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94-696: The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War , then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms in that members were liable for service anywhere in the country, rather than being limited to a single area or garrison . To establish

188-495: A pot helmet , back- and breastplates over a buff coat, and often also armoured tassets to protect the upper legs. They carried a sixteen-foot pike, and a sword. The heavily burdened pikeman usually dictated the speed of the Army's movement. They were frequently ordered to discard the tassets, and individual soldiers were disciplined for sawing a foot or two from the butts of their pikes, although senior officers were recommended to make

282-526: A Regiment of Foot) was appointed Lieutenant General of the Ordnance. The establishment of the New Model also included at least two companies of "firelocks" or fusiliers , who wore " tawny coats" instead of red, commanded initially by Major John Desborough . The artillery was used to most effect in sieges , where its role was to blast breaches in fortifications for the infantry to assault. Cromwell and

376-622: A Scottish invasion force at the Battle of Preston in August. Many of the Army's radicals now called for the execution of the King, whom they called " Charles Stuart, that man of blood ". The majority of the Grandees realised that they could neither negotiate a settlement with Charles I, nor trust him to refrain from raising another army to attack them, so they came reluctantly to the same conclusion as

470-418: A cost of £122,000 paid out of his regular budget. This became the foundation of the permanent British Army. By 1685 it had grown to 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, and 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons. The Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 provided James II with a pretext to increase the size of the force to 20,000 men, and there were 37,000 in 1688, when England played a role in the closing stage of

564-599: A difference existed between regular troops and a militia force, if I not witnessed the scenes of this day." Self-denying Ordinance The Self-denying Ordinance was passed by the English Parliament on 3 April 1645. All members of the House of Commons or Lords who were also officers in the Parliamentary army or navy were required to resign one or the other, within 40 days from 3 April 1645. It

658-636: A discharge bounty upon 25 years of honorable service; supplementing the legions were the auxilia , auxiliary forces composed of non-citizens in the provinces who typically earned citizenship as a reward for service. The first modern standing armies on European soil during the Middle Ages were the Janissaries of the Ottoman Empire , which were formed in the 14th century under Sultan Murad I . The first Christian standing army since

752-498: A faction of them avoided engagements with the Cavalier forces, hoping that reconciliation with King Charles I was still possible. The Earl of Manchester, perhaps the most prominent of these, expressed his pessimism for the war as follows: "If we beat the King ninety and nine times yet he is king still, and so will his posterity be after him; but if the King beat us once, we shall be all hanged, and our posterity be made slaves". As

846-590: A group that included moderates like Sir William Waller as well as radicals like Cromwell. In December 1644, Sir Henry Vane introduced the Self-denying Ordinance , requiring those holding military commissions to resign from Parliament. As members of the House of Lords , Manchester and Essex were automatically removed, since unlike MPs they could not resign their titles, although they could be re-appointed, 'if Parliament approved.' Although delayed by

940-467: A heavy price at Clonmel when Cromwell ordered them to attack a well-defended breach. The New Model did not use tents, instead being quartered in whatever buildings (houses, barns etc.) were available, until they began to serve in the less populated areas of the countries of Ireland and Scotland. In 1650, their tents were each for six men, a file, who carried the tents in parts. In campaigns in Scotland,

1034-571: A large standing army, comparing it, mischievously, to a standing penis : "An excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure." After the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814, during the War of 1812 , in which the Maryland and Virginia militias were soundly defeated by the British Army, President James Madison commented, "I could never have believed so great

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1128-520: A lower rank. Essex and Manchester raised objections to around 30% of those on the list, for reasons that are still debated, but ultimately only five changes were approved. In addition, several Scots officers refused to take up their appointments, including John Middleton , originally colonel of the Second Regiment of Horse. The standard daily pay was 8 pence for infantry and 2 shillings for cavalry, who also had to supply their own horses, while

1222-889: A night attack on 13 May, in which several mutineers perished, but Captain Thompson escaped, only to be killed in another skirmish near the Diggers community at Wellingborough . The rest were imprisoned in Burford Church until three were shot in the Churchyard on 17 May. Later that year, on 15 August 1649, the New Model Army landed in Ireland to start the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland . At Kilkenny, in March 1650,

