CHARLES I
Charles I was king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with parliament led to civil war and his eventual execution.
Charles I, (born November 19, 1600, Dunfermline Palace, Fife, Scotland—died January 30, 1649, London, England), king of Great Britain and Ireland (1625–49), whose authoritarian rule and quarrels with Parliament provoked a civil war that led to his execution.
Charles was the second surviving son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. He was a sickly child, and, when his father became king of England in March 1603, he was temporarily left behind in Scotland because of the risks of the journey. Devoted to his elder brother, Henry, and to his sister, Elizabeth, he became lonely when Henry died (1612) and his sister left England in 1613 to marry Frederick V, elector of the Rhine Palatinate.
Charles's reign began with an unpopular friendship with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who used his influence against the wishes of other nobility. Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. There was ongoing tension with parliament over money - made worse by the costs of war abroad. In addition, Charles favored a High Anglican form of worship, and his wife was Catholic - both made many of his subjects suspicious, particularly the Puritans. Charles dissolved parliament three times between 1625 and 1629. In 1629, he dismissed parliament and resolved to rule alone. This forced him to raise revenue by non-parliamentary means which made him increasingly unpopular. At the same time, there was a crackdown on Puritans and Catholics and many emigrated to the American colonies.
Unrest in Scotland - because Charles attempted to force a new prayer book on the country - put an end to his personal rule. He was forced to call parliament to obtain funds to fight the Scots. In November 1641, tensions were raised even further with disagreements over who should command an army to suppress an uprising in Ireland. Charles attempted to have five members of parliament arrested and in August 1642, raised the royal standard at Nottingham. The civil war began.
The Royalists were defeated in 1645-1646 by a combination of parliament's alliance with the Scots and the formation of the New Model Army. In 1646, Charles surrendered to the Scots, who handed him over to parliament. He escaped to the Isle of Wight in 1647 and encouraged discontented Scots to invade. This 'Second Civil War' was over within a year with another royalist defeat by Parliamentarian general Oliver Cromwell. Convinced that there would never be peace while the king lived, a rump of radical MPs, including Cromwell, put him on trial for treason. He was found guilty and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall, London.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-I-king-of-Great-Britain-and-Ireland
England was the first European country to experience an industrial revolution starting in 1760 and evolving roughly until 1850. This development was fuelled by the comparative political stability on the island in comparison to mainland Europa. Additionally, England possessed a great wealth of recourses due to its impressive navy and its various colonies. The inventors were respected by the public and financially supported by wealthy Patrons.
Industrial Revolution in England
England was the first European country to experience an industrial revolution starting in 1760 and evolving roughly until 1850. This development was fuelled by the comparative political stability on the island in comparison to mainland Europa. Additionally, England possessed a great wealth of recourses due to its impressive navy and its various colonies. The inventors were respected by the public and financially supported by wealthy Patrons.
Important inventions which enabled the transition from handwork to machine work in factories were, for example, the spinning jenny, the weaving machine and puddling, a new manufacturing technique of iron bars and the sort.
Generally speaking, the circle of production experienced enormous growth. More effective production methods allowed more production and thus more products for consummation entered the market. The resulting economic wealth was extremely unfairly spread within society. While the small industrial bourgeoisie lived in extravagant wealth and the state profited from the development, a new, huge, exploited class of factory workers built – the proletariat. The industrialization was shouldered by women, men, and children of the Proletariat, yet they were the ones who did not at all profit from this development. The small cottage production performed by people in rural areas could not compete with mass production and the people who thus lost their job were forced to move to the cities and follow the massive demand for factory workers. These jobs were exhausting, dangerous and ridiculously underpaid. The workers took some time to build out a new awareness of their formation of a new social class, as which they slowly started to unite and rise against their unfair treatment. Protests slowly gained them a few rights and leys to at least secure an income that they could poorly live off and working hour limitations that kept most children from working shifts of over 12 hours per day.
Shortly after England experienced the rapid change of industrial production in other countries in mainland Europe and the US emulated the transformation and the US became the leading industrial nation of the 19thcentury.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell, (born April 25, 1599, Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, England—died September 3, 1658, London), English soldier and statesman, who led parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars and was lord protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1653–58) during the republican Commonwealth.
As one of the generals on the parliamentary side in the English Civil War against King Charles I, Cromwell helped to bring about the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy, and, as lord protector, he raised his country’s status once more to that of a leading European power from the decline it had gone through since the death of Queen Elizabeth I. A man of outstanding gifts and forceful character, he was one of the most remarkable rulers in modern European history. Although a convinced Calvinist, he believed deeply in the value of religious toleration. At the same time, Cromwell’s victories at home and abroad helped to enlarge and sustain a Puritan attitude of mind, both in Great Britain and in North America, that continued to influence political and social life until recent times.
