Was Cromwell Revolutionary?

To what extent were the

political and social organizations under Cromwell revolutionary?

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        Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector (not king) in 1653 after a series of events and namely the beheading at his demand of the previous ruler of England: King Charles I.  England was henceforth a Republic, ruled by parliament and the military; England was under the new rule of Oliver Cromwell.  After having defeated the Royalists and beheaded the king thanks to his New Model Army (NMA), whilst he was still a Member of Parliament, or MP (that of the Rump parliament which consisted only of the MP’s who agreed with Oliver Cromwell) and with Puritan fervor, he was asked to direct the military campaign in Catholic Ireland to end the Irish Confederate wars and to impose Puritanism which caused a lot of hatred towards the man from the Irish people.  He then proceeded to impose similar operations in Scotland.  He created the Barebone’s Parliament which was quickly dissolved and shortly afterwards he was proclaimed Lord Protector, which meant that he was not King of England, and that he was not appointed by God, and that he did not believe in the divine right to rule; he strongly rejected these three belief systems because they conflict with his beliefs as a Puritan.  The Puitans believed in direct communication with God instead of dealing through the Church’s hierarchy.  During his time as Lord Protector the country was now known as a republic called the Protectorate or the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, Cromwell had many Puritan lifestyle laws passed (such as banning Christmas or outlawing drunkenness and even pubs). He only had the army on his side, which he had trained and led through many successful battles, consequently he instated major generals as rulers of the 11 districts into which England had been divided. On his deathbed, Cromwell appointed his own son (Richard Cromwell) to be his successor, which, despite his efforts to differentiate himself from a king, is exactly what royalty had been doing for a thousand years before him.  Richard Cromwell ruled for 7 months before he was removed by the Grandees of the New Model Army (NMA) and replaced by Charles II.  Charles II promptly and thoroughly got rid of all the laws Oliver Cromwell had passed under the Protectorate, he also exhumed Cromwell and beheaded his body publicly in order to disgrace him.

For the purpose of this essay, revolution will be defined as a process of radical change which modified society which has had an impact and which has persisted through time.  Although Oliver Cromwell succeeded to temporarily replace the monarchy by a republic in England, his efforts regarding politics were futile. However, his impact on society can be observed throughout history and persists to this day.  In the first part of this essay the revolutionary impact, or lack thereof, of Cromwell’s political organizations will be studied. The social impact Cromwell had on society at the time and his persisting impact will follow.  Finally, an overall observation of how revolutionary Cromwell’s organization's influence was over time will be presented, followed by a recap and a conclusion one can come to with the provided evidence and points.

When at 29 years of age, Oliver Cromwell was called in to Parliament as an MP in 1628, he made very few speeches and had a limited impact on the session.  Charles I then ruled for 11 years without Parliament.  When the king decided to finally call Parliament back in 1640 (this session would become known as the Long Parliament, because it lasted until 1660), Cromwell was once again called in as an MP, this time he was more determined to make an impact.  Cromwell who was a Puritan formed an alliance with other Puritans in Parliament in order to promote the idea that the King’s power should be limited, tested; which was an unthinkable concept at the time because according to the traditional Protestant story, the king was appointed by God, so challenging the king was equivalent to challenging God. Because Puritans did not believe in divine right they therefore did not approve of the king’s rule.  Oliver Cromwell, along with his fellow Puritan MPs decided to attempt to limit Charles I’s power.  This was part of the parliaments intended purpose: to keep the executive power in check.  Even though that was not the case in Charles I’s eyes, to him the parliament’s role was to approve money and pass laws and then go home.  When the parliament came to impose limitations to his Highness’ power, Charles I did not believe it and thought it would lead nowhere since he held the divine right to rule:  Oliver Cromwell would prove him wrong.

When Charles I refused to hand over his power the parliament was forced to take arms and go to battle.  All the major MP’s rounded up some of their cavalry and soldiers.  But Cromwell came up with a revolutionary idea: instead of basing a soldier’s capacity to fight on economic status and social status which was what had been being done by the king’s army (called the royalists, or the cavaliers), Cromwell’s army consisted of common men, he trained them himself, and the promotions were based upon merit and not on the social hierarchy.  His army eventually came to be known as the New Model Army.  This allowed Cromwell to win on the battlefield in Marston Moor against the Royalist army who were being led by King Charles I’s nephew, Prince Rupert of the Rhine. The NMA, despite being outmanned nearly 2 to 1, won the battle due to discipline, conditioning and training, all things that the royalist army lacked in.  This loss for the Royalists was what eventually led to the regicide of Charles I by beheading, this was the first time in the history of England, and it might have impacted the French revolution and their people’s decision to behead their king (Louis XVI in 1793).  The NMA went on to win many battles for Cromwell and eventually became the nation’s army when Cromwell became Lord Protector.  All the consecutive victories Cromwell had on the battlefield thanks to his Army helped him realize something that only very few politicians of the time realized: “power ultimately lies in the Army”.  This was a revolutionary thought, because to this day, the true power of a country lies in its ability to destroy another country, entity or group.[pic 2][pic 3]

In 1659, Oliver Cromwell dies and despite having spent a lifetime fighting against royalty, its customs and principles, Oliver Cromwell passes his mantle of Lord Protector to his eldest son, Richard Cromwell.  Richard Cromwell was an unsuccessful ruler, he was lazy and did not understand the intricacies of ruling a country. Seven months after his father died and was granted the mantle of Lord Protector, the major generals of the New Model Army and the Grandees of Parliament removed him from his position, they decided to replace Richard, by Charles I’s son, Charles II.  Charles II promptly and efficiently removed all the laws that had been passed under Cromwell’s rule, including the banning of Christmas and illegalizing drunkenness which were laws the were passed because Cromwell was a Puritan and he believed that Christmas celebration was a pagan festivity that distracted the people from God.  By removing these laws,  Charles II effectively set the political clock back about 10 years in England, rendering any political effect that Cromwell had on England useless and not revolutionary because it did not have a persisting effect through time, despite the fact it strayed far from what was considered normal for the time,

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