1316-651: A professional officer corps, the army's leaders were prohibited from having seats in either the House of Lords or House of Commons . This was to encourage their separation from the political or religious factions among the Parliamentarians. The New Model Army was raised partly from among veteran soldiers who already had deeply held Puritan religious beliefs, and partly from conscripts who brought with them many commonly held beliefs about religion or society. Many of its common soldiers therefore held dissenting or radical views unique among English armies. Although

1410-538: A slow death, as did the New Model Army. For a time, in 1659, it appeared that factions of the New Model army forces loyal to different generals might wage war on each other. Regiments garrisoned in Scotland under the command of General Monck were marched to London to ensure the security of the capital prior to the Restoration , without significant opposition from the regiments under other generals, particularly those led by Charles Fleetwood and John Lambert . Following

1504-711: A standing army to Parliament, not the king. In his influential work The Wealth of Nations (1776), economist Adam Smith comments that standing armies are a sign of modernizing society, as modern warfare requires the increased skill and discipline of regularly trained standing armies. In the British Thirteen Colonies in America, there was a strong distrust of a standing army not under civilian control. The U.S. Constitution in ( Article 1, Section 8 ) limits federal appropriations to two years, and reserves financial control to Congress, instead of to

1598-671: A standing army. Instead they drafted militias from around 150 city states. While the Eastern Zhao did not initially maintain a standing army, the state of Jin became the first to do so in 678 BCE. The first professional army in China was established by the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE, which ushered Imperial China. Under the Qin dynasty, wars were fought by trained vocational soldiers instead of relying on temporary soldiers. In Ancient India , warfare

1692-415: A substitute is immediately supplied and the number again filled. Thousands of these 10,000 guardsmen composed the royal bodyguards in the palace, their insignia were golden apples or pomegranates at the butts of their spears (accordingly they are named “apple-bearers” by Heraclides Cumaeus ). In ancient Greece , the city-states' ( poleis ) armies were essentially drafted citizen militias. The exception

1786-468: Is generally agreed that Fairfax, himself a moderate Presbyterian, sought to achieve a balance, while Essex and Manchester tried to remove those they viewed as unsuitable. What is debated is whether they did so for military reasons, favouring the retention of established officer cadres, or to eliminate personal enemies and those considered too radical. Ultimately they failed and Fairfax successfully achieved his objective. The Oxford English Dictionary dated

1880-513: The Battle of the Dunes (1658) , as part of Turenne 's army, the red-coats of the New Model Army under the leadership of Sir William Lockhart , Cromwell's ambassador at Paris, astonished both their French allies and Spanish enemies by the stubborn fierceness with which they advanced against a strongly defended sandhill 50 metres (160 ft) high. After Cromwell died, the Protectorate died

1974-674: The Songhai Empire under the Askia Mohammad I (1493–1528) possessed a full-time corps of 40,000 professional warriors. Al-Sa'di, the chronicler who wrote the Tarikh al-Sudan , compared Askia Mohammad I's army to that of his predecessor; "he distinguished between the civilian and the army unlike Sunni Ali [1464–92] when everyone was a soldier." Askia Mohammad I is said to have possessed cynical attitudes towards kingdoms that lacked professional armies like his, notably in reference to

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2068-489: The 16th century to the first half of the 17th century. Although other powers adopted the tercio formation, their armies fell short of the fearsome reputation of the Spanish, whose core of professional soldiers gave them an edge that was hard for other states to match. Prior to the influence of Oliver Cromwell , England lacked a standing army, instead relying on militia organized by local officials, private forces mobilized by

2162-572: The Army or send them to fight in Ireland without addressing the issue of back pay. Secondly, the Long Parliament refused to grant the soldiers amnesty from prosecution for any criminal acts they had been ordered to commit in the Civil War. The soldiers demanded indemnity as several soldiers were hanged after the war for crimes such as stealing horses for use by the cavalry regiments. Thirdly, seeing that most Parliamentarians wanted to restore

2256-615: The Army's senior officers did not share many of their soldiers' political opinions, their independence from Parliament led to the Army's willingness to contribute to both Parliament's authority and to overthrow the Crown, and to establish a Commonwealth of England from 1649 to 1660, which included a period of direct military rule. The forces raised in 1642 by both Royalists and Parliamentarians were based on part-time militia known as Trained bands . Founded in 1572, these were organised by county , controlled by Lord-lieutenants appointed by

