Concept

Oliver Cromwell

Overview

Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, farmer and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially as a senior commander in the Parliamentarian army and later as a politician. A leading advocate of the execution of Charles I in January 1649, which led to the establishment of the Commonwealth of England, Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector from December 1653 until his death in September 1658.

Although elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon in 1628, much of Cromwell's life prior to 1640 was marked by financial and personal failure. He became a religious Independent in the 1630s, and thereafter believed his successes were the result of divine providence. In 1640, he served as MP for Cambridge in the Short and Long Parliaments. He joined the Parliamentarian army when the First English Civil War began in August 1642 and quickly demonstrated his military prowess. In 1645, he was appointed commander of the New Model Army cavalry under Thomas Fairfax, and he played a key role in winning the English Civil War.

The death of Charles I and exile of his son Charles II, followed by military victories in Ireland and Scotland, firmly established the Commonwealth and Cromwell's dominance of the new regime. In December 1653, he was named Lord Protector, a position he retained for the remaining five years of his life. After his death in 1658, he was succeeded by his son Richard, whose weakness led to a power vacuum. This culminated in the 1660 Stuart Restoration, after which Cromwell's body was removed from Westminster Abbey and hanged at Tyburn on 30 January 1661 as a posthumous execution. His head was cut off and displayed on the roof of Westminster Hall. It remained there until at least 1684, then spent the next three centuries in a succession of private collections before being reburied in 1960.

Cromwell's historical reputation is continually debated. He is a controversial figure due to his use of military force to acquire and retain political power, his role in the execution of Charles I, and the brutality of his 1649 conquest of Ireland. Winston Churchill described Cromwell as a military dictator, while others view him a hero of liberty.

First proposed in 1856, his statue outside the Houses of Parliament was not erected until 1895, with most of the funds privately supplied by Prime Minister Archibald Primrose.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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Well, Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate, or Dictatorate if you will, lasted for about ten years, and you will find that nothing that was contrary to the laws of Heaven was allowed to live by Oliver. (A laugh, and applause.) For example, it was found by his Parliament, called "Barebones"--the most zealous of all Parliaments probably--the Court of Chancery in England was in a state that was really capable of no…
Thomas Carlyle, On the Choice of Books
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Of European wars I really hardly remember any, since Oliver Cromwell's last Protestant or Liberation war with Popish antichristian Spain some two hundred years ago, to which I for my own part could have contributed my life with any heartiness, or in fact would have subscribed money itself to any considerable amount. Dutch William, a man of some heroism, did indeed get into troubles with Louis Fourteenth; and there…
Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets
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Oliver Cromwell was regarded with admiration by the Puritans and independents of England; he is still their hero; but Richard Cromwell, his son, is my man. The first is a fanatic who would be hissed to-day in the House of Commons, if he uttered there one single one of the unintelligible absurdities which he gave out with so much confidence before other fanatics who listened to him open-mouthed and wide-eyed, in the…
Voltaire, Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary
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Oliver Cromwell

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