Only after his death did the republic fall. He held office for five years as Lord Protector. Cromwell founded the British Empire based on sea power and trade. Cromwell's achievement abroad was equally impressive - witness Clarendon's judgement 'the glory he had at home was but a shadow of the greatness he had abroad'. He defeated the royalists in Scotland and Ireland, bringing those recalcitrant outbacks into England's orbit. He played a dominant role in the execution of Charles I. Parliament's victory in the Civil War owed him an immense debt. He transformed the social and political establishment of his day. Yet within a decade he would rule the British Isles.Ĭromwell's achievement was indeed amazing. Obscure, poor, unstable, seemingly not very bright, Cromwell looked like a natural loser rather than a natural leader. The scruffily, badly shaven, purple-faced backbencher was just what he seemed: a failed Huntingdonshire businessman, a religious eccentric, 'an unguided missile not really under ground control'. 'That sloven' was Oliver Cromwell, haranguing the first session of the Long Parliament. Hampden, who is that sloven?' demanded the nattily dressed Philip Warwick.
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