2350-485: The Black Army had an arquebus , which was an unusual ratio at the time. The high price of medieval gunpowder prevented them from raising it any further. The main troops of the army were the infantry, artillery and light and heavy cavalry. The function of the heavy cavalry was to protect the light armoured infantry and artillery, while the other corps delivered sporadic, surprise assaults on the enemy. In West Africa,

2444-564: The Earl of Essex, Waller's Southern Association and the Eastern Association under the Earl of Manchester. It comprised 6,600 cavalry, divided into eleven units of 600 men, 14,400 foot, comprising twelve regiments of 1,200 men, and 1,000 dragoons . Originally each regiment of cavalry had a company of dragoons attached, but at the urging of Fairfax on 1 March they were formed into a separate unit commanded by Colonel John Okey . Although

2538-554: The Franco-Dutch War. In 1689, William III expanded the army to 74,000, and then to 94,000 in 1694. Nervous at the power such a large force afforded the king whilst under his personal command, Parliament reduced the cadre to 7,000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were de facto merged with the English force. The Bill of Rights 1689 officially reserved authority over

2632-643: The French army by forming standing infantry regiments to replace the militia structure. The first, the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne, were called Les Vieux Corps (The Old Corps). It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over to save costs. The Vieux Corps and the king's own household troops (the Maison militaire du roi de France ) were the only survivors. The Black Army , established in 1462 by Hungarian king, Matthias Hunyadi

2726-409: The Grandees in the Army. The much-reduced Rump Parliament passed the necessary legislation to try Charles I. He was found guilty of high treason by the 59 Commissioners and beheaded on 30 January 1649. During 1649, there were three mutinies over pay and political demands. The first involved 300 infantrymen of Colonel John Hewson 's regiment, who declared that they would not serve in Ireland until

2820-706: The King without major democratic reforms or religious freedom. Two representatives, called Agitators, were elected from each regiment. The Agitators, with two officers from each regiment and the Generals, formed a new body called the Army Council . At a meeting ("rendezvous") held near Newmarket, Suffolk on 4 June 1647 this council issued "A Solemne Engagement of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax" to Parliament on 8 June making their concerns known. Having come into contact with ideas from

2914-657: The Levellers' programme had been realised. They were cashiered without arrears of pay, which was the threat that had been used to quell the mutiny at the Corkbush Field rendezvous. In the Bishopsgate mutiny , soldiers of the regiment of Colonel Edward Whalley stationed in Bishopsgate , in London, made demands similar to those of Hewson's regiment. They were ordered out of London. Less than two weeks later, there

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3008-574: The Lords, the Ordinance came into force on 3 April 1645. Since Cromwell was MP for Cambridge , command of the cavalry was initially given to Colonel Bartholomew Vermuyden , a former officer in the Eastern Association who was of Dutch origin and wanted to return home. Fairfax asked that Cromwell be appointed Lieutenant General of the Horse in place of Vermuyden, making him one of two original exceptions to

3102-509: The Militia and other sources were attached to the regiments of horse and foot as required. This was the case at the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650. The Regiments of Foot consisted of ten companies, in which musketeers and pikemen were mixed, at least on the march. Seven companies consisted of one hundred soldiers, plus officers, specialists and so on, and were commanded by captains. The other three companies were nominally commanded by

3196-588: The New Model Army were sent to Portugal, to support the Portuguese Restoration War and help Portugal regain its independence after many decades of Spanish rule. The British brigade, which numbered 3,000, arrived in Portugal in August 1662 and proved a decisive factor in winning back Portugal's independence, defeating the Spanish in a major engagement at Ameixial on 8 June 1663, and this forced John of Austria to abandon Évora and retreat across

3290-431: The New Model cavalry could charge, break an enemy force, regroup and charge again at another objective. On the other hand, when required to pursue, they did so relentlessly, not breaking ranks to loot abandoned enemy baggage as Royalist horse often did. The New Model Army contained one regiment of dragoons of twelve companies, each of one hundred men, under Colonel John Okey . Dragoons were mounted infantry, and wore much

