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Oliver Cromwell Facts

Oliver Cromwell Facts
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader in the seventeenth century who through a series of shrewd political decisions and alliances became the "Lord Protector," or ruler of the British Isles, from 1653 until his death. He played a major, if not the most important role in the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), leading the "Roundhead" or parliamentarian faction against the "Cavalier" or loyalist faction. Cromwell oversaw the execution of King Charles I in 1649, which all but ended the English Civil Wars but earned him the enmity of many in England to this day. Many modern historians believe that Cromwell was the most influential man in modern British history. Cromwell was born on April 25, 1599 in Huntingdon, England to Robert and Elizabeth Cromwell, a wealthy commoner family. He married Elizabeth in 1620; the couple would have nine children. Cromwell began his political career when he was elected to Parliament in 1628
Interesting Oliver Cromwell Facts:
Cromwell was a Puritan and a militant Protestant. When the Irish Catholic elites signed an alliance with the Cavaliers in 1649, Cromwell led an invasion of Ireland. Thousands of Catholic civilians were killed by Parliamentarian troops and Cromwell confiscated Catholic owned lands under the Act for the Resettlement of Ireland Act of 1652.
Cromwell had no military experience before the English Civil Wars, but when the first war began he showed an ability to learn tactics and also to raise and train troops quickly.
He became commander of the Roundhead's cavalry after leading his troops to victory at the Battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644.
By the time the Second English Civil War began in 1648, the divisions between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers were also based along religions lines: Cromwell had become very anti-Catholic and in turn Catholics in Scotland, Ireland, and northern England supported Charles I.
After Charles I was executed in 1649, many Royalists fled to Ireland. Because the remaining Royalists were in Ireland, along the fact that the new "Commonwealth of England" included Ireland, led to Cromwell invading that country.
Once the king was executed and the royalists were defeated, the Roundheads began to fight among themselves. Cromwell eventually brought the factions together and was proclaimed Lord Protectorate in 1653. The title gave him most of the powers of the monarchy that ironically caused him to go to war.
Cromwell died on September 3, 1658 in London at the age of fifty-nine from a fever.
His son succeeded him as Lord Protectorate but was not able to hold power.
After the royalists regained power and restored the monarchy in 1661, Cromwell's body was exhumed, given a symbolic execution, and decapitated. His head was placed on a spike where it remained for more than twenty years before it was held by private individuals. Many believe that the head was still in circulation until the family in possession of it buried it in 1962.


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