The Short-Term Cause Of The Civil War

The Civil War was a combination of Long-term and Short-term factors which included Political, Economic and religious disagreements7. I believe this because as Charles wanted complete control of England and that he believed in the divine rights of the king, he ruled for 11 years without a Parliament. He reigned over a country that was prosperous and content9.However, the political disagreement was the most important long-term cause of the civil war. At the start of his reign (1625) King Charles I had married the Roman Catholic Henrietta Maria of France. Yet against the odds, the reserved king, and his naively vivacious young bride fell passionately in love. Shortly when Charles became involved in a war with Puritan Scotland, the popular hatred

The Next Ten Years saw the Cavaliers (supporters of the King) and the Roundheads (supporters of the parliament) engaged in a vicious battle for their respective leaders with the Roundheads ultimately Victorious. One of the key factors that led to the Civil War was the contrasting beliefs of King Charles and the Parliament13. The power that once belonged to the Monarchy had shifted over to the Parliament by the time he came into power.

Social and economic factors played a part in the War14. The Gentry Decided that the time had come to end the dominance of the Monarch and the Aristocrats, a class war of sorts began with the gentry trying to wrestle power from the ones who had held it for so long.15 Charles showed some of his dominance over parliament during the eleven year’s tranny. This was when Charles decided he didn’t need parliament after they stopped giving him customs duties. During this time Charles introduced ship tax, which many people refused to pay that ended up becoming an unpopular

In 1633 William Laud was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles 1s. Laud wanted to impose uniformity of worship based on the Book of Common Prayer32. He claimed that these changes were to improve the Church of England33.

The Irish Catholic rebelled against the members of the Christian church, saying they were rebelling for the king35. The rebellion developed into an ethnic conflict between native Irish Catholic on one side, and English and Scottish Protestant settlers on the other36. This began a conflict known as Irish Confederate Wars37. In January 1642, Charles targeted to arrest Edward Montagu and five members of the House of Commons – John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Sir Arthur Haselrig, and William Strode.38 He stormed into the Parliament building with dozens of soldiers. However, these men had been warned and had already fled the building 39.This rash move by Charles brought the civil war extremely close and it convinced Parliament that Charles was trying to overthrow