A Brief History of the English Civil Wars: Roundheads, Cavaliers and the Execution of the King

by John Leslie Miller

'The English Civil War' is one of the most hotly contested areas of English History and John Miller is one of the experts on the period. Amid dramatic accounts of the key battles and confrontations, Miller explores what triggered the initial conflict between crown and parliament and how this was played out in England, Scotland and Ireland in the lead-up to war. As the war developed, personalities and innovations on the battlefield became increasingly important, culminating in the rise of Oliver Cromwell and the radical New Model Army. The wars changed the political, social, religious and intellectual landscape of the country for ever. Using a lifetime's knowledge and study on the period, John Miller brings this extraordinary turning point in British history to life.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, British Literature, Politics

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2009

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really well done.
I learned quite a bit and the sources were solid.

[Emerson Stokes · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a brief history of a marriage of wars, this book is not beginner-friendly to the period. Despite being about two wars, the “war” part of the book is basically restricted to a few pages of the book where some battles are essentially summarized by going “and then the royalist forces lost at this place because they screwed up”. One does not get any idea of what it would have been like to have lived through the period aside from the chapter dedicated to the treatment that English armies gave to civilians and their authorities. Instead, the book goes in-depth about the political/religious debates to the point where even I’d say that it’s all too minute. Even with this focus on politics and religion, you hardly get to know any of the personalities that led this period aside from maybe Charles I. Reading this book, one may have suspected that Oliver Cromwell simply rose from the earth one day as an agent of chaos to bring havoc to the British Isles. Overall, this book wasn’t what I hoped it would be: a brief history that could serve as an introduction to the English Civil Wars.

[zed · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too dense for a Brief History. Seemed to lack a chronological focus.

[Tom Oldale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of this book clearly knows the subject very well and because of that, the book is a decent introduction to the very complex events leading up to and including the civil wars.

The last two chapters are well written, interesting and informative but before that, the book is I feel unnecessarily complex in terms of sentence structure and choice of chronology.

The book jumps backwards and forwards to dates and people and in a lot of cases especially with the religious side, doesn’t fully get across the complexity of the different parties involved and what their beliefs and aspirations were. For this reason, very often I felt myself confused as to which side different organisations and people were on.

The civil wars were clearly a very complex period of time and I’m afraid the authors writing style, which I believe is slightly too academic for the average history reader, doesn’t make the period as accessible as I would have hoped.

The book is a good start for anyone wanting to know more about the English Civil Wars but it won’t always captivate and interest you as much as I would have liked.

[Feltboots · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise overview which is what I wanted as my starting point to learn about this complex period in English history.

[Harooon · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Miller's book is meant as an introduction to the English Civil Wars, one which elides a bit of historiographical cruft in favour of a swift, unencumbered outline of the topic. Though his writing style is crisp and readable, the structure of this book was a bit too slapdash. It jumps back and forth repeatedly, making it hard to establish a timeline of events. Characters enter and exit without fanfare. While the importance of King James -- and something of his proud personality -- is gotten across, Cromwell (for instance) just appears without any explanation as to who he is or how he wound up in his position.

There is too much focus on the political and religious divisions surrounding the conflict. As far as I can tell, this is John Miller's specialty - he edited a good collection of essays about the varieties of absolutist monarchy across Europe, and this book has occasional fascinating insights into how the early parliaments worked. Did you know that calling for an individual vote was disliked and disfavoured until the mid/late 1600s? It was considered a divisive, partisan action. MPs preferred to revise and compromise legislation until it could pass by an obvious, audible majority.