When Cromwell entered Parliament (the governing body of England) in 1640, Charles I (1600–1649) had ruled England for eleven years. The king had pursued policies in religion and finance, which had disagreed with many country gentlemen, including Cromwell. Furthermore, Charles I had plunged into war with Scotland, who soundly defeated the king.
By 1642 there was no way to avoid war between the King and Parliament. At the outbreak of war in August 1642, Cromwell was assigned a small army of men. He rapidly demonstrated not only his skill as a military leader but also his ability to develop an effective army from his force of raw recruits. Under the leadership of the Earl of Manchester, Cromwell's commander, regiments from other counties were brought together as one force, known as the Eastern Association. Cromwell's reputation as Parliament's most forceful general was made in 1644 at the battle of Marston Moor (July 2, 1644). Cromwell's Ironsides defeated the cavalry (troops) of Prince Rupert, the most successful general of the royalists who fought for the king.
By 1642 there was no way to avoid war between the King and Parliament. At the outbreak of war in August 1642, Cromwell was assigned a small army of men. He rapidly demonstrated not only his skill as a military leader but also his ability to develop an effective army from his force of raw recruits. Under the leadership of the Earl of Manchester, Cromwell's commander, regiments from other counties were brought together as one force, known as the Eastern Association. Cromwell's reputation as Parliament's most forceful general was made in 1644 at the battle of Marston Moor (July 2, 1644). Cromwell's Ironsides defeated the cavalry (troops) of Prince Rupert, the most successful general of the royalists who fought for the king.
The victories in eastern England, however, were not matched by success elsewhere. After two years of war, the king was still in the field, and relations between Parliament and the army were growing sour. Many disliked the price paid for the alliance with the Scots and most longed for peace. Cromwell, however, yearned for victory. He bitterly attacked the Earl of Manchester. He soon emerged as the effective leader of the parliamentary armies. He proved his exceptional abilities as a general on June 14, 1645, when he defeated the royalists' army at Naseby in Northamptonshire. Within a year the royalist armies had surrendered.
In 1648 the royalists rose again, allied with the Scots, but in a lightning campaign, Cromwell overtook both. The Republicans were then determined to bring Charles I to trial, and Cromwell did nothing to stop them. At last, agreeing that the king was "a man of blood" and should be executed, he signed Charles I's death warrant.
The execution of the king settled nothing. Legally the House of Commons ruled, but the army, Scotland, and Ireland were soon in rebellion. In Ireland Cromwell fought a tough, bloody campaign in which he butchered thousands of soldiers at Drogheda (September 11, 1649) and hundreds of civilians at Wexford (October 11). On June 26, 1650, Cromwell finally became commander of the parliamentary armies. At Dunbar in August 1650, he was pressed between the hills and the sea and was surrounded by an army of twenty thousand Scots. But mistakes by the Scottish commander, Leslie, enabled Cromwell to seize victory. Cromwell believed this victory was the work of God.
The next year Charles II and his Scottish army made a spirited dash into England, but Cromwell overtook them at Worcester on September 3, 1651. At long last, the war was over and Cromwell realized that God's humble instrument had been given, for better or worse, supreme power.
For five years after the execution of the king, Parliament tried to formulate a new constitution. On April 20, 1653, Cromwell went with a handful of soldiers to the House of Commons, a part of Parliament. He shouted at the members, "The Lord be done with you," and ordered them out.
For a while Cromwell and his Council ruled most effectively, sweeping away ancient tribal rule in Scotland and Ireland. He then united those countries with England under one Parliament, which was itself reformed. When the Parliament met in 1654, however, it soon quarreled with Cromwell over the constitution. He once more took power into his own hands and dissolved Parliament on June 22, 1655.
From Cromwell's rule, local government was brought under major generals, soldiers whom he could trust. This infuriated many. Under a new constitution and a reestablished Parliament, Cromwell took the title, Lord Protector. This move also reestablished the House of Lords, another part of Parliament, and made Cromwell king in all but name. But Cromwell did not desire power as other great rulers had. He did not train his son Richard to be his successor, nor did he try to establish his family as a ruling dynasty. And at the height of his power, he retained his deep religious belief that he was merely an instrument of God's purpose.
Cromwell pursued an effective foreign policy. His navy enjoyed substantial success in the West Indies and he allied himself with France against Spain. These victories, combined with his effective handling of Scotland and brutal conquering of Ireland, made him a popular and powerful ruler. Shortly after his death on September 3, 1658, Cromwell's government collapsed, and the restoration of the monarchy (sole ruler) followed in 1660.
https://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Cromwell-Oliver.html#ixzz5hJL2gnj2
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell/media/143822/211377
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