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Schematic plan · Second English Civil War

Battle of Worcester

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorse01 km2 kmN

English Parliament (Eng Parl Army, 28,000 men under Cromwell) attacked Scottish Royalist (Scot Roy Army, 16,000 men under Charles II) in England. The CAA Database of Battles records 3.5 hours of fighting on a front of 5.6 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that English Parliament won. Losses: English Parliament 1,000 (4%), Scottish Royalist 9,000 (56%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

English Parliament

Cromwell

UnitArmMen
English Parliament left wingInfantry4,560
English Parliament centreInfantry6,080
English Parliament right wingInfantry4,560
English Parliament reserveInfantry3,800
English Parliament cavalry of the leftCavalry4,500
English Parliament cavalry of the rightCavalry4,500
CromwellCommander—
In this plan28,000

Scottish Royalist

Charles II

UnitArmMen
Scottish Royalist left wingInfantry2,880
Scottish Royalist centreInfantry3,840
Scottish Royalist right wingInfantry2,880
Scottish Royalist reserveInfantry2,400
Scottish Royalist cavalry of the leftCavalry2,000
Scottish Royalist cavalry of the rightCavalry2,000
Charles IICommander—
In this plan16,000

What the sources report

English ParliamentScottish Royalist
Strength, this plan28,00016,000
Losses, this plan1,0009,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 28, “Worcester”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
3.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
5.6 km (attacker), 5.6 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
English Parliamentattacker28,0001,0009,000—Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Scottish Royalistdefender16,0009,0004,000—Defensive/offensive plan; Frontal attack; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · training +1 · initiative +1 · combat effectiveness +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.