What Were Some of the Outcomes of the English Civil War?
Some of the outcomes of the English Civil War were the end of the personal-rule monarchy, the establishment of a commonwealth government and the rise of Oliver Cromwell to a leadership role that is often viewed as resembling a military dictatorship. One of the consequences of the war was Cromwell’s campaign against Catholics and Royalists in Ireland and the confiscation of their lands to pay off the debts of the English Parliament, a long-lasting historical memory that has helped fuel Irish and English strife into modern times. Although the monarchy was restored in 1660 by the ascension of the Stuart dynasty to the throne 2 years after Cromwell’s death, an additional and key outcome of the English Civil War was that it established the principle of an English king requiring Parliamentary consent in order to govern.
The factions engaged in the conflict during the English Civil War were the Royalist supporters of the Charles I monarchy and their opponents, the Parliamentarians, who sought to limit the power of the king and establish a republican form of government. The Parliamentarians were the victors in the struggle, and Charles I was executed in 1649 for crimes against his subjects.
The primary legacy of the war was that it redefined the roles of both the monarchy and Parliament in English government. The parliamentary-monarchy form of government that was established in the second half of the 1600s is considered to be one of the reasons why England never experienced a monarchy-ending revolution similar to those that later swept across Europe in the 18th century.
