The English Civil War

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What sparks a nation to turn against its own king? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb dives into the turbulent and transformative decade that witnessed the English Civil Wars — a bloody clash that claimed nearly 185,000 lives and reshaped the very soul of Britain. From the power struggle between King Charles I and Parliament, to the fiery religious conflicts and political rivalries that engulfed England, Scotland, and Ireland, these two episodes unpack the interconnected wars known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. With insights from brilliant historians drawn from the Not Just the Tudors archive, Suzannah explores the causes, battles, and consequences of a war that toppled the monarchy and forever redefined the balance of power between Crown and Parliament.

MORE:

Succession 1625: James I to Charles I >

Prelude to the English Civil War >

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.6	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, The Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:25.2	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:32.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise.
0:46.8	Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. Not in other words just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:06.3	What happens when a kingdom is torn apart not by foreign invaders, but by its own people?
1:12.6	Where the word of the monarch is no longer law, where Parliament dares to challenge the throne,
1:18.6	when the fate of an entire people hangs in the balance.
1:23.6	The civil wars of 1642 to 1651 were a bloody contest for the very soul of Britain,
1:32.3	and around 200 to 250,000 lives were lost.
1:36.3	That was nearly 5% of the population, a toll that is nearly double proportionately
1:42.3	the devastating fatality rate of the First World War.
1:47.1	This was no isolated English affair. From the Highlands of Scotland to the fields of Ireland,
1:53.3	a series of interconnected conflicts swept across the British Isles, known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
2:01.6	I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb, and you're listening to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit.
2:08.6	Over the next two episodes, I'm going to examine this dramatic and consequential decade in British history,
2:15.6	with the help of contributions from an array of brilliant
2:18.4	historians drawn from previous episodes in our Not Just the Tudors archive, I'll be exploring how and why
2:25.2	England, Scotland and Ireland descended into war. What drove subjects to take up arms against their
2:32.9	king? And how did religious strife, political ambition and personal rivalries ignite a crisis
	...

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