Words: 1853
A Revolution, as described on an online dictionary, is “a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence” (Collins English Dictionary). It has multiple causation, whether it being a political, religious, cultural, intellectual, social, or economic short term issue. The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution were truly revolutionary events for multiple reasons. First, they succeed the Fever Model of Revolution.
The Stuart Kings coming into power had a large effect as a social causation because of he fact that they were the wrong kings coming in at the wrong time. Since being secure and protected was all that England ever knew when Queen Elizabeth I ruled, the Stuart Kings coming in as dictators was a change that England Just couldn’t become comfortable with. This was the start of the incubation stage in the Fever Model for this Revolution. Once the Stuart Kings came into power, England went into a political crisis.
The Petition of Rights and the English Bill of Rights were written and during this period there was an overall chaos involving the monarchs and the country itself. Finally, there came an era of recovery. This era completed the overall Revolution with the help of several movements and new leaders. All in all, the three stages of the Fever Model that the Glorious Revolution and English Civil war follow make them truly revolutionary. There are short term issues that lead to a crisis stage, where there is a public outrage, such as a battle.
Finally there is a resolution, and the crisis is resolved. Every Revolution must begin with a short term issue that leads to the major crisis and all of the following events that will make it truly revolutionary. In the case of the English Civil War, there was a social short term issue involving the Stuart Kings coming into power in the early sass’s. The English Civil War began in the year 1642. One of the soldiers in this war, Oliver Cromwell, became a main cause of the beginning of a crisis stage. At first, he seemed to know exactly how to reconstruct the army of the Parliament.
He did this by adding many necessary resources that they did not have prior to his becoming of a soldier and adding and getting rid of many low skilled recruits. However, once Cromwell was able to take over this army, he did not follow through with his original intentions. In the beginning it was said that e was against the king, however instead of being on the parliament’s side of this tug of war he decided to play neither side and go against both the king and the parliament. The authority of the Parliament became powerful over the entire kingdom, but then things for them went terribly wrong. While the Houses were employing their authority thus, it suddenly passed out of their hands. It had been obtained by calling into existence of power which could not be controlled…. Thirteen years followed, during which England was, under various names and forms, really governed by the sword. Never, before that, or since that time, was the civil power in our country subjected to military dictation” (McCauley, Thomas). Now, because neither the Parliament or the king had power of England anymore, Oliver Cromwell had access to becoming the official dictator.
This was a short term issue of the being a revolution, had a short term issue that led to crisis as well. At this time, the Anglican Church and a new Parliament was formed. All of the Puritans and Catholics were forced to Join the Anglican Church, making England a protestant country. The new Parliament created The Test Act, making it so that all puritan and catholic people loud not have Jobs in the local governments. This made it even more likely for those who were not protestant to convert to the religion. King Charles II, however, was a catholic king. Therefore, he was opposed to The Test Acts.
Because of this, he drafted the Declaration of Indulgence. This Declaration would make all of the laws of the Test Acts invalid once it was passed. However, it was not put into effect until King James II became king after the death of Charles II. This was because “in 1673, Parliament forced Charles to withdraw the Indulgence and accept a Test Act excluding all Catholics from office, and in 1674 to end the Dutch war. The Test Act broke up the Cabal, while Saboteur, who had learned the truth about the treaty, assumed the leadership of the opposition” (King Charles II).
Once King James II became king, the disagreement between him and the Parliament would soon lead into a gruesome battle between the two, bringing the situation to a crisis. The English Civil War consisted of several battles that lead to the crisis stage of this revolution. King Charles l, who ruled at this time, believed in the divine right of kings and thought that e could rule by making his own decisions and not asking for any other opinions. His subjects however, were opposed to this.
For example, “the laws are craved by his subjects, and only made by him at their [proposal] and with their advice, for albeit the king make daily statutes and ordinances, [imposing] such pains thereto as he thinks [fit], without any advice of parliament or estates, yet it lies in the power of no parliament to make any kind of law or statute, without his scepter [that is, authority] be to it, for giving it the force of law… ” (Brother, G. W. ). This earned him the title of an absolute monarch. In 1642, King Charles I fought English and Scottish parliaments.
