New Model Army

Timeline

1. 1645English Midlands · MidlandsParliament passed the Self-Denying Ordinance, forcing MPs to resign military posts, and enacted the New Model Ordinance, forming a new army with Thomas Fairfax as Lord General and Oliver Cromwell as second-in-command of the cavalry. The New Model Army broke regional recruitment limits, implemented unified pay and discipline, and abolished the feudal aristocracy's command privileges. In June 1645 it decisively defeated Charles I's main force at the Battle of Naseby, establishing Parliamentary military superiority.
2. 1647–1649Putney Church, London · Greater LondonIn 1647 conflict arose between the army and Parliament; the Army Council held debates at Putney (the Putney Debates), where Leveller soldiers proposed a draft Agreement of the People demanding universal suffrage and religious toleration. Cromwell suppressed the Levellers' radical proposals but absorbed some reform ideas. In December 1648 Colonel Pride led troops to purge Presbyterian MPs from Parliament (Pride's Purge), paving the way for the execution of Charles I. In January 1649 the New Model Army oversaw the trial and execution of the king.
3. 1651Worcester, England · WorcestershireUnder Cromwell's command the New Model Army utterly routed the Scottish-Royalist coalition led by Charles II at the Battle of Worcester, destroying the last organized Royalist armed forces in the British Isles. Cromwell called this battle 'the crowning mercy'. Thereafter the New Model Army's main function shifted to maintaining internal order in the Republic and supporting the Protectorate regime.
4. 1653–1659England · EnglandAfter Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament (April 1653) and established the Protectorate, the New Model Army became the core support of the regime. In 1655 Cromwell implemented the Rule of the Major-Generals, dividing England into 11 military districts each governed by a major-general, until Parliament abolished it in 1657. After Cromwell's death (September 1658) the army's leadership fell into factional disputes, forcing Richard Cromwell to resign and repeatedly manipulating Parliament's composition.
5. 1660England · EnglandGeneral George Monck marched his Scottish garrison south, bringing about the calling of the Convention Parliament and the return of Charles II. After the Restoration the New Model Army was formally disbanded, with most units mustered out or reorganized into the king's standing army; only a few core units (such as the predecessor of the Coldstream Guards) were transferred into Charles II's army system, marking the end of this highly politically influential military organization in British history.