New Model Army
army in the English Civil War (1645-1660)
The New Model Army (known contemporaneously as the New Modelled Army or the Parliaments Army) was a standing army raised by the Parliamentarians in 1645 during the First English Civil War. It differed from other armies which served in Wars of the Three Kingdoms in that New Model Army troops were liable for service anywhere rather than being limited to a single region or garrison. To establish a professional officer corps, the army's officers were prohibited from having seats in either the House of Lords or House of Commons to encourage their separation from the political or religious factions among the Parliamentarians. The New Model Army played a major role in leading the Parliamentarians to victory in the first civil war in 1646.
Recruits for the New Model Army came from both veteran troops and conscripts, with many of the army's soldiers holding dissenting religious beliefs or radical political views unique among British armies, though the New Model Army's senior officers did not share many of their soldiers' more extreme stances. In 1648 the army spearheaded the Parliamentarian victory in the Second English Civil War and carried out Pride's Purge to purge Parliament of MPs considered hostile to the New Model Army. Following Charles I's execution in 1649 the Kingdom of England was transformed into the Commonwealth of England. Under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell, the New Model Army conquered Scotland and then Ireland between 1649 and 1653 before serving in the West Indies and Flanders as part of the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654–1660. In 1660 the New Model Army was disbanded following the Stuart Restoration, although many of the army' veterans joined the English Army when it was raised in 1661.
Foundation
The forces raised in 1642 by both Royalists and Parliamentarians were based on part-time militia known as Trained bands.
“New Model Army” enters the record as army in the English Civil War (1645-1660). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Model, Army and army can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1432954. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1645, 1646, 1648 and 1649.
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This entry incorporates text from “New Model Army” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.