New Model Army

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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. The first English standing army, 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...

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