New Model Army

The Long Parliament created the New Model Army in early 1645 as a response to the nearly disastrous loss of momentum in the English civil war with the king (see British civil wars). The previous December the Commons had adopted a Self-Denying Resolution aimed at removing Members of both Houses from all offices, military or civil, for the duration of the war. Blocked by the Lords, it was not passed as an ordinance for another four months. In the meantime the Commons outflanked the Lords' opposition by creating a new army as if the Self-Denying Ordinance were already law. An amalgamation of the three existing armies of Essex, Manchester, and Waller, the New Model was composed two-thirds of infantry—most of whom were conscripts—and one-third of cavalry—all of whom were volunteers. It numbered 22, 000 men, in addition to 2, 300 officers. Its creation marked a victory for the war party over the peace party led by the Earl of Essex.

Fairfax was named captain general (C-in-C), apparently because of his excellent military record in the north, and his lack of involvement in the political infighting that had plagued the southern armies. The peace party tried unsuccessfully to alter his officer list, but they did not forget their resentment against Cromwell. When the Commons majority tried to override the Self-Denying Ordinance by naming him lieutenant general (second in command) of the cavalry, the peace party peers balked. Only the New Model's stunning victory at Naseby obliged them retroactively to approve Cromwell's appointment.

The triumph at Naseby owed not a little to the king's great blunder in attacking a force nearly twice as large as his own. Even then the battle was a close thing. But the rest of the first civil war was essentially a mopping-up operation. By June 1646 the king had surrendered. In the previous fifteen months the New Model had not lost so much as a skirmish; indeed, it would lose no important engagement throughout the second civil war (1648) and the invasions of Ireland (1649-52) and Scotland (1650-1).

How are we to explain this formidable battlefield record? A major factor was the New Model's generous financing through the monthly assessment. Secondly, it had access to a great economic powerhouse—London. Vast quantities of clothing, gunpowder, pikes, halberds, swords, and muskets poured out of the workshops of the metropolis. Religion was another factor in the army's success. It galvanized men to risk their lives in battle, and furnished them with the confidence that they would win. A high proportion of the officers were devout Puritans who stamped the army with their own conviction that they were fighting the warfare of heaven. The practical result was to breed in the soldiers the courage to perform many acts of daring and improvisation.

In the spring of 1647, to defend themselves from disbandment or exile to Ireland, the rank and file revolted by seizing the king, calling for a rendezvous of the army, and securing the creation of a General Council of the Army to oversee political affairs. The council comprised the higher officers, and representatives or ‘agitators’ elected by each troop or company. It was this body that debated the Leveller Agreement of the People at Putney in the autumn of 1647.

The royalist, Scots-supported uprisings of 1648 were easily snuffed out by the New Model's battle-seasoned veterans. The key encounter occurred at Preston when Cromwell outmanoeuvred and shattered a joint force of English and Scots royalists. Angered at parliament's continued negotiations with the king, the army now began denouncing him as ‘that man of blood’, and demanding that he be brought to justice for his crimes against the people. The army then purged parliament of moderate MPs and oversaw the trial and execution of the king. Once the republic had been proclaimed the officers set about to organize the invasion of Ireland in the summer of 1649. To the accompaniment of massacres at Drogheda and Wexford, the Catholic Irish were beaten into submission, though their formal surrender required another three years of intense warfare and a continually increasing commitment of troops from England. Cromwell had to leave Ireland in May 1650 to deal with a resurgent royalist threat from Scotland.

Under his leadership at Dunbar (1650) and Worcester (1651) Charles II was driven out and the New Model clinched its mastery of the three kingdoms. From that point it fought no more battles on British soil. Its political interventions—expelling the Rump, engineering the dissolution of Barebone's Parliament (both in 1653), and vetoing Cromwell's acceptance of the crown (1657) —testified to its power, if not to its political imagination. Ironically, the army which had forced the execution of one king in 1649, was instrumental, thanks to Gen George Monck, in restoring that king's son in 1660. By inviting Charles II back the army had brought the revolution full circle.

Bibliography

• Firth, Charles H., Cromwell's Army (4th edn., London, 1962).
• Gentles, Ian, The New Model Army in England, Ireland and Scotland, 1645-1653 (Oxford, 1992).
• Kishlansky, Mark A., The Rise of the New Model Army (New York and Cambridge, 1979)

— Ian Gentles

Created by the Long Parliament early in 1645 out of the three existing armies of Essex, Manchester, and Sir William Waller. The new army represented the triumph of Oliver Cromwell in his political struggle against Essex and Manchester and, under the generalship of Sir Thomas Fairfax, vanquished the king's forces at Naseby June 1645).

See New Model Army Lyrics

• Formed: 1980, Bradford, Yorkshire, England
• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "History: The Singles 85-91," "Vengeance: The Independent Story," "Thunder and Consolation"
• Representative Songs: "No Rest," "Smalltown England," "Christian Militia"

Biography

To their impassioned cult of fans, New Model Army was one of the best post-punk outfits Great Britain ever produced. Combining the gut-level force of punk with the anthemic political fervor of U2 and The Alarm, as well as the urban protest folk of Billy Bragg, NMA sounded like few other bands mining similar post-punk territory. Their attack was hard, spare, and precise, but as time wore on, they were just as likely to deliver modern-day folk-rock replete with acoustic guitar, violin, and harmonica. Throughout their career, they remained staunch advocates of the British working class, occasionally tempering their leftist, anti-Thatcher political fury with moments of personal introspection. Their shout-along anthems often borrowed the football-chant feel of Oi! punk, but NMA was far less given to rabble-rousing, instead aiming for intelligent dissidence. True, that could sometimes translate into preachy sloganeering, but NMA's best work earned them tremendous acclaim in the U.K., where their singles regularly placed in the lower reaches of the pop charts. U.K.-specific lyrical references, coupled with visa problems that sometimes made touring difficult, unfortunately ensured that they were all but ignored in the U.S. Still, they maintained a strong following in Europe, and leader Justin Sullivan managed to keep them going for more than two decades.

