English Civil War - the Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643

The Civil Wars in the seventeenth century were caused by many issues, created by mistakes that King Charles I made in his reign.

Adwalton Moor was a great battle in this mass series of conflicts and so I have chosen to assess this battle. It occurred in 1643 and was between the Cavaliers, who were also known as the Royalists, and the Round Heads, who were also known as the Parliamentarians.

The Royalists were supported by the Catholics, and were on King Charles' side of the conflicts, with the majority of support from rich/middle class citizens. While the Parliamentarians were on the side of the Protestants, Puritans and Parliaments; and the majority of the commons supported them.

The Battle of Adwalton Moor, occurred because the Royalists (who were in favour, generally, across the North of England,) wanted to expand their power and land over Britain by attacking Bradford, hoping the Parliamentarians would surrender. But the Parliamentarians thought it was best to have a battle, rather than being captured at Bradford and so met them at Adwalton Moor.

The Royalists had 10 000 men, the majority of them were from the upper class of England. They were exquisitely dressed; with long hair, a feather hat, and iron breast and back plate, sword and a calibre supporting a gun. While the Parliamentarians were dully dressed with an iron back and breast plate, pot helmet, leather coat, an iron gaulet protecting the right arm and stand to support the musket when firing. But the Parliamentarians did have to wait 2-3 minutes after firing to re-load the musket, this is a major disadvantage, but they dodged this issue brilliantly, as in the battle, when defending, stood in rows behind each other, and so the first line would fire, and bend to reload, and while reloading, the second row behind them would fire, and so on, meaning there was continuous firing all the time.

Overall,