The English Civil War was in many senses the most traumatic set of events in English history. Professor Jeremy Black
Oliver Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland in 1649 has become notorious in Irish history. It’s regarded as a clear sign of the cruelty of the English. Professor Jeremy Black
On a freezing January day in 1649 the executioner’s axe ended the reign and the life of King Charles I. It was the final melancholy episode in one of England’s saddest stories. Jeremy Black, The English Civil War I, 2003
Ultimately, no corner of the British Isles was left untouched by a bloody and tragic war that set brother against brother and mother against son. ibid.
Although religion was the major factor in the escalation of national unrest it was economic issues arising from the religious discontent that would finally light the fuse and plunge the country into civil war. ibid.
In November 1641 Parliament presented King Charles with the Grand Remonstrance. A list of two hundred and one objections to his governmental methods. ibid.
The days and weeks after the Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 had probably provided King Charles with his best and only chance of winning the Civil War outright. He had failed to take it. Jeremy Black, The English Civil War II: A Nation at War
The winters of the early 1640s were particularly severe ... All around the country garrisons were attacked, convoys were ambushed and a pattern of constant raid and counter-raid was established. ibid.
There is still some argument among Civil War historians as to whether a Royalist strategy for the year 1643 had actually been formulated. ibid.
By the end of 1643 the whole of England was paying a terrible price for the continuation of an increasingly bitter Civil War. ibid.
With the agreement of the Solemn League and Covenant the whole complexion of the war was altered. For it bound the Scots to provide an army on the Parliamentary side. ibid.
The Battle of Marston Moor: the decisive battle of the English Civil War. ibid.
After the Battle of Naseby ordinary people throughout the land believed that the war was very close to its conclusion. Jeremy Black, The English Civil War III: To Kill a King
The King surrendered himself to the Scots Army near Newark in Nottinghamshire 5th May 1646. ibid.
Even though they had won a comprehensive victory over his forces, the army still recognised King Charles as their rightful sovereign. They had taken to the field in order to curb the arbitrary excesses of his government which they attributed to his wicked advisers. ibid.
Incredibly, the King had managed to engineer a second civil war in the country. ibid.
Now, Cromwell was the King’s impalpable enemy certain that it was God’s will that Charles should die. ibid.
The execution of King Charles in January 1649 was not the final chapter in one of Britain’s most tragic stories. If the people of the British Isles imagined a new era of peace and stability, they were to be sorely disappointed. Jeremy Black, The English Civil War IV: The Shadow of the Scaffold
With the King gone, Cromwell at last began to wield real political authority, and he was elected as the first chairman of the new Council of State that was first convened in February 1649. ibid.
Cromwell had achieved his ambitions through the power of his personality. The force of his fiery oratory. And his undoubted military genius. He had created a unique opportunity to realise his dream of establishing the New Jerusalem in England. ibid.
This phase of Cromwell’s life was to bring him lasting infamy in so many parts of Ireland and the British Isles. On 4th September 1649 Cromwell’s fearsome New Model Army made an assault on the Royalist held town of Drogheda. ibid.
Behind him Oliver Cromwell left a lasting legacy of bitterness and hatred in Ireland that endures to this very day. ibid.
The dark clouds of war gathered once more. ibid.
Despite Fairfax’s deep reservations Cromwell invaded Scotland entering the country in the summer of 1650. ibid.
Finally in April 1653 Cromwell lost patience. Forewarned of a parliamentary plot to relieve him of his command of the Army, Cromwell prepared for the parliamentary debate on the issue by placing thirty of his trusted musketeers in the lobby of the House. ibid.
It is one of history’s great ironies that Cromwell’s rule over England was more tyrannical and extreme in nature than that of any Royalist. ibid.
In all but name Cromwell had become the King he had helped to remove with so much bloodshed. ibid.
On 3rd September 1658 on the anniversary of his great victories at Dunbar and Worcester Oliver Cromwell breathed his last. After his death Cromwell’s much hoped for constitutional and religious settlements were never to be achieved. In the uncertain hands of his son Richard his protectorate survived only twenty more months. ibid.
A new parliament was elected. And their first Act was to invite Prince Charles back from the low countries to rule as Charles II. ibid.
For the restoration of the Stuart dynasty would prove merely an interlude. And the Glorious Revolution of 1668 restored many of the values of the protectorate. ibid.
I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else. Oliver Cromwell, letter to Sir William Spring September 1643
A few honest men are better than numbers. Oliver Cromwell
We study the glory of God, and the honour and liberty of parliament, for which we unanimously fight, without seeking our own interests ... I profess I could never satisfy myself on the justness of this war, but from the authority of the parliament to maintain itself in its rights; and in this cause I hope to prove myself an honest man and single-hearted. Oliver Cromwell, September 1644
We declared our intentions to preserve monarchy, and they still are so, unless necessity enforce an alteration. It’s granted the King has broken his trust, yet you are fearful to declare you will make no further addresses ... look on the people you represent, and break not your trust, and expose not the honest party of your kingdom, who have bled for you, and suffer not misery to fall upon them for want of courage and resolution in you, else the honest people may take such courses as nature dictates to them. Oliver Cromwell, speech House of Commons January 1648
I tell you we will cut off his head with the crown upon it. Cromwell, December 1648
That country is in a most pitiful condition. No corner of it free from the evils of a cruel war. Every shire, every city, many families divided in this quarrel. Much blood and universal spoil made by both where they prevail. Robert Bailey, Scottish commissioner to London, letter home November 1643
Brother, what I feared is proved to be true, which is your being against the King. Give me leave to tell you in my opinion tis most unhandsomely done. And it grieves my heart to think my father already and I who dearly esteem you should be bound to be your enemy. I hear it is a great grief to my father. Edmund Verney MP, letter to brother Ralph
Instead what they want is to secure a civilian form of government that would be friendly towards the army, and will fulfil the army’s military, religious, political, constitutional ambitions and agenda. Dr Peter Gaunt, Chester College
The year is 1640. A gentleman farmer in East Anglia has so far lived his life in obscurity. But now at the age of 40 he is on the verge of greatness. Richard Holmes, Great Britons: Cromwell, BBC 2002
To the horror of Charles I parliament began make assertions and pushing for a series of measures that challenged the authority of the King and the established Church. But Charles wouldn’t back down. ibid.
The two armies drew up on either side of this low valley ... Here in the middle there were more than 10,000 men shooting and stabbing at each other. ibid.
The army was increasingly mistrustful of parliament ... They published demands for liberty, justice and freedom from tyranny. ibid.
Once again England descended into civil war, and Cromwell gave up the complexities of politics to return to the simple loyalties of battle. He won a series of victories and emerged even more convinced that God was on his side. ibid.
On 20th January 1649 King Charles I was put on trial in Westminster Hall. ibid.
Early on 30th January 1649 King Charles I walked through the Banqueting House at Whitehall and stepped through a first floor window on to a great scaffold. ibid.
Cromwell’s lasting reputation as a butcher here in Ireland rests on his wholesale killing of the garrison and also on the charge that he ordered the murder of unarmed civilians. The story about the civilians is a myth ... But there’s no doubt about the slaughter of the garrison. ibid.
On 16th December he accepted a new title – Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. ibid.