3384-524: The Parliamentarian army in Ireland between 1649 and 1653, in addition to some 9,000 Irish Protestants. The Army generally performed well when storming fortifications, for example at the siege of Drogheda , but paid a heavy price at Clonmel when Cromwell ordered them to attack a well-defended breach. In 1650, while the campaign in Ireland was still continuing, part of the New Model Army was transferred to Scotland to fight Scottish Covenanters at

3478-522: The President. The President, however, retains command of the armed forces when they are raised, as commander-in-chief . The Framers' suspicion of a standing army is reflected in the constitutional requirement that the appointment and promotion of high-ranking military officers (like civil officers) be confirmed by the Senate . At the 1787 Constitutional Convention , Elbridge Gerry argued against

3572-589: The Royalists at the Battle of Worcester , the last pitched battle of the English Civil Wars. In England, the New Model Army was involved in numerous skirmishes with a range of opponents, but these were little more than policing actions. The largest rebellion of the Protectorate took place when the Sealed Knot instigated an insurrection in 1655. The major foreign entanglement of this period

3666-606: The Scots, who attempted to bring Cromwell to trial as an "incendiary". At the height of this bitter controversy, Cromwell suddenly proposed to stifle all animosities by the resignation of all officers who were members of either House. This proposal, in theory, affected himself no less than the Earls of Essex and Manchester. The first Self-denying Bill was put before Parliament on 9 December 1644. It provided that "no member of either house shall have or execute any office or command", etc. in

3760-709: The Self-denying Ordinance, the other being Sir William Brereton , commander in Cheshire . They were allowed to serve under a series of three-month temporary commissions that were continually extended. Other Parliamentarian forces were consolidated into two regional armies, the Northern Association under Sydnam Poyntz and Western Association under Edward Massey . Parliament authorised an Army of 22,000 soldiers, most of whom came from three existing Parliamentarian armies; that commanded by

3854-464: The actual charging powder, for 3 lbs of lead. They were normally deployed six ranks deep, and were supposed to keep up a constant fire by means of the countermarch —either by introduction whereby the rear rank filed to the front to fire a volley, or by retroduction where the front rank fired a volley then filed to the rear. By the time that they reached the front rank again, they should have reloaded and been prepared to fire. At close quarters, there

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3948-421: The administration of the Army was more centralised, with improved provision of adequate food, clothing and other supplies. At the same time, recruits were also supposed to be motivated by religious fervour, as demonstrated in the "Soldier's catechism", written by Robert Ram . On 9 June 1645, Sir Samuel Luke , one of the officers discharged, wrote the Army was "the bravest for bodies of men, horse and arms so far as

4042-573: The aristocracy. This was in accordance with well-established practices of the day, and generalships were accorded to the earls of Manchester and Essex among others. Edward Montagu, Earl of Manchester, was given charge of the Eastern Association , where Cromwell served under him as a cavalry officer. Parliament was soon hindered by dissension within this military leadership. These officers were not professional soldiers; their experience and skill at warfare varied. More significantly,

4136-483: The armed forces. One of the exceptions was Oliver Cromwell. It passed the House of Commons on 19 December but was thrown out by the Lords on 13 January 1645. The Lords, naturally, were reluctant to approve an ordinance that would automatically exclude nobles from military command. It also "weeded out" the "half measures men" such as Lords Essex and Manchester. A second version of the bill was prepared, which required resignations as above, but did not forbid re-appointment of

4230-1068: The army marched slowly towards London over the next few months. In late October and early November at the Putney Debates , the Army debated two different proposals. The first was the Agreement of the People ; the other was the Heads of Proposals , put forward by Henry Ireton for the Army Council. The army remained under control and intact, so it was able to take the field when the Second English Civil War broke out in July 1648. The New Model Army routed English royalist insurrections in Surrey and Kent , and in Wales , before crushing

4324-416: The battlefield, a regiment was normally formed as two "divisions" of three troops, one commanded by the regiment's colonel (or the major, if the colonel was not present), the other by the lieutenant colonel. Their discipline was markedly superior to that of their Royalist counterparts. Cromwell specifically forbade his men to gallop after a fleeing enemy, but demanded they hold the battlefield. This meant that

