Third English Civil War (1649 – 1651)
Charles II was officially crowned king at Scone on 1 January 1651, but he was in the midst of what proved to be a losing war. The majority of the Third English Civil War took place on Scottish soil. In 1648, the Irish Confederates signed a treaty with the Royalists as they saw the English Parliament as a threat. However, Ireland was unable to participate in the final installment of the English Civil Wars because the English successfully suppressed them in 1649.
The first setback happened at the Battle of Rathmines on 2 August 1649 and when Cromwell arrived in Dublin 13 days later, he began a brutal campaign of murder and oppression. At the infamous Siege of Drogheda, Cromwell massacred approximately 3,500 people. To this day, he is reviled in Ireland. The Parliamentarians continued to grind down Irish resistance and eventually forced surrender in 1653.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, the dynamic of the Civil War changed upon the execution of Charles I. Before that fateful day, the Covenanters and Royalists fought against one another. The Marquess of Montrose, the leader of the Royalists in Scotland, went into exile after the death of his king. Charles II initially asked him to raise an army but abandoned him when offered the Crown of Scotland by the Covenanters. Montrose was defeated at Carbisdale in April 1650 and hanged in Edinburgh on 21 May after being sentenced to death by the Scottish Parliament.
The anxious English Parliament recalled Cromwell from Ireland once it realized that Charles had the support of the Covenanters. Cromwell laid siege to Edinburgh, but disease and a lack of provisions forced him to retreat to Dunbar. David Leslie commanded a Scottish army that tried to block the retreat; this resulted in the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650. Leslie was pressurized into attacking Cromwell by his superiors. The Scots inexplicably changed positions en route to Dunbar and Cromwell gleefully attacked their right flank. The Scottish line disintegrated during the night assault and up to 3,000 men were killed with up to 10,000 taken prisoner. The English suffered fewer than 80 casualties.
The Scottish never really recovered after Dunbar although Charles attempted another invasion of England in 1651. However, he suffered the final major defeat of the war at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, exactly one year after the Dunbar debacle. The King’s army numbered less than 16,000 and was no match for the 31,000 strong contingent of the New Model Army. Over 3,000 Scots died, and 10,000 were captured. In contrast, only 200 English soldiers died. The Royalists offered token resistance from then on, and the final surrender came at Dunnottar Castle on 26 May 1652.