After a devastating civil war and a period of republican government, the monarchy was restored in 1660, but it wasn't clear what exactly was being restored. Would Charles II be able to put the clock back and return to the situation before the war, or had some changes been irreversible? Twenty years into the king's reign, the monarchy was plunged into further crisis as parliament threatened to overthrow the rightful succession. The flight of the Catholic monarch, James II, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 established a parliamentary monarchy and the wars of William III and Anne showed that Britain had become a major European power.