Throughout its history England has mostly been a monarchy headed by its kings and queens, but for several years in the mid-17th century Britain was a republic. In January 1642 King Charles I stormed into the Parliament building in an unsuccessful attempt to arrest several MPs. It ultimately led to the Civil War. On one side were the Royalist supporters of the king; on the opposing side were Parliamentarians who considered that Charles was being too dictatorial. There were also religious elements in the conflict. Royalists generally supported the established Anglican church, while breakaway non-conformists such as Presbyterians, Baptists and Congregationalists supported Parliament. After several years of war, King Charles was captured, put on trial, and executed. During the conflict, Oliver Cromwell rose to become a Parliamentarian military leader, and then leader of the country as ‘Lord Protector’. Yet people found the Parliamentarians no better than the monarchs. Following Cromwell’s death, in 1660 Charles’s son was invited back to the throne as King Charles II, an event we call the Restoration of the Monarchy. The statue of Cromwell was erected in 1899.