The New Model Army is often lauded as the finest professional military force of its day. But is this true?

Its victories at famous battles such as Naseby and Langport highlighted the Army’s ability to dominate the battlefield. But how much was its success related to the failures of its enemies? And to what extent was this supremacy inevitable for a professionally trained fighting force?

In this exciting talk, Paul Lay will consider the role of the New Model Army in a wider European context. He will also challenge some of the many myths that surround the Army’s role, its capability and its impact during the British Civil Wars.

Paul Lay is the author of Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate (Head of Zeus, 2020). He is Senior Research Fellow in Early Modern History at the University of Buckingham, a trustee of the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, Literary Editor of The Critic and a former editor of History Today.

The Rise and Fall of the New Model Army