Why Charles Lost The Civil War?

Question 1

Resourcing issues?

Answer 1

Charles had access to gold silver and cash due to being king. Howver parliament had access to long term finance with ordinances on foodstuffs which brought consistent revenue.

Contorl of ports - parliament had control and stopped Charles plan to use pirates to secure resources from France

Control of natural resources - 2 main armouries controlled by parliament and access to more coal and gunpowder

Parliament contorl of London so got tax from 350,000 people - 70% of of their tax

As parliament took more land they had access to more natural resources.

Question 2

Strategic errors

Answer 2

Failure to take London on 2 occasions due to being outnumbered 2 to 1, may not have held it anyway due to parliamentary support in London

Charles parliament in oxford so only collected taxes successfully from Oxfordshire whereas Westminster had the legitimacy of authority

Failed alliances - Charles got 2k of 22k Irish troops which were poorly trained and easily defeated whereas parliment got alliances that gave them 20,000 well trained troops along the Scottish border

Failure to take London meant Charles could not form a legitimate government to raise taxes and form a constant income to aid his war effort

Question 3

Leadership and organisation

Answer 3

Poor misjudgments like going to dinner at Marston Moor because he was assured parliament would be in bed or at the First Battle of Newbury when he made the mistake of raiding and looting parliamentary supplies too early

Charles advisory camp was split between moderates and radicals which caused tensions and issues with decision making

Rupert initially brought experience from the 30 years war and won early battles however parliament copied his military tactics which levelled the playing field.

The NMA was a major contrast to Charles underfed and poorly trained army.

Earls of manchester and Essex failed to win in 1642. However 45 leading lights of parliamentary command including the earl of Manchester defected to Charles side due to conflict with Cromwell. Parliament realigned its leadership and organisation of new and dynamic troops after this which Charles never did.

Leadership and organisation were similar for the first 18 months but after that Charles did not alter his camp in any way. n