1640-60: ROLE OF NMA

Question 1

line of arg

Answer 1

Their radicalism forced charles and parliament into greater opponents who could not reconcile → they exploited the situation of disharmony and cause Parl to take action against the king

• the army were a powerful force, who helped in many occasions (battles to protect England from external and internal threats), thus gave them a reason to demand for changes, like religious toleration and army pay.

Question 2

-ve actions of NMA

Answer 2

1. (also politicisation): NMA seize the King, June 1647:George Joyce was a Cornet (lowest ranking of an army officer) kidnapped the King- shows the lack of respect and growing power of NMA and their involvement in politics
2. Pride’s purge: 6 Dec ‘48
   → (after revoke of no addresses) NMA scared of losing all influence and power so Colonel Pride + NMA stopped 180 MPs entering parl
   → leading to few MPs left-70- (pro-reg ish Rump Parl)
   → this led to trial and execution of Charles I

Question 3

politicisation of the NMA

Answer 3

1. The Solemn Engagement of the Army, May 1647: this marked the politicisation of the army- they actively opposed the PolPresbyts and had made their own agreement→ mainly because soldiers fears ebing disbanded before being paid and NMA’s ally (the independents) were offended by the terms of PolPresbyts settlements (NewcastleProp and Declarationofdislike) too lenient to the king\
   → NMA had also been radicalised by Parl, w/ their attempt to disband the army and their Newcastle Props which did not include the NMA grievances and when they revoked the vote of no addresses
2. The Heads of the Proposals, July 1647: (drafted by Ireton)was NMA’s plan for a post-war settlement- was another example of how the army was politicised, w/ rules in this like ‘Parl controlling militia for 10 years’– NMA also seized london in Aug 1647 to get MPs to sign HoP – the longer Charles avoided picking a settlement, the more radical +political the army got: in The Case of the Army, Truly Stated, Oct 1647: the main group within the army- levellers- starting positing that ‘all free-born Englishmen over the age of 21 should vote’

Question 4

religious radicalism of the NMA

Answer 4

1. victory in the Second Civil War (1648) was further justification that the New Model Army was ‘God’s Instrument’. It came to be popularly believed that they were being guided by Providence – the concept that their actions were sanctioned by divine authority: e.g. soldiers would regularly preach to each other, spreading ever more radical ideas throughout the ranks; the Army’s physical separation from the rest of society reinforced the image of their own ‘Godliness’ and helped to raise morale;
   → Also the rank and file were politicised by the levellers and spread their ideas of ‘freeborn rights’ through the Grandees to Parl, reinforcing the reasons for the civil war and that charles needs to be held accountable- ‘that man of blood’ (said at Windsor Prayer meeting april 1648)
   → Millenarianism had taken ahold of many in NMA, leading them to feel something needed to be done with charles

Question 5

+ve actions of NMA

Answer 5

1. Successful intervention in Scotland and Ireland to suppress threats:
   → Siege of Drogheda (sept ‘49- OC and NMA killed 3,500)
   → siege of Wexford (Oct ‘49- OC and NMA killed 1,500 Irish troops)
   → Battle of Dunbar (sept ‘50- Scots had 22,000 and England only 11,000, but NMA still won
   → Battle of Worcester (sept ‘51- 3,000 royalists killed, only 300 Parliamentarians)

Question 6

-ve of army: 1659

Answer 6

1. Reason for failure of 3PP: Jan-April ‘59
   → RC could not control the army + their demands.
2. Lambert (head of NMA): forcibly dissolving the rump: 14th oct ‘59
   → wrote the Darby petition (to increase army power EG)
   → set up the Committee of Safety- this made it obvious that the army opposed the Rump and made it harder for political stability to be a possibility