The executioner lifted the severed head and presented it to the excited crowd. Thus Charles I, King of England, had ended his life on the block; the mob rejoiced. Many understood that they were witnessing the beginning of a new era that would drastically change the English outlook on life and divide the country into two camps, that of the and that of the adherents of Parliament. The nobility were preparing a blow in return for the death of their king, which could not go unavenged. They anticipated their victory with pleasure. Soon they would meet their enemies and saturate their blades with the blood of these rebels. Their enemy, the parliamentary army, was not made up of professional soldiers. It was said to consist instead of decrepit footmen, innkeepers and rabble. The outcome of the war seemed predetermined. And yet it all went quite differently. The parliamentarian troops were headed by Oliver Cromwell, who managed to create a new army. Not only did he assemble armed people and train them, but he also created the very monolith against which the old military system of England would break apart, and from whose foundations a new system would arise, capable of conquering other nations and shattering any enemy.

The government under Tudor rule had adhered to a policy promoting the development of capitalism. However, a number of mistakes made by Charles I resulted in the inevitable fall of the customs supported by his predecessors in the bloody battles of the civil war.

The uprising in Scotland in 1637 and 1638 and the ensuing war, during which the Scottish nobility and middle classes together fought for their independence, proved a stepping stone to yet another fratricidal war. The situation became even more aggravated by the national insurrection in Ireland that began in October, 1641. King of England Charles I was forced to leave London.

On August 22nd, 1642, in Nottingham, the king's colour was raised solemnly. This meant that war had been declared on Parliament under the pretext of suppressing the "rebellion of the Earl of Essex", who was in command of the parliamentary army. In this war, Parliament intended to protect the gains of the revolution from the attempts of the king and his supporters to restore the already obsolete social and political order to the country.