4418-399: The bill passed at the second attempt. As members of the Lords could not resign their titles, it effectively removed aristocratic commanders like the Earls of Manchester and Essex . Under the amended version, they were still required to resign their commissions, but could be re-appointed. At the outset of the First English Civil War , Parliament gave command of its main armies to members of

4512-442: The border with heavy losses. Standing army Sargon of Akkad , the founder of the  Akkadian Empire , is believed to have formed the first standing professional army. Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria (ruled 745–727 BC) created Assyria's first standing army. Tiglath-Pileser III disbanded militias and instead paid professional soldiers for their services. His army was composed largely of Assyrian soldiers but

4606-504: The cavalry regiments were already up to strength, the infantry was severely understrength and in May 1645 was still 4,000 men below the approved level. By creating fewer but larger regiments, the re-organisation greatly reduced the requirement for officers and senior NCOs . Fairfax had more than double the number of officers available for his 200 vacancies and those deemed surplus to requirements were either discharged or persuaded to re-enlist at

4700-471: The collar and ends of the sleeves, and generally matched the colours of the regimental and company standards. In time, they became the official " Facing colour ". On some occasions, regiments were referred to, for example, as the "blue" regiment or the "white" regiment from these colours, though in formal correspondence they were referred to by the name of their colonel. Each company had its own standard, 6 feet (180 cm) square. The colonel's company's standard

4794-411: The common soldiers as ever I saw in my life". However, he later complained many soldiers were drunk and their officers were often indistinguishable from enlisted men. The extent to which the Army can be seen as a hotbed of religious and political radicalism is disputed, particularly since many of those now viewed as radicals, like Thomas Horton or Thomas Pride , were not considered such at the time. It

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4888-687: The conduct of certain senior commanders; in July 1644, a Parliamentarian force under Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell secured control of Northern England by victory at Marston Moor . However, this was offset first by defeat at Lostwithiel in September, then lack of decisiveness at the Second Battle of Newbury in October. The two commanders involved, Essex and Manchester , were accused by many in Parliament of lacking commitment,

4982-469: The core of the French gendarmes that dominated European battlefields in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. They were stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies when needed. Provisions were also made for franc-archers and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but those units were disbanded at the end of the Hundred Years' War . The bulk of the infantry for warfare

5076-562: The earliest use of the phrase "New Model Army" to the works of the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle in 1845, and the exact term does not appear in 17th- or 18th-century documents. Records from February 1646 refer to the "New Modelled Army"—the idiom of the time being to refer to an army that was "new-modelled" rather than appending the word "army" to "new model". The order of battle was as follows: The New Model Army's elite troops were its Regiments of Horse . They were armed and equipped in

5170-431: The empire itself, very diverse. Its standing army was composed of Persians (the bravest people of empire according to Herodotus) and Medes. This standing army, which may have been reviewed every year by the king or his representative, is called kāra in the inscriptions. At the heart of this army was its elite guard, The 10,000 Immortals . Herodotus describes that if any of these guardsmen drops out owing to death or disease,

5264-452: The end of the Civil War, although it is not certain that none had iron helmets at the beginning. They wore a bandolier from which were suspended twelve wooden containers, each with a ball and measured charge of powder for their matchlock muskets. These containers are sometimes referred to as the "Twelve Apostles". According to one source, they carried 1 lb of fine powder, for priming, to 2 lbs of lead and 2 lbs of ordinary powder,

5358-690: The establishment of a centralised, professional force. On 30 January 1645, committeemen of the Eastern Association discussed their concerns at the Bury Conference at Bury St Edmunds . On 17 February 1645, the New Model Army Ordinance became law, with Fairfax being appointed Captain General, or commander in chief, and Philip Skippon being appointed Major General of the Foot. The review coincided with increasing dissatisfaction as to

5452-446: The fall of the Western Roman Empire to be paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established by King Charles VII of France in the 1430s while the Hundred Years' War was still raging. As he realized that France needed professional reliable troops for ongoing and future conflicts, units were raised by issuing "ordonnances" to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These compagnies d'ordonnance formed