New Model Army was formed in the Yorkshire town of Bradford in 1980. In keeping with the band's intellectual bent, their name was taken from Oliver Cromwell's antiroyalist military force, whose hierarchy was based on ability rather than social class, and which temporarily succeeded in toppling the monarchy in the mid-1600s. Early on, guitarist/vocalist/bandleader Justin Sullivan adopted the nom de punk Slade the Leveller, which despite its aggressive ring was an esoteric reference to the Levellers, a radical democratic faction of Cromwell associates. The concept for New Model Army grew out of a meeting between Sullivan and writer Joolz Denby, who went on to become a respected poet, novelist, and spoken word artist in her own right; the two also became lifelong romantic partners. Bassist Stuart Morrow was the first to sign on, and after a rotating succession of drummers, Rob Heaton became a permanent member, as well as Sullivan's frequent songwriting partner. Denby, for her part, served as the band's manager early on, and while the job ultimately proved too time-consuming, she continued to design the band's cover art and occasionally provided backing vocals in the studio; the band also backed her on several albums of her own, credited simply to Joolz.

New Model Army spent a couple of years gigging around Yorkshire and building a substantial buzz in the British music press. In 1983, the group issued its debut single, "Bittersweet," which landed them a deal with the indie label Abstract by the end of the year. Their first release for Abstract was the politically charged "Great Expectations" single, which reached the British indie singles charts and set the stage for their debut album, 1984's Vengeance. Songs like the antiwar "Spirit of the Falklands," the frustrated "Small Town England," and the militant title track further defined NMA's perspective. In its wake, the non-LP single "The Price" was a smash on the indie charts, and major label EMI stepped in to sign the band.

New Model Army's first single for EMI, "No Rest," climbed into the British Top 30 in early 1985, marking the first of the band's 12 pop-chart entries. It was followed in short order by the album No Rest for the Wicked; however, bassist Stuart Morrow left the band that May, prior to the LP's release. Sullivan and Heaton cut the mostly acoustic Better Than Them EP before finding a permanent replacement in 17-year-old Jason "Moose" Harris. Following the non-LP single "Brave New World," Harris made his album debut on 1986's Glyn Johns-produced The Ghost of Cain, which expanded the group's acoustic folk influence and featured contributions from harmonica player Mark Feltham. The single "51st State," a critique of Britain's relationship with the United States, was a hit in Europe, and a dance remix of "Poison Street" was successful in the U.K.; additionally, album opener "The Hunt" was later covered by Brazilian metal band Sepultura.

"White Coats," a track from a self-titled 1987 EP, became the band's biggest hit in some time, adding keyboards to their sound. Guitarist Ricky Warwick briefly joined their touring lineup that year before moving on to found the Almighty. Produced in part by Tom Dowd, NMA's next album, 1989's Thunder and Consolation, was widely acclaimed as their best ever, with an even stronger folk influence thanks to the presence of violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson. The single "Green and Grey" was also tabbed a highlight of the band's career, and both "Stupid Questions" and "Vagabonds" charted in the U.K. Chris McLaughlin joined as a second guitarist for the supporting tour, but bassist Harris later departed, and was replaced by Peter Nelson, formerly of Brotherhood of Lizards. Nelson debuted on 1990's Impurity, which also featured new second guitarist Adrian Portas.

After one more album, the 1991 double live set Raw Melody Men, NMA left EMI to sign with Epic. They released only one album, 1993's The Love of Hopeless Causes, which spawned the single "Here Comes the War." Several CD compilations of the group's singles, as well as B-sides, radio sessions, and other rarities appeared during the early-'90s reissue boom. The band, though, fell mostly silent during the middle of the decade. In the meantime, Sullivan and Joolz formed a four-person performance collective dubbed Red Sky Coven, which offered an informal mishmash of music, poetry, comedy, and spoken word. Sullivan reconvened New Model Army in 1998, still with a core of Nelson and Heaton, and with a supporting membership of guitarists/keyboardists Dave Blomberg and Dean White. This lineup, augmented by strings and brass, recorded Strange Brotherhood for the U.K. label Eagle. Its supporting European tour produced another live album, the double-disc ...& Nobody Else, released by Attack Attack. That label also issued the studio follow-up, Eight, in 2000; it marked the group's first album without longtime drummer Heaton, who was replaced by Michael Dean. The odds 'n' ends collection Lost Songs appeared in 2001, and a Sullivan solo album (Navigating by the Stars) in 2003. Sad news came in 2004 with the death of Heaton, but as New Model Army turned 25 it continued to soldier on. The studio album Carnival appeared from Attack Attack in August 2005; it featured Sullivan, Dean, Nelson, Blomberg, and White. EMI also announced plans to reissue expanded, re-mastered editions of NMA's back catalog. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Carnival Buy this CD	Great Expectations: The Singles Collection Buy this CD	BD3 EP Buy this CD	Fuck Texas, Sing for Us Buy this CD	Thunder and Consolation Buy this CD
Thunder and Consolation Buy this CD	Live 161203 Buy this CD	Love of Hopeless Causes Buy this CD	No Rest for the Wicked [China Bonus CD] Buy this CD	Small Town England Buy this CD

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