Good Points on Cromwell

Historians have very different opinions about Cromwell. Some say he was a hypocrite and acted very much like the king he tried so hard to remove. Others see him as a great military leader and focus on his importance in increasing the power of parliament. They see the execution of Charles 1 as the first step towards democracy in Britain. Opinions at the time were just as divided.
Many people thought Cromwell as a hero, and they had a lot of evidence to back it. The main one is the fact that he won the war-a good thing for any commander. Also he is a very good commander, who can easily maintain his troops during the heat of battle. Good leadership is always a key to win. Also he had very skilled loyal men in his ‘model’ army. This army was a great success as he didn’t chose people for their rank and title, he chose them because of their strength bravery and skill in the art of war. But they key to the soldiers loyalty was through their stomachs. This new army was well paid and well fed so they would easily mach another army full of poor, tired and hungry farmers who would happily desert their comrades and go home. That was where the success from the model army came from-loyalty.
Many believed that upon killing the king, Cromwell was fit for the throne himself. But Cromwell didn’t take the post and for good reason, He wanted to be admired throughout his life and keeping the place of the last king to a traitor. So when anyone said king, they remembered only a traitor who fought his own people and plotted with the Scottish against his own country.
Furthermore, Cromwell wanted to keep the (or in his mind his) kingdom from arguing. This is what parliament was doing-bickering and bickering about little things. This continued until Cromwell reaches his limits and shut them down. Sound familiar?
Afterwards, Cromwell decided to run the country by himself. So he split it up into 11 districts, each run by a major general. The major generals used to be commanders and where happy to back Cromwell’s ideas as they were getting promoted and paid more. Without parliament to say anything, Cromwell began to introduce new laws. He was only able to do this because there was no parliament and he had the whole army behind him. These new laws were things that would make people lead a more religious life. For example you weren’t allowed to do certain things on a Sunday like getting your hair cut or beard trimmed and something’s like drinking were banned all the time. While this did disappoint some people, it lowered the crime rate by a large scale! But even as the lord protector (Cromwell) is a puritan, he still had parties and still drank and did a number of things against his own laws but, who can arrest the king?
People thought he was a hero because of his treatment to the Irish Catholics. He destroyed them. It was only puritans who thought they deserved to die as they thought they were evil people.
Cromwell was smart not to take the throne as when the army killed a king they didn’t want to make a king, and without the army behind him Cromwell had no control of anything so his laws would be broken continuously if the people learned that nothing would happen when they broke the law. The majority of people are in the lower midst of the hierarchy so the more people on his side the better. Luckily the levellers didn’t want another king so turning down the throne was good for them (not that he would of cared about people so low in the hierarchy. Many royalists would back him up too as they believed in divine right. This is when people think that god chose them for who they are and the king was god’s chosen one and replacing him with Cromwell wouldn’t help. Now that is what Cromwell cared about as they have the money to supply him with armour, weapons and food for his army.
Oliver Cromwell wasn’t all good; many people decided that he was a villain. They say he was almost exactly the same as the king. He lived in his palaces, had his titles, controlled his servants and had his salary of 1000000 pounds (which was like billions in that time). He acted very much like the king too. Closing down parliament and ruling the country by himself (although he did do a better job of it). Also the people who offered him the crown would be angry as he turned them down and they humiliated themselves. The kings choices disappointed and aggravated many people like all choices do but he ruined people’s lives with some of his laws. Once drinking became illegal, all the tavern owners who had put their live in their business lose their money and must partake in another job, which would be hard as many other people would be doing the same. Many more were disappointed to like when gambling was banned, casinos were closed and the owners became poor. This also affects the gamblers too, though much less as they could have lost all their money while gambling. But it was still ruining peoples fun and much more by banning Christmas! As Christmas was a Christian celebration, puritans thought it right to be banned and anyone with meat near the date of Christmas would be fined and the meat confiscated. Also no singing and dancing or playing of musical instruments
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was allowed on a Sunday.
Despite his obvious skill in battle, many still doubted his capabilities. Some say he won with sheer numbers, and that he didn’t hire from pure skill as he hired his son-in-law. Also many royalists thought killing god’s chosen one as a sin and kept changing their ideas of Cromwell. I think that Cromwell didn’t think he was being evil when he was as he was pleasing some people while horrifying the other so when somebody pointed something out he said the good thing and then killed them for doubting him. Cromwell had loyal people but at the same time had very bad enemies. Personally I think Cromwell was a VILLAIN.
Oliver Cromwell reorganised the national church, established Puritanism, readmitted Jews into Britain and presided over a certain degree of religious tolerance. Abroad, he ended the war with Portugal (1653) and Holland (1654) and allied with France against Spain, defeating the Spanish at the Battle of the Dunes (1658).
He was a courageous and charismatic leader, and the only English commoner ever to seize power in a coup d'état.

He was a good commander - he made sure his men were well trained and properly equipped, so therefore they had a better chance of surviving in battle. This gained him the loyalty of troops under his command. Further, he was never defeated in a major battle where he was in command

He was brave, strong, clever, and a wartime leader.
Cromwell was a strong puritan faith.
He wanted people to choose how they worshipped.
He was the most powerful man in England.
He was a very good General who was inspirational to his men. He became Lord Protector & was offered the Crown. He was succeeded in this by his son; prior to the restoration in 1660 he upheld the rights of Parliament.
Oliver Cromwell originally wanted revolution as a soldier. He was very mad at Charles I because his family was impoverished because Charles taxed him so much. He believed in a military government and turned down the crown and stayed the Lord Protector. He didn't believe in kings and was strongly against Charles I. After he accomplished what he wanted he no longer wanted revolution.

Oliver Cromwell was a very religious man. He had a radical edge which came from religion. He believed that he and his troops were chosen by god. He was a puritan and believes in the "Liberty of Conscience" { allows freedom to a range of Protestant groups} he called this his principal achievement from the wars. He also believed in all work and no fun/entertainment. Since he had such strong religious beliefs it helped him succeed.

Politics played a huge part in Oliver Cromwell's life. His military power enhanced his political power. His many military victories gave him confidence. He wanted to be the leader of England but also represent the people. He stayed on as Lord Protector until he died, which was about 5 years. Politics got Oliver Cromwell noticed and recognized on a world stage.

Oliver Cromwell came a long way to get to be the lord protector. His family were farmers and were taxed a lot by Charles. He cared about the poor because they were people to. He was middle class and cared about the people. Since Oliver Cromwell started as Middle Class he knew what the people wanted.

Since Oliver Cromwell was a puritan his day to day life didn't change that much. When he was younger he went to school. As he got older he became the head of the military and had to deal with all the jobs that came with it. He would listen to his middle class advisers. He would also practice religion and the biggest thing he'd do everyday was WORK! Evan thought Oliver Cromwell's life was pretty basic it got him a long way.

Oliver Cromwell had a lot of opposition but not as much as some kings. His main opposition was Charles I because he got Charles kicked out parliament and put on trial for treason and eventually killed. His military opposition was the Cavaliers {Charles' Army}. He also had some Presbyterians against him because he wouldn't let Charles back into power.
After he died Charles II { Charles I son} was brought to power and dug Cromwell up then cut him up into pieces and had them scattered across the country so he couldn't ever be put back together. The opposition that Cromwell had he quickly got rid of.