Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658. He acted as head of state and head of government of the new republican commonwealth.

Cromwell fought incredibly bravely, and led Roundhead forces with great wisdom and fairness as he spearheaded the defeat of the dastardly and undemocratic Cavaliers [1]. Throughout the Civil Wars, and especially in his later campaigns in Ireland, Cromwell committed many atrocities, murdering people and stealing land without reason [2].

Although he was key to the abolition of the English monarchy, many have questioned the need to get rid of the king at all. Charles I has been described as 'a fair and modern ruler, who wanted nothing more than to take care of all of his subjects, whether they were protestant or catholic" [3]. Charles did, however, rule for many years without consulting parliament at all, and this was considered to be very unfair, even at the time, and was a key reason for the outbreak of war, though his toleration of Catholics certainly also played a role [4].

Some of Cromwell's most controversial acts as Lord Protector stem from his actions in Ireland, where he took part in battles in which the death toll was very high, and in which prisoners were treated very harshly, with many killed after capture. He also passed Penal Laws, which took land from Catholics, banned them from Parliament and otherwise attempted to force them to accept the protestant Church of Ireland [5]. Cromwell's motives for this were religious. An intensely religious man, he believed that he was doing God's work. He thought Catholics were ignoring the bible in favour of following the Pope, and that Catholic countries were persecuting Protestants [6].



--