more loyal followers.

The first year of the war went fairly well for the Royalists. They strengthened their control over the north and west. Their progress was slower in the Midlands though they captured Lichfield. After mid-1669, the Parliamentarians started to do better. They won battles in Lincolnshire, in the east, and at Newbury, west of London.

King Charles made a deal with the Irish rebels to stop the fighting in Ireland to free up soldiers, who could fight for him. The Parliament made a deal with the Scottish Covenantors, who would help them. It was also helped by a talented arm leader called Oliver Cromwell. He led a cavalry (horse riders) unit called the "Ironsides". They were better organised than most other cavalry units, which made them far better at fighting.

Afterwards

The wars left England, Scotland and Ireland all as part of the Commonwealth of England, one of the few countries in Europe without a monarch. After the wars had ended, Cromwell disbanded the Rump Parliament and took over the country. He chose to be "Lord Protector", rather than King, because many people did not want another king. His government was called "the Protectorate" or "the Commonwealth". The period from 1649 to 1660 is also called the English Interregnum (meaning gap between kings).

Cromwell ruled the country until he died in 1658, when his son Richard took over as Lord Protector. However, the army did not consider him be a good ruler. After seven months, the army removed Richard, and in May 1659, it reinstalled the Rump Parliament. However, the army did not get on with the Rump Parliament either and disbanded it a second time. There were fears that England would not have a proper government.

George Monck, a key leader in the army, arranged for a new Parliament to be elected. On 8 May 1660, the new Parliament decided to restore the monarchy with Charles II as the king. He returned to England later that month. That event is known as the English Restoration. Scotland and Ireland went back to being separate countries, and the prewar churches returned.

Although the monarchy returned, the Civil War had long-lasting effects. The war made it clear that an English king could no longer rule without the support of Parliament. The law was not changed to limit the his power, which was done after the 1688 Glorious Revolution. Historians consider the Civil War to be a stage in England and Scotland's long journeys from being an absolute monarchy to becoming a democracy.

In Ireland, the defeat of the rebellion strengthened the Protestants. That was one of the reasons for Ireland being ruled by Protestants from the late 17th century to the 20th century even though most Irish people were Catholics.

Tactics

The English Civil War was fought with "pike and shot" tactics, which were used in most other wars from the late 15th to the late 17th centuries. Armies were divided into three main groups:

Musketeers: They fired a type of gun called a musket, which was not as powerful or easy to use as a modern gun.

Pikemen: They carried a very long spear, called a pike, and had as their main job task to stop the enemy's cavalry.

Cavalry: They were horse riders who would charge at the enemy's musketeers and, if very skilled, could charge at the enemy's pikemen.

At first, the Royalists had a better cavalry since their riders were faster and more skilled. Prince Rupert had fought in the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands and used the lessons learned there to improve his cavalry. However, the Royalist cavalry sometimes failed to work as a team. At the Battle of Edgehill, many of them decided to chase fleeing soldiers or steal from the Parliamentarian baggage wagons. The Royalists might have won the battle if their cavalry had stayed together.

Text adapted from the Simple English Wikipedia article “English Civil War” (revision 10828115, 2026-04-21), authors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.