Why did the English Civil War start?

The English Civil Wars started due to a combination of long and short term factors. In the short-term, the war can be seen to be triggered by an immediate breakdown in the relationship between the King, Charles I, and his Parliament. The root of this short-term breakdown was finance: Charles needed to raise money to pay reparations to Scotland following a failed conflict, but Parliament refused to provide the necessary funding. In the longer term, however, it is possible to identify more ideological issues at the root of the war. Both Charles and Parliament beleived they were acting on the will of the people. Charles, as King, commanded the power of his Divine Right as King, which he beleived justified any actions he saw fit to improve the country. In contrast, Parliament saw themselves as the representatives of the people, acting in defiance of a king that had slid into an absolutist rulership over the previous decade. Thus, one can also see the Civil War as being caused by an ideological battle revolving around rulership, during a time when questions over government, royalty and authority were rife.