The Battle of Edgehill occurred when both sides on route for London clashed together. King Charles marched his army from Shrewsbury on 12th October, his plans to make it to London. However, the Earl of Essex also marched for London from Worcester. Their routes were almost parallel.
On the 21st October they were 7 miles apart from each other. Prince Rupert realized the danger that Essex might attack, so persuaded Charles to organize his army on the slopes of Edgehill. Essex realized that Charles’ army was near so they also stopped on the slopes. Both of them organized their infantry in the centre with cavalry on both sides. Musketeers were positioned on the edges to shoot against side tactics. The Royalists had five forces of infantry in their centre whilst the Parliamentarians had three teams and two smaller teams. There were around 13-14,000 troops on each side.
Near the end of the war, in 1644 Olive Cromwell explained to Parliament that the existing parliament troops were pretty bad compared to the Royalists. He proposed the Self-Denying Ordinance. This made any Member of Parliament to give up any military commissions they had. This rid the noble leaders, such as the Earl of Essex from the armies. The real military leaders would take their place. Also, the armies were to be combined and organized into a new army called the “New Model”. A decree called the “Soldier’s Catechism” was ordered stated the rules that the soldiers would obey. The army was planned in February 1645, and started being used in April 1645. Many soldiers were recruited and the army’s number increased greatly.
The Model Army consisted on 22,000 troop’s altogether, with Sir Thomas Fairfax as the lord general. Oliver Cromwell was appointed General of Horse and led the cavalry.
Overall, the Royalists had high advantage at the start of the war, but near the end, the Parliamentarians were improved and won the war.