Oliver Cromwell was an English soldier and statesman who led parliamentary forces in the English Civil Wars. He was lord protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1653 to 1658 during the republican Commonwealth.
…show more content…
However, during the first three years he was chiefly absorbed in campaigns against the Royalists in Ireland and Scotland. He also had to suppress a mutiny, inspired by a group known as Levellers, a Puritan group aimed at "levelling" between rich and poor, in the Commonwealth army. Detesting the Irish as primitive, savage, and superstitious, he believed they had carried out a huge massacre of English settlers in 1641. As commander in chief and lord lieutenant, he waged a ruthless campaign against them. On his return to London in May 1650 Cromwell was ordered to lead an army to Scotland, where Charles II had been acknowledged as its new king. Fairfax refused the command; so on June 25 Cromwell was appointed captain general in his place. He felt tender toward the Scots, most of whom were fellow Puritans, than toward the Catholic Irish. The campaign proved difficult, and during the winter of 1650 Cromwell was taken ill. But he defeated the Scots with an army inferior in numbers at Dunbar on September 3, 1650, and a year later, when Charles II advanced into England, Cromwell destroyed his army at Worcester. (Smith, 1991 & Sherwood, …show more content…
Now Cromwell hoped for pacification, a political settlement, and social reform. The army believed that the members of Parliament were corrupt and that a new Parliament should be called. Once again Cromwell tried to mediate between the two antagonists, but his sympathies were with his soldiers. When he finally came to the conclusion that Parliament must be dissolved and replaced, he called in his musketeers and on April 20, 1653, expelled the members from the House. He said they were "corrupt and unjust men and scandalous to the profession of the Gospel"; two months later he set up a nominated assembly to take their place. In a speech on July 4 he told the new members that they must be just, and, "ruling in the fear of God," resolve the affairs of the
However, during the first three years he was chiefly absorbed in campaigns against the Royalists in Ireland and Scotland. He also had to suppress a mutiny, inspired by a group known as Levellers, a Puritan group aimed at "levelling" between rich and poor, in the Commonwealth army. Detesting the Irish as primitive, savage, and superstitious, he believed they had carried out a huge massacre of English settlers in 1641. As commander in chief and lord lieutenant, he waged a ruthless campaign against them. On his return to London in May 1650 Cromwell was ordered to lead an army to Scotland, where Charles II had been acknowledged as its new king. Fairfax refused the command; so on June 25 Cromwell was appointed captain general in his place. He felt tender toward the Scots, most of whom were fellow Puritans, than toward the Catholic Irish. The campaign proved difficult, and during the winter of 1650 Cromwell was taken ill. But he defeated the Scots with an army inferior in numbers at Dunbar on September 3, 1650, and a year later, when Charles II advanced into England, Cromwell destroyed his army at Worcester. (Smith, 1991 & Sherwood, …show more content…
Now Cromwell hoped for pacification, a political settlement, and social reform. The army believed that the members of Parliament were corrupt and that a new Parliament should be called. Once again Cromwell tried to mediate between the two antagonists, but his sympathies were with his soldiers. When he finally came to the conclusion that Parliament must be dissolved and replaced, he called in his musketeers and on April 20, 1653, expelled the members from the House. He said they were "corrupt and unjust men and scandalous to the profession of the Gospel"; two months later he set up a nominated assembly to take their place. In a speech on July 4 he told the new members that they must be just, and, "ruling in the fear of God," resolve the affairs of the