Cromwell was a strong critic of Charles II. Cromwell joined the Parliamentary forces and served under Edward Montagu, Duke of Manchester. Cromwell took the job with no military training, although his experience of a large landowner gave him vast knowledge on horses. Cromwell figured that if he could produce a well-disciplined army he could defeat King Charles II. Cromwell trained his Calvary to keep together after a charge. This way his men could repeatedly charge the Cavaliers. Cromwell’s army took place in its first major battle at Marston Moor in Yorkshire in July 1644. Cromwell’s disciplined soldiers destroyed the King’s army. Cromwell’s men became known as Ironsides because of the way they cut through the cavaliers on the battlefield. Cromwell’s army just kept becoming stronger by each passing day and things were not looking good for King Charles.
The battle of Naseby was the turning point of the war. After Naseby, Charles was unable to raise another army fit enough to defeat Cromwell’s. In January 1647, Charles I fled to Scotland where he was eventually captured and handed over to the parliamentary army. Charles was imprisoned in Hampton Court, but in November 1647 he managed to escape and raise another army. This time Charles was able to persuade the Scots to fight on his side. IN august 1648 Cromwell’s army defeated the Kings and once again Charles was taken prisoner. Now that Parliament was in control of England its members began to argue amongst themselves. Most members of Parliament were Presbyterians. These men were willing to spare power with the king. They disapproved of other puritan groups such as Anabaptists, Quakers and Congregationalists and wanted them suppressed. They were later expelled from Parliament. Charles I was eventually put on trial for being a traitor. In 1649 Charles was found guilty and executed outside his Whitehall Palace. Once Charles was gone, Parliament tried to get rid of all Monarch power.
Cromwell showed his true colors in the summer of 1649. Cromwell and 12,00 soldiers arrived in Ireland. During the next ten years of blood shed it is estimated that about a third of the population was either killed or died of starvation. The majority of Roman Catholics who owned land had it taken from them and were removed to the province of Connacht. Catholic boys and girls were shipped off to Barbados and sold to planters as slaves. The land stolen from the Roman Catholics was given to Cromwell’s Protestant soldiers who had helped him with the slaughter. Before Cromwell entered Ireland Catholics owned 59 % of the land. By the time he had left that number had shrunk to 22 %.
Even though House of Commons continued to meet, it was Cromwell who controlled everything. As soon as someone disagreed with him he abolished it.
In 1658 Cromwell decided he wanted his son, Richard Cromwell, to become the Lord Protector after him. The English army did not care much for this, while they respected Oliver, his son was just a country boy.
On September 3rd, 1658 Oliver Cromwell passed away. His son took his positions as Lord Protector. Later on the Generals forced Richard to resign from government.
Sadly to this day we still have people like Oliver Cromwell running the world. We hear about them all the time in the news. People like Osama Bin Laden and Sudam insane. You hear of these people and you think crazy, insane, and terrorists. When you hear the name Oliver Cromwell do you think of these things? Hopefully you believe the second quote, he was a brutal man who got to his position by luck. The chips all fell his way.