The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.
While the conflicts in the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland had similarities, each had its own specific issues and objectives. The First English Civil War was fought primarily over the correct balance of power between Parliament and Charles I.