He was defeated however in 1645 and surrendered to the Scottish parliament. He was eventually turned over to the English parliament but refused to make England a constitutional monarchy. Parliament then raged war against the king. Oliver Cromwell was a great help to the parliament in this war and because of this alliance, they were able to capture Charles I in 1646. This capture led to King Charles I execution in 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a republic was formed later when William and Mary took the throne. The Glorious Revolution also overcame a crisis stage.
After the Parliaments Test Acts, the majority of England’s common peoples were protestant. This is why England was not fond of another catholic King, James II, becoming ruler. When King James Sis’s wife gave birth too male heir who was baptized as catholic, seven English lords invited William and Mary to England to rule as dual monarchs to stop the Kings son from becoming the new monarch. When William and Mary invaded England, it was surprising that war did not break out. However, civil war was extremely probable. Instead, William and Mary met no assistance and were able to invade London easily.
They had strong support from the Whig political party, however the Tory party were more in favor of King James II at first. The Tories view changed, however, because of their support for the Protestant Anglican Church. “The Tories were believers in strong royal authority, the right of them to be loyal to James and resist a claim to the throne by William. The Tories were also, however, staunch supporters of the Protestant Anglican Church of England, and the pro-Catholic policies of James II undoubtedly weakened Tory loyalty for him” (The
Glorious Revolution and The English Bill of Rights). With this, The Glorious Revolution was one step closer to recovery. Finally, the English Civil War began a recovery stage, as there were many results following the English Civil War. The first being the execution of King Charles l. Because of his execution, parliament faced a large change. Since King Charles I was the only one stopping England from not becoming Presbyterian, there was no possibility for a England to convert to this religion after his death. And so, all of the Presbyterian members of Parliament were removed.
Because of this, the Rump Parliament was formed. They decided that England would then be an official republic and soon return to being a constitutional monarchy. Although some may argue that the English Civil War is not truly a revolution, the short term issues were followed by crises that were eventually resolved. Therefore, this completes the Fever Model of a Revolution which supports the fact that this event was truly revolutionary. The Glorious Revolution was overcome with a convalescence, or, a recovery stage, as well.
Because of the Tories liking to the Anglican Church, both the Whig and The Tories were supporters of William and Mary for the throne. With both Whig and Tory support, the transfer of power was surprisingly smooth. Since the revolution was relatively bloodless and widely supported, it came to be known in England as glorious” (The Glorious Revolution and The English Bill of Rights). When William and Mary became the rulers of England, they officially enacted the English Bill of Rights in 1789. This permitted Parliament to make laws and collect taxes.
Not only this, but The English Bill of Rights made it so that Kings couldn’t do so without the consent of Parliament. Citizens also began to see a great increase in rights, for instance, a law in the Bill of Rights was that it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal” (English Bill of Rights). The English Bill of Rights allowed William and Mary to create the government that they had been in search of and not only restore, but improve the great monarchy that they had once been so accustomed to. The Glorious Revolution was short, ending the following year. Yet, it paved the way for the Acts of Union in 1707, readying the country for the Industrial Revolution and the building of the British Empire” (The Impact of the Glorious Revolution on the Church Of England). One can argue that this did not resolve all the problems of the Glorious Revolution, which is right. However, this revolution paved the way for many other changes that would also benefit the country in the future and solve all of the problems that the Glorious Revolution was unable to fix.
Also, within this short amount of time, the Glorious Revolution gave solutions to problems within the government, which at the time was all that was necessary. In conclusion, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution were truly revolutionary events, as supported by all of the numerous examples presented. Also, based on The Fever Model of a Revolution, every revolution has a stage where a short term issue begins, followed by a crisis stage, and finally, a resolution. Both the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution followed this cycle.