English History

Amandeep travels 400 years back in time to find out about the English Civil War. She finds out how the war was fought – and who won it!

Watch the video. Then go to Task and do the activities. If you need help, you can read the Transcript at any time.

Preparation

Think about the following questions:

  • What do you know about the English Civil War?
  • What are the important historic events in your country?

Amandeep visits a Civil War re-enactment, where people act out a battle from the past.

Transcript

Amandeep: The English countryside: a great place to find peace and quiet… somewhere to enjoy the scenery… and enjoy nature and fresh air… and famous also for the dramatic battles of the past.

 

Herald: By the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, I call on all you people of Corfe Castle to send into this garrison now all your weapons.

Soldiers: God save the King!

Amandeep: This is Corfe Castle in the south of England, where today people are turning back the clock by more than 350 years to the time of the English Civil War.

The English Civil War was the last war to be fought on English soil. King Charles I was fighting for his throne. His supporters were called the Royalists. They were fighting against the Parliamentarians, who didn’t want the King to be in charge. And who won? Well, keep watching to find out! But why do these members of the English Civil War Society come here?

Society Member 1: Meeting up with old friends, having a good time and visiting places that probably I wouldn’t go to normally.

Society Member 2: Bringing history alive for the general public.

Society Member 3: Well, I come as part of a family. We’ve got three young children and they love the whole atmosphere.

 

Amandeep: I got the chance to go into the Royalist camp. Stephen Burden plays the part of a Royalist officer.

Stephen, tell me a little bit about what you’re wearing today.

Stephen: My clothes show that I’m a gentleman because they’re very high-status. I wear gloves to protect my hands and I’m also carrying many weapons. I’ve got my sword here, I have my pistol and if all else fails I have a dagger to finish people off with. And also we have various things, as you can see in here, including real coins of the period. Do have a look at one. Congratulations! This person takes the King’s shilling! We have a new recruit!

Sergeant, take this person, take them and get some decent clothes on them. We’re going to make a soldier out of them.

Sergeant: Make way for the new recruit! Make way!

 

Amandeep: And now I feel like I really have stepped back in time.

 

The Battle of Corfe Castle was a real event which took place here over three centuries ago. Time for me to join the action!

The muskets use real gunpowder and are incredibly loud. Eventually, the castle falls to the control of the Parliamentarians.

That was so much fun, being involved actually in the action! Our side was beaten, but, boy, was that a really good experience!

Remember I said I’ll tell you what happened in the English Civil War? The Royalists lost the war and the King lost his head… literally. Eleven years later, his son regained the throne and Britain has had a royal family ever since. When you look, history is all around us.

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

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Language level

Average: 5 (2 votes)

Submitted by parisaach on Wed, 27/11/2019 - 04:49

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Today Royal family is not in charge of England.

Submitted by fidaasiddig on Mon, 14/10/2019 - 20:35

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Hello Britain has had a royal family ever since. Why it's has and had Thanks
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Submitted by Joel-0505 on Mon, 18/11/2019 - 13:41

In reply to by fidaasiddig

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Hi fidaasiddig I'm afraid it's the present perfect form, you can use "Have or Has" it's depends of the subject + past participle of the other verb e.g: I have played soccer my whole life. she has had lots of boyfriends. xD regards, check this for better information https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/present-perfect
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Submitted by Kostya B on Mon, 10/09/2018 - 21:18

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Unfortunately I did not hearing about the English Civil War. There are many big events in history of my country, in particular coup d'etat in nineteen seventeen.

Submitted by Kaung Myat Kyaw on Sun, 05/08/2018 - 17:17

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i like this video and would like to download it.....How do i have to?

Hello Kaung Myat Kyaw,

I'm afraid the videos on our site are not available for download for legal and technical reasons. We make many of our audio files available, however, so on audio-only pages look for the .mp3 link.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you Peter M. The reason why i want to download is i like this video. Yes i could see that there is an audio file of the video file which can be downloaded. I am aware of legal and technical reasons. God bless you Kaung Kaung