5546-420: The first true professional Hellenic army, with soldiers and cavalrymen paid for their service year-round, rather than a militia of men who mostly farmed the land for subsistence and occasionally mustered for campaigns. The Western Zhou maintained a standing army, enabling them to effectively control other city states and spread their influence. Unlike the Western Zhou, the Eastern Zhou initially did not have

5640-499: The king, and constituted the only permanent military force in the country. The muster roll of February 1638 shows wide variations in size, equipment and training; the largest and best trained were based in London with 8,000, later increased to 20,000. When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, many of the largest militia were based in Parliamentarian areas like London, while Royalist counties like Shropshire or Glamorgan had fewer than 500 men. The weakness of this system

5734-430: The men accustomed to marching with heavy loads by regular route marches. In irregular fighting in Ireland, the New Model temporarily gave up the pike. In battle, the pikemen were supposed to project a solid front of spearheads, to protect the musketeers from cavalry while they reloaded. They also led the infantry advance against enemy foot units, when things came to push of pike . The musketeers wore no armour, at least by

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5828-411: The navy. Leadership of Parliament's troops fell to Sir Thomas Fairfax , then a lieutenant general, who was among the few officers still eligible for the post. In practical terms, the ordinance solidified the power of Cromwell and his "war party" faction. Cromwell was a member of the House of Commons , so he was obliged to resign his post as well. However, the Committee of Both Kingdoms , which oversaw

5922-401: The neighboring kingdoms in the land of Borgu . The Majapahit thalassocracy was recorded by a Chinese observer as having 30,000 full-time professional troops, whose soldiers and commanders were paid in gold. This shows the existence of a standing army, an achievement that only a handful of Southeast Asian empires could hope to achieve. In addition to these professional soldiers, Majapahit

6016-399: The nobility and hired mercenaries from Europe. This changed during the English Civil War , when Cromwell formed his New Model Army of 50,000 men. This professional body of soldiers proved more effective than untrained militia, and enabled him to exert control over the country. The army was disbanded by Parliament following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, and the Cromwellian model

6110-422: The officers. This bill was agreed to on 3 April 1645. The Self-denying Ordinance improved military unity by separating the quarrels in Parliament from the immediate operations of command. Leaders from the Presbyterian "peace party" faction in Parliament resigned their military positions to retain their political powers; Lords Manchester and Essex forfeited their generalships, as Lord Warwick did his command of

6204-432: The other commanders of the Army were not trained in siege warfare and generally tried to take fortified towns by storm rather than go through the complex and time-consuming process of building earthworks and trenches around it so that batteries of cannon could be brought close to the walls to pound it into surrender. The Army generally performed well when storming fortifications, for example at the siege of Drogheda , but paid

6298-483: The radical movement called the Levellers , the troops of the Army proposed a revolutionary new constitution named the Agreement of the People , which called for almost universal male suffrage, electoral boundary reform, power to rest with a Parliament elected by the people every two years, religious freedom, and an end to imprisonment for debt. Increasingly concerned at the failure to pay their wages and by political manoeuvrings by King Charles I and by some in Parliament,

6392-404: The radicals: they would have to execute him. After the Long Parliament rejected the Army's Remonstrance by 125 to 58, the Grandees decided to reconstitute Parliament so that it would agree with the Army's position. On 6 December 1648, Colonel Thomas Pride instituted Pride's Purge and forcibly removed from the House of Commons all those who were not supporters of the religious independents and

6486-415: The regiment's colonel, lieutenant colonel and major, and were stronger (200, 160 and 140 ordinary soldiers respectively). The regiments of foot were provided with red coats . Red was chosen because uniforms were purchased competitively from the lowest bidder, and Venetian red was the least expensive dye. Those used by the various regiments were distinguished by differently coloured linings, which showed at

6580-434: The riots led by Thomas Venner in 1661, which were quelled with the aid of soldiers from Monck's Regiment of Foot and the Regiment of Cuirassiers, the New Model Army was ordered disbanded, with the large arrears of pay financed by a poll tax . Monck's Regiment of Foot, upon the end of the New Model Army, was incorporated into the army of Charles II as the Coldstream Guards . Some of the demobilized soldiers and officers of

