Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Interlinked wars in England, Scotland and Ireland that overthrew and then restored monarchical power.
Historical overview
Overview adapted from a Wikipedia summary and stored locally on May 11, 2026.
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms is the collective term for a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 Bishops' Wars, the First and Second English Civil Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650–1652. They resulted in the execution of Charles I, the abolition of monarchy, and founding of the Commonwealth of England, a unitary state which controlled the British Isles until the Stuart Restoration in 1660.
Theater countries
Actors
Tags
Border context
Confessional empires and Westphalia
The Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Spain, the Ottoman frontier and Dutch independence wars define a fragmented early-modern map.
Borders are dynastic and imperial rather than nation-state based. The Westphalian settlement formalizes new state autonomy after 1648.Dynastic frontier wars
Bourbon, Habsburg, Ottoman, Qing and Commonwealth frontiers shift through dynastic wars and imperial consolidation.
Ottoman-Habsburg borders move back after Vienna. Qing rule consolidates over China and Taiwan.