Was there a political revolution in the United Kingdom?

Answer 1

Yes, very much so- it resulted in the English Civil War of 1642-45. Up until then the UK had been an Absolute Monarchy, where the King or Queen had total power- there was a Parliament, but it was made up of Ministers who were appointed by The Crown. Public anger and dissent against this system began growing from the latter years of Elizabeth 1st's reign, until by the time of the reign of Charles 1st it had reached such a pitch that people were demanding the right to elect their own leader and not have it imposed upon them. The leader of this pro-democracy movement was Oliver Cromwell, who took command of what became known as the 'English Revolution' that resulted in the overthrowing of the Absolute system, the imprisonment and ultimate execution of the King, and the devastating 3-year war that ravaged the British Isles. Cromwell did not want to execute King Charles, he just wanted him to become the figurehead of a Constitutional Government, but Charles 1st believed, like all of his predecessors, in 'The Divine Right of Kings'- that is, that he had been appointed by God to be the governing authority and that it was not within human power to dispute that. He was only beheaded after several attempts to just keep him imprisoned due to his stubbornness, and his repeated escapes from jail to lead the Royalist Army during the war and have Cromwell and his Generals killed. Support for Cromwell was strongest in England- Wales (which in those days was not officially regarded as a separate nation) was evenly divided, whereas Scotland (by then still a separate monarchy, albeit a weakened one) was largely passively Royalist but had a vociferous and highly proactive Parliamentarian minority. The Irish couldn't make up their minds, until Cromwell's atrocities in the country turned them violently against him and led them to favour the King instead.