1.6.2 Role of the army - 1648-1688

Question 1

What was going within the Army during 1649

Answer 1

growing radicalism

Question 2

What 2 evidence shows Army radicalism and its influence in 1648

Answer 2

1) Remonstrance 20 Nov = charles must be brought to justice. He deliberatly renewed the war in 1648 and so betrayed the tust of his ppl in the eyes of God
2) 5 DECE 1648 PRIDE’S PURGE. soldiers with Irenton’s say so, surrounded commons. 186 MPs are excluded (those who supported negotiations) 45 arrested (promoting discussions with the king)

Question 3

The Rump relied on the army which it need to supress threats from who and where and why?

Answer 3

monarchists in Scotland and Ireland and Levellers in England =Charles II King of Scotland’s invasion in 1651 at the Battle of Worcester

Question 4

Financial problems and the needing for a large standing army meant?

Answer 4

Control of the army and the cost of its maintenance provoked much fear in many parts of the Kingdom

2) high taxation. Began to sell of crown lands but wars(Ireland in 1649, Scotland in 1651 and Dutch 1652-54) meant a shortfall in revenue by 1653 = Divisions

Question 5

What did cromwell impose that was too unpopular?

Answer 5

centralised military rule over the entire country which he had divided into 11 military Districts each under the command of a major general who was responsible for local government and encouraging the reformation of manners and social stability.

Question 6

Why was major generals unpopular (3)

Answer 6

1) Outside of traditional powers and it became like a dictator ship
2) resentment of military interference in civilian administration
3) the imposition of the Decimation Tax (1655) ( decimation tax, a 10% income tax levied on Royalists. This was justified on the grounds that the cost of the militia was directly due to the existence of the Royalists.)

Question 7

What part did the army play in the failure of the third protectorate parliament 1659?

Answer 7

Richard lacked support within the army = the unwillingness of the Army to support him brought about the conditions for the Restoration

Council of Offices (army) who forced him to resign and then recalled the Rump 1659

Question 8

THE RUMP 1659 FAILURE AND THE ROLE of GENERAL MONCK

Answer 8

Minority ruling + REINFORCED DISUNITY between army and parliament

= General George Monck who had fought for the royalists in the civil war but later for Cromwell in the wars against the Scotch and the Dutch. Marched to London to restore a free Parliament on the understanding that the ultimate outcome would be the restoration of the Stuarts

Question 9

OVERALL?

Answer 9

• army’s decision that Charles I should be put on trial
• Pride’s Purge of conservative MPs in December 1648
• aim of the army to impose radical religious reform
• divisions between Parliament and the army
• Rump failed to achieve stability because, in the absence of reliable support, it relied on a standing army that was costly and alienated the political nation
• The unpopular rule of the Major-Generals (1655-56) failed to stabilise Republican government, e.g. resentment of military interference in civilian administration and the imposition of the Decimation Tax (1655)
• The role of General George Monck in ending the Protectorate and paving the way for a restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1659–60.