Was Oliver Cromwell A Hero Or A Villain?

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Was Oliver Cromwell A Hero Or A Villain?

Oliver Cromwell, a hero or a villain?  Well, in this essay I will be giving my views on the question.  In a way Oliver Cromwell was a hero because under his command there were no wars.  However, his appalling behaviour in Ireland was very villain like.  He massacred a lot of Irish people and in most eyes this is despicable.

In Ireland, Cromwell proved himself as a villain. On his order he nailed a baby to a church door. This was heartless and ruthless, all the signs of a villain.  What man in his right mind would do such a thing?  Cromwell did and it brought out his bad side.

He starved the Irish.  When Cromwell was in Ireland he broke a lot of rules of the war, he was accused of being a ‘war criminal’. The rule ‘do not kill people, even soldiers, except in battle’ was just one of the rules he broke. He robbed the Irish of their food and money.  This then resulted in the starvation of the Irish.

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On Oliver’s command he massacred men, women and even children.  He drowned them at Wexford.  In total he massacred 3,500 Irish people.  In the process he also broke the other rule of ‘never kill women and children’!

‘Take only enough food for your army’, this was another rule Oliver Cromwell did indeed break.  He burnt and destroyed crops and houses, took a lot of their food and transported 12,000 Irish to the West Indies.  As a result of this and starvation, half of the population died.

Catholic services were forbidden and priests were executed.  Cromwell would not ...

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