Debates regarding English Civil War - Essay Example

Debates regarding English Civil War Historic events revolve around a number of debates by historians, which can never cease to exist. It remains beyond the hope of the historians to come to a single agreement on the causes, events and consequences of the English Civil War. Conflicts of the mid-seventeenth century are quite important for history books, for academics and non-academics alike. However, this spurs off different debates from various historians who belong to different schools of thoughts. 1 Many historians get frustrated with the paucity of materials on this source, yet this does not form an obstacle in their desire to know more about the define events of the English Historiography. 2 However, it is important to know the exact definition of historiography. According to Dictionary.com, historiography includes ‘the narrative presentation of history based on critical examination, evaluation, and selection of material from primary and secondary sources and subject to scholarly criteria’. 3 In this way, historiography includes the analysis of all the events from the history by a number of scholars, belonging to different school of thoughts. The English Civil War forms an attraction for many scholars and historians; therefore, the paper attempts to discuss the different school of thoughts, ranging from contemporary views to traditional views. It also encompasses the works of scholars such as Marxists, Revolutionists and the Post-Revolutionists. A number of views relate to the matter of the English Civil War, regarding the reasons, events and the results of the war. The paper shall examine the works of contemporary school of thought. The two famous philosophers and thinkers of that time included Thomas Hobbes and Clarendon. Hobbes interpretation of the Civil War was surmised in his work, Behemoth, which has largely been ignored in history by a number of historians, coming after his time. Hobbes did not view the causes of English revolution to be materialistic. According to analysis done by historians of Hobbes work, Hobbes regarded the reason for the Civil War was market made wealth. The Civil War, by Hobbes was regarded as an attempt to take down the constitution, which supported the upper class. Therefore, middle class people were looking for new ways to bring equality in economic earnings. 4Hobbes works also included Leviathan, which is regarded as one of the ‘seminal works of modern political thought’. Hobbes work on Civil War was quite different, for he traced the beginnings of the Civil War to both the present and the distant future. He stated the relationship between the church and state and the man and the state, and reached into the religious past, rooted in the biblical sense of the world. There had been problems in the defining of sovereignty, priests, prophets and subjects. Such confusions eventually led to immense confusion and eventually lead to English Revolution. Hobbes works centered on philosophical thought, therefore they are sometimes quite difficult to grasp. Historians who have analyzed Hobbes works claim that it is quite evident in Hobbes work that he regarded the political sphere to be separate from religious values, which meant that God did not take part in everyday mundane life of politics. Therefore, his work on the English Civil War mainly focused on the social and economic contexts, rather than the religious basis of the war. 5 Some historic works may become prejudiced at times, because the people, participating in the events, write them. Earl of Clarendon’s History of Rebellion, which focused on the events of the English Civil War, remains one of the living presences of historic works. This book remains one of those complete books, which gave a full length and systematic list of events of the turmoil in the seventeenth century. His work on the English Civil War has made him a better historian than a politician. His book has tried to encompass nearly all of the events that occurred and the failings of all parties concerned, even the King himself. 6 As mentioned above, a number of schools of thoughts also emerge after the events have passed. In the nineteenth century, the Whig tradition emerged, which conducted works on the Civil War. The Whig tradition identified political reasons for the cause of conflict within the English society of that time. According to scholars belonging to the Whig tradition, the roots of the Civil War lay in the ambitious tendencies of the rulers at that time. There was a conflict between the monarchial rule and the House of Commons, because the parliament was looking for ways to enhance the liberty and the freedom of the people. 7 The Whig tradition also belongs to the philosophical school of thought, which argues about the defending of the constitutional rights from a dictatorial figure, such as Charles I. A number of scholars are prominent in the Whig tradition, which includes John Locke and Thomas Babington Macaulay.8 The consequences of the Civil War marked better economic and social independence for people belonging to middle class, since they could gain wealth through trade, as well as attain better education. For Whigs traditionalists, the Civil War is regarded as the long line of progress, which eventually led to peace, prosperity and science9 History is never free from debate and challenges. Historians eventually questioned the Whig tradition after the Second World War. A number of scholars took a Marxist approach. They stated that the roots of this conflict lay in the social and economic problems faced by people before the war. The argument of the Marxist group focused largely on class conflict. They stated that the Civil War was a culmination of a class conflict between the aristocratic class and an emerging capitalist class. It was the bourgeoisie revolution of the seventeenth century. The Civil War was inevitable, because the tensions between these two groups belonging to different social strata had deepened with the passage of times. Christopher Hill and Lawrence Stone are the great Marxist thinkers, who took this approach to the analyzing of the Civil War. 10 The name of the conflict would also stand as a challenge to Marxists, since in their opinion, it is the English Revolution, rather than a ‘Civil War’, since it brought a pleasant and positive change in the lives of people. 11 The world has entered in to the twenty-first century, where the people think differently and views range across a board of spectrums. According to revisionists, the causes of the Civil War were numerous and not even one. Moreover, number of revisionists’ state that it was not the intention of any class, party or institution to start the revolt. Many of the revisionists explain that the strains of wars on England finally weighed on the general population and that England had become weakened because of these wars. They also state that the war had not become inevitable, as stated by Marxists, and that people actually hurried into this war. War was not inevitable until 1642 according to Fletcher. In addition, Charles I did not live up to the expectations of the people like previous rulers had. 12 There is a very thin line between the works of revisionists and post revisionists. However, revisionists had stressed on political reasoning for the conflict, while the post revisionists took into account many other factors, which largely included long-term origins of the conflict, divisions over politics and the constitution. Moreover, religious and economic factors are also taken into consideration. Post revisionists also include the reasoning of a conflict between cultures, because one party had a greedy vision, while the others had a more noble view. However, this argument has not been well researched by post-revisionists13. Therefore, many of these schools of thoughts are quite engaged in finding out the origins of the English Civil War. Many of their arguments overlap greatly, and another constantly refutes one argument. Therefore, history also remains a subject of great debate. In conclusion, a number of causes contributed to the outbreak of the war, but some had more importance than the others did. Bibliography "A brief historiography of the Civil War: how historians interpret the cause of the conflict." casahistoria.net. docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:tWHn2S80hsgJ:www.casahistoria.net/historiography%2520of%2520the%2520Civil%2520War.pdf+historiography+of+the+English+Civil+War&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgth_oGZaQM5JfahyCqWTA5JfS3lvizr_34XrKOcc3sN91J7eTzMuwtw-bfPZqZB (accessed September 9, 2011). Gaunt, Peter. "Editor's Introduction and introduction to Part II." In The English Civil War: the essential readings. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Limited, 2000.) 3, 36 "Historiography." Dictionary.com. dictionary.reference.com/browse/historiography (accessed September 9, 2011). Hughes, Ann. "Introduction." In The causes of the English Civil War. 1991. (Reprint, New York: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1998.) 9 Jendrysik, Mark Stephen. "Chapter Six." In Explaining the English Revolution: Hobbes and His Contemporaries. (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2002) 122 Lindley, Keith. "Introduction." In The English Civil War and revolution: a sourcebook, 3. New York: Routledge, 1998 Richardson, R.C. "The Debate Begins." In The debate on the English Revolution. (1977. Reprint, New York: Routledge, 1998.) 25, 31. "The Origins of the English Civil War: Papers." Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Paper, and Book Report. http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=149785 (accessed August 10, 2011). "Whig Interpretation of the history." Age of the Sage. http://age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/history/whig_interpretation_history.html (accessed September 9, 2011). Read More