6674-493: The same uniform as musketeers although they probably wore stout cloth gaiters to protect the legs while they rode. They were armed with flintlock " snaphaunces ". On the battlefield, their major function was to clear enemy musketeers from in front of their main position. At the Battle of Naseby , they were used to outflank enemy cavalry. In 1650, Okey's dragoons were converted into a regiment of horse. It appears that after that date, unregimented companies of dragoons raised from

6768-635: The start of the Third English Civil War . The Covenanters, who had been allied to the Parliament in the First English Civil War, had now crowned Charles II as King. Despite being outnumbered, Cromwell led the Army to crushing victories over the Scots at the battles of Dunbar and Inverkeithing . Following the Scottish invasion of England led by Charles II, the New Model Army and local militia forces soundly defeated

6862-513: The style known at the time as harquebusiers , rather than as heavily armoured cuirassiers . They wore a back-and-front breastplate over a buff leather coat , which itself gave some protection against sword cuts, and normally a lobster-tailed pot helmet with a movable three-barred visor. Regiments were organised into six troops, of one hundred troopers plus officers, non-commissioned officers and specialists ( drummers , farriers etc.). Each troop had its own standard, 2 feet (61 cm) square. On

6956-603: The town's defenders skilfully beat back numerous Parliamentarian assaults before being forced to surrender. Shortly afterwards, about 2,000 soldiers of the New Model died in abortive assaults against a breach defended by veteran Ulstermen in the siege of Clonmel . These bloody scenes were repeated during the siege of Charlemont Fort later that year. The Army was also constantly at risk of attack by Irish guerrillas called tóraithe ("tories" in English), literally meaning "pursuer". Overall, around 43,000 English soldiers fought in

7050-407: The troops carried with them seven days' rations, consisting exclusively of biscuit and cheese. The Army took the field in late April or May, 1645. After an attempt to raise the siege of Taunton was abandoned, the Army began a siege of Oxford , sending a detachment of one regiment of cavalry and four of infantry to reinforce the defenders of Taunton. After the Royalists captured Leicester , Fairfax

7144-495: The war proceeded, it was clear that Essex and Manchester were at best half-hearted in pursuing the fight against the Royalists, an attitude that became ever more apparent as the struggle became more radical. The growing rift between the Lords and the Commons finally came to a point of crisis when the fruits of the great victory at the Battle of Marston Moor were allowed to slip away at the disappointing Second Battle of Newbury . It

7238-549: The war, found his talents as a soldier indispensable. His term in command was extended several times, in forty-day increments, until it was finally made permanent. While this appointment was officially as Fairfax's lieutenant general, Cromwell wielded influence well beyond his rank. More broadly, this reform helped usher in the New Model Army . This reorganized force, designed for unity and efficiency, incorporated several practices recognizable in modern armies. In addition to

7332-582: The west and south of England. The last fortress in the west surrendered in early 1646, shortly before Charles surrendered himself to a Scottish army and hostilities ended. Having won the First Civil War , the soldiers became discontented with the Long Parliament , for several reasons. Firstly, they had not been paid regularly – pay was weeks in arrears – and on the end of hostilities, the conservative MPs in Parliament wanted to either disband

7426-530: Was a larger mutiny involving several regiments over pay and political demands. After the resolution of the pay issue, the Banbury mutineers , consisting of 400 soldiers with Leveller sympathies under the command of Captain William Thompson , continued to negotiate for their political demands. They set out for Salisbury in the hope of rallying support from the regiments billeted there. Cromwell launched

7520-417: Was after this that the political tensions between Oliver Cromwell and Manchester could no longer be contained by the established forms of command. Members of Parliament, notably Oliver Cromwell and Sir William Waller , saw the need for radical reform of the army. For Cromwell, this attack on Manchester's conduct ultimately became an attack on the Lords, most of whom held the same views as Manchester, and on

7614-572: Was created in Maghada by the ruler Bimbisara . Under the reign of Augustus , the first Roman emperor , a standing professional army of the Roman Empire was gradually instituted, with regularized pay. This professional force of legionaries was expensive to maintain, but supported the authority of the empire, not only as combat troops but also as provincial police forces, engineers , and guards. Legionaries were citizen volunteers entitled to

