English Civil War: Cavaliers, Roundheads & Cromwell

• Cavaliers or Royalists were the allies of Charles I.
• Parliamentarians or Roundheads sided with the Parliament
• Oliver Cromwell led the Roundheads to defeat the Cavaliers
• Cromwell's army imprisoned the king after attempting to destroy the agreement with Charles I.
• The government was seized.
• Charles I was accused, convicted, and beheaded.
• England was declared a free country without a king or master after the death of Charles I.
• Cromwell became Lord Protector of England in 1653.
• Cromwell, despite being a Puritan, became a dictator because he ignored the wishes of his close allies and enacted measures that limited joy.
• With Cromwell's death, there was no leader to succeed him.
• Charles II, the son of Charles I, returned to England and ruled in 1660.
• The Restoration period began under Charles II's rule.
• Charles II allowed rejoicing at the start of his reign.
• Charles II wanted to bring back the Catholic religion and the power of the monarchy.
• Old issues with religion and royal oppression resurfaced.
• People divided again after the reign of Charles II.
• The Whig party favored the Parliament, while the Tory party favored the power of the king.
• The Whig party was defeated, and Charles II gradually gained control of the government.
• James II, a follower of the Catholic Church, replaced Charles II after his death in 1685.
• James II flaunted his contempt for Parliament and overt support for the Church.
• Another revolution occurred in England because of the fear of losing freedom again.
• James II was overthrown by the English without a fight in 1688.
• His Protestant daughter, Mary II, and her spouse, William III, took his place.

French Revolution

• The Estates-General, which represented the three social groupings of the feudal era, was founded in 1789.
• Members of the Church made up the First Estate.
• The Second Estate was composed of "blue bloods" and nobles.
• Commoners were in the Third Estate.
• Representatives were elected to the three estates.
• Two states always outnumber the other.
• Louis XVI rejected the proposal of the Estates-General and ordered the hall be locked to halt the meetings.
• The members of the National Assembly moved to a nearby tennis court and swore an oath not to quit until they had drafted a constitution.
• Bourgeois joined the majority over time, frightening the King.
• When the two states were destroyed in 1789, the National Assembly was formed.
• Louis XVI deployed soldiers to Paris to reclaim his power.
• Parisians believed it was a preparation for civil war, therefore townspeople and soldiers abandoned the King.
• The prisoners were freed, and the strongholds were burned until the people finally conquered it on July 14, 1789.
• This inspired the French to revolt.
• Louis XVI attempted but failed to negotiate with the National Assembly.
• They demolished the symbols of suffering and destroyed the feudal castles.
• Public works were halted, and government officials resigned.
• There was complete anarchy at the period.
• In 1791, the National Assembly established a new constitution with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
• Other monarchs feared the events in France that could similarly happen to them, so they allied to reverse the existing regimes.
• They aimed to extend their revolution as a humanitarian effort to other regions as it became ablaze.
• "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" was their slogan.
• In 1792, French declared war with Austria, who then suffered their first setbacks.
• Jacobins, a political club founded in 1789 instigated the French Revolution.
• It was headed by George Danton, and the king's authority was used to form a 700-member legislature.
• In 1792, the National Convention was held.
• It proclaimed the abolition of monarchy and the commencement of its legislature.
• Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were apprehended by the people in 1792, tried, and beheaded.
• Royal power in France came to an end.
• It indicated that the French Revolution was in its second phase.
• In 1792, the French First Republic was formed.
• A dictatorial government led by a small group known as the Committee of Public Safety was also established.
• Their lives were challenging since the crisis worsened. A new constitution was formed in 1795, establishing a republic led by a five-member committee known as the Directory.
• Due to its weakness, the Directory's administration was ineffective and lacked public support.