Introduction

The impact of effective military leadership in influencing the outcome of conflict represents one of the least analysed aspects of the British Civil War experience. Although the results and specific incidents of the military events are well-documented, very little attention has been paid to the fundamental issue of how the martial characteristics and actions of specific commanders shaped the course of the conflict. Previous Civil War narrative military histories such as those of Samuel R. Gardiner, Austin Woolrych and Peter Young have done a superb job laying out the physical conditions, operational events and tactical aspects of the struggles, but they provide little analytical comment on contextual factors in determining the outcome. ¹ However, owing largely to the influence of Sir Michael Howard beginning in the 1960s and historians in the following decades, the societal context and the analysis of why and how people fight have become essential concerns for military historians. ²