7708-702: Was first attested during the Vedic period. However, warfare was primarily waged between various clans and kingdoms solely by the kshatriya class during times of conflict. True standing armies in India developed under the Mahajanapadas , which relied on paid professional soldiers year round. The most prominent of the Mahajanapadas was the Kingdom of Magadha . It is accepted that the first standing army of India

7802-525: Was in ancient Sparta , which had a standing army that trained year-round (and not only in summertime). Through the 5th century, they comprised the only professional soldiers in ancient Greece, aside from hired mercenaries. However, the Spartan army commonly consisted of helots (serfs), who considerably outnumbered the Spartiates , as well as numerous allies of Sparta. Philip II of Macedon instituted

7896-472: Was initially considered a failure due to various logistical and political problems with the force. The Militia Act 1661 prohibited local authorities from assembling militia without the approval of the king, to prevent such a force being used to oppress local opponents. This weakened the incentive for local officials to draw up their own fighting forces, and King Charles II subsequently assembled four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at

7990-425: Was often no time for musketeers to reload, and they used their musket butts as clubs. They carried swords , but these were often of inferior quality, and ruined by use for cutting firewood. The establishment of the New Model Army's artillery varied over time, and the artillery was administered separately from the Horse and Foot. At the Army's formation, Thomas Hammond (brother of Colonel Robert Hammond who commanded

8084-529: Was ordered to leave Oxford and march north to confront the King's army. On 14 June, the New Model destroyed King Charles' smaller but veteran army at the Battle of Naseby . Leaving the Scots and locally raised forces to contain the King, Fairfax marched into the West Country , where they destroyed the remaining Royalist field army at Langport on 10 July. Thereafter, they reduced the Royalist fortresses in

8178-475: Was part of a set of reforms designed to ensure victory, another being the establishment of a professional, centrally-controlled New Model Army , which replaced the existing system of regional armies. It was also linked to an internal political struggle between a Peace Party, who wanted a negotiated settlement with King Charles , and a War Party which wanted to dictate terms. First introduced in December 1644,

8272-452: Was plain, the lieutenant colonel's had a cross of Saint George in the upper corner nearest the staff, the major's had a "flame" issuing from the cross, and the captains' standards had increasing numbers of heraldic decorations, such as roundels or crosses to indicate their seniority. The New Model Army always had two musketeers for each pikeman, though depictions of battles show them present in equal numbers. Pikemen, when fully equipped, wore

8366-427: Was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in the 1480s, Swiss instructors were recruited and some of the 'bandes' (militia) were combined to form temporary 'legions' of up to 9,000 men. The men would be paid and contracted and would receive training. Henry II further regularised

8460-578: Was strengthened by troops from subordinate countries and regional leaders. As was common in Southeast Asia, Majapahit also used a levy system, in fact, the majority of the Majapahit troops were a levy. The Spanish Empire tercios were the first Spanish standing units composed of professional soldiers. Their pike and shot composition assured predominance in the European battlefields from

8554-467: Was supplemented with foreign mercenaries and vassal states. The standing army he created was the most sophisticated administrative and economic institution of its time, and was the engine of Assyrian economy which capitalized on warfare. Cyrus the Great formed the first professional army of Persia. The composition of the army varied and developed in the course of time. The empire's great armies were, like

8648-678: Was the Anglo-Spanish War . In 1654, the English Commonwealth declared war on Spain, and regiments of the New Model Army were sent to conquer the Spanish colony of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. They failed in the conflict and sustained heavy casualties from tropical disease. They took over the lightly defended island of Jamaica . The English troops performed better in the European theatre of the war in Flanders . During

8742-420: Was the first Central/Eastern European standing army. However, while the Black Army was certainly the first standing field army in that part of Europe, Hungary in fact had maintained a permanent army in the form of garrisons of border fortresses since the 1420s. Matthias recognized the importance and key role of early firearms in the infantry, which greatly contributed to his victories. Every fourth soldier in

8836-604: Was the reluctance of locally raised troops to serve outside their "home" areas, a problem for both sides during the war. On 19 November 1644, the Parliamentarian Eastern Association announced that they could no longer meet the cost of maintaining their forces, which then comprised about half the field force available to Parliament. In response, the Committee of Both Kingdoms conducted a wide-ranging review of further military needs and recommended

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