This book describes little about English economics, culture, society, and warfare of England. That made it hard to contextualize any of the political maneouvring. The military events of the two civil wars themselves barely total 5 pages! If you already have some sketchy knowledge of this time period - or you want a refresher - this might be a decent read to fill things in, but I cannot recommend it as a general introduction for those ignoramuses such as myself who know little to nothing about the time period.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really poor. The introduction styles the book as a short introduction to a complex topic but the paragraphs are long and winding, assumptions of knowledge on the part of the reader everywhere and denseness laid on with a trowel. Cromwell appears suddenly halfway through with no context as to his background and there is no respite from Miller’s nit picking and tedious descriptions of the political machinations of the era. The author doesn’t get off to a good start by remarking cynically on ‘political correctness’ in the introduction and this is simply a fusty, dull entry point to a series of events. Perhaps only the Scot-Irish angle to the conflict is better explained – the parachuting in of Protestant settlers to Ulster in the decades leading up to the Civil War is hugely relevant for how events unfolded.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Miller's contribution to this Brief History series doesn't make the most promising of starts. For the first half of the book we are presented with only an intermittently brief account. A particular tax or policy receives lengthy elaboration and, as soon as this subject is settled, a major battle is barely awarded two paragraphs. The later chapters in the book are significantly easier to follow, and it is here that the reader gains an appreciation for Miller's ability to disentangle the complexity of the English Civil Wars. To present this subject in 200 pages is an admirable effort. It's a shame I can't revisit the past and tell my 2016 self, who's about to read Antonia Fraser's 750-page treatment of the same subject, to start with the Miller version.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers the first Civil War in surprising good and clear detail but the second Civil War (though not as large as the first) was I feel slightly rushed over. I enjoyed the pace of the book and all major players (except Cromwell), were well covered. I was again surprised that Cromwell was not more prominent within the book, but he was largely left in the background which was I think an oversight. I would recommend the book as at just 211 pages it provides good detail that will make you wish to read more about this important period of English history.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an good introduction to the complex history of the Civil War in 17th Century England and takes nothing away from the complexity of the chronology and of events. In some respects this is the books fault - the detailed outline weaves back and forth in the time line and discusses the many varied and changing priorities of the different interest groups. Nevertheless its a great and manageable primer for a much understudied period in British history.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

really difficult subject to keep so concise. Well written and a great place to start for a new reader in the area

[Richard Worden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights to a period of English history.

[Nick Silverman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It makes a lot of judgements without citing any sources including specific words and intentions of key individuals at the time (not least the king and the entire Catholic population of Ireland).

[Matthew Culley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the English Civil Wars of the mid 17th Century.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what I needed, not an in-depth work but a help to understand what led to the beheading of Charles I.

[Callie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

👍 Brief

👎 Kinda boring

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite what I expected - lots of heavy details I wanted more battles, chronology of the war. Was interesting, so will have to go elsewhere for the details I wanted.

[Mohammed Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off a bit dull but things got interesting later on in the story,it’s crazy how 10 years changed this country so much.Enjoyable and I would recommend it if you’re interested in history and how the monarchy in this country changed.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book about a very confusing topic. The constantly changing alliances and passions, strategy & tactics, schemes & scams made it difficult to follow who was screwing who in any given week between 1642 and the regicide. And King Charles himself was usually the worst of all. His martyr complex, combined with what appeared to be an overt death wish, made me pity anybody who had to deal with him well before the first year of the "brief history" was finished. I can only recommend this book to friends who genuinely want to invest the effort to understand this period in history.

[Peter Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read with plenty of intriguing stories and unknown events for someone with a passing interest in history like myself. Unfortunately I found a general lack of focus on too many protagonists and an occasional lapse into a "and then this happened" narrative style, made the book much harder work than it could've been.

[Helen Damnation · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview for the beginner.

[Stevie Carroll · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a lot of useful information in this book, although I found the style very hard going. In my opinion it could have done with some heavy editing to the structure of many sentences.

[Johanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Factual, as the title suggests largely based on England, but puts together a clear overview of events

[Timothy Stead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, readable and succinct introduction to the English Civil Wars. I have to say that I have never read a bad book in this series yet.

[Christopher Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a little diamond on this subject