The Civil Wars

The Civil Wars offers a powerful new assessment of the conflict that engulfed the kingdoms ruled by Charles I after 1638. Written by an international team of nine distinguished historians, it focuses on the Wars not simply as an English conflict, but as a related series of civil wars fought within and between England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland during the 1940s. It explains why Charles I lost the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms", and how the English parliament reduced Ireland and Scotland to its authority after 1649. Elegantly written and beautifully illiustrated, this fascinating new work provides an indispensable guide to one of the most defining periods of British history. Features of this work: Beautifully illustrated with 41 half tones and 10 maps Views the civil wars as a British and Irish phenomenon rather than merely an English one Covers not only the military and political aspects of the civil wars in England, Scotland, and Ireland, but also subjects such as sieges, logistics, naval operations, and the effects of the wars on the people of that period Additional material includes notes to all chapters, a select bibliography providing a guide to further study, a full index complementing the text, and a useful chronology highlighting the main events in the civil wars and their inter-relationships a scholarly text written in a style which is accessible to the general reader "a collection of considerable value ... handsomely produced and illustrated ... a very useful compendium of the present state of knowledge concerning the topics that it treats" -- Austin Woolrych, TLS "a strong collection on which much effort has been expended to provide good value for money" -- Newton E. Key, The Journal of Military History "the contributions to this volume are consistently scholarly as well as accessible to the general reader ... this collection is an indispensable treatment of a complex and immensely important subject for an understanding of British history" -- W. B. Patterson, Sixteenth Century Journal John Kenyon, prior to his unexpected death in January 1996, had retired from his position as the Joyce & Elizabeth Hall Distinguished Professor in Early Modern British History at the University of Kansas. Jane Ohlmeyer is Professor in Irish History at the University of Aberdeen.