October 23, 1642 · Midlands Theater

The first major pitched battle of the English Civil War, fought on a ridge in Warwickshire. Prince Rupert's Royalist cavalry swept the Parliamentary flanks — but then galloped off the field in pursuit rather than turning to assist the infantry. The infantry struggle in the center was brutal and inconclusive, ending with neither side able to claim a decisive result.

June 30, 1643 · North Theater

The Earl of Newcastle's Royalist army of some 10,000 men crushed the Yorkshire Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax on the moors near Bradford. A bold Royalist push with pikemen broke through the Parliamentary line after an initial Parliamentary advance had been repulsed. The defeat left all of Yorkshire except Hull in Royalist hands.

September 20, 1643 · South Theater

The Royalist army attempted to intercept the Earl of Essex's force returning to London after relieving Gloucester. Fighting around the town and surrounding fields was intense and see-saw throughout the day. Parliamentary infantry and musketeers held their ground against Royalist cavalry charges. By nightfall the Royalists had run low on ammunition and withdrew, leaving the road to London open.

July 2, 1644 · North Theater

The largest battle fought on English soil during the war. The combined Parliamentary and Scottish army of some 27,000 confronted Prince Rupert's 18,000 Royalists on the flat moorland west of York. As evening approached and a cavalry engagement seemed delayed, Parliamentary forces launched a surprise attack across the whole front. Cromwell's cavalry routed Rupert's horsemen on the left, then — uniquely — rallied and turned to strike the Royalist infantry in the flank and rear. Within two hours the Royalist army was shattered.

August 21 – September 2, 1644 · West Theater

King Charles I cornered the Earl of Essex's Parliamentary army in Cornwall, surrounding it in the Fowey River estuary area. Essex escaped by boat to Plymouth, leaving his infantry to surrender — approximately 6,000 men marched out stripped of their weapons and equipment. The Parliamentary cavalry fought their way out through Royalist lines. It was the worst Parliamentary defeat of the war.

June 14, 1645 · Midlands Theater

The New Model Army met the King's main field army on the ridge near Naseby in Northamptonshire. Rupert's cavalry swept the Parliamentary left off the field — and then repeated his old mistake, galloping off in pursuit. Meanwhile Cromwell's cavalry on the right routed the Royalist horse and, as at Marston Moor, wheeled to strike the Royalist infantry in flank and rear. The Royalist foot, outnumbered and now caught from three sides, was destroyed. Charles nearly led a charge to rescue them before being restrained by attendants. The King's personal cabinet was captured, revealing his secret negotiations with foreign Catholic powers — a propaganda catastrophe.

April 27 – June 24, 1646 · South Theater

Oxford, the Royalist wartime capital where the King had held court since 1642, was besieged by Fairfax's New Model Army after most Royalist field armies had been defeated or dispersed. Charles himself had already slipped away in disguise in April and surrendered to the Scottish army at Newark. The Oxford garrison, with no hope of relief, negotiated honourable surrender terms and marched out with full military honours on June 24, 1646.

August 17–19, 1648 · North Theater

The Duke of Hamilton's Scottish-Royalist army of some 20,000 invaded England in the Second Civil War, allied with English Royalists under Langdale. Cromwell, with around 9,000 battle-hardened New Model Army veterans, struck their strung-out column at Preston in Lancashire. Over three days of relentless pursuit, Cromwell destroyed the invading army piecemeal — Hamilton was captured, Langdale's men routed. The Scottish army, which had crossed the border in hope of restoring Charles I, was effectively annihilated as a fighting force.

January 30, 1649 · London Theater

After being tried before a specially constituted High Court of Justice — which Charles refused to recognize as legitimate — King Charles I was condemned for treason against his own people. On a bitterly cold January morning outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the King walked to the scaffold wearing two shirts so the cold would not make him shiver and appear afraid. He spoke briefly, maintaining his belief in kingly prerogative to the end. The executioner struck off his head with a single blow. The crowd let out a groan — a sound no English crowd had ever made before.

September 3, 1650 · Scotland Theater

Cromwell's invasion of Scotland — which had crowned Charles II and threatened to march south — nearly ended in disaster when the Scottish army under David Leslie trapped his forces against the sea at Dunbar. Cromwell seemed caught. Then the Scottish Presbyterian ministers, suspicious of the sinful English, pressured Leslie to descend from his unassailable ridge position to destroy the heretics. Cromwell, watching through the night as the Scots repositioned, exclaimed 'God is delivering them into our hands.' At dawn the New Model Army attacked with devastating effect, routing an army nearly double its size in the space of an hour.

September 3, 1651 · Midlands Theater

Charles II, having been crowned King of Scots, marched south from Scotland with an army of Scots and English Royalists hoping the English would rise to support him. They did not. Cromwell trapped Charles's army in Worcester with a force of nearly 30,000. Charles II fought bravely — at one point leading a sortie himself — but the Royalist cause was hopeless against Cromwell's veteran army. After the battle Charles escaped by hiding in an oak tree (the 'Royal Oak') and spent six weeks in disguise fleeing across England before escaping to France.