Cromwell
...5. The First civil War and Cromwell's military career
6. The Second Civil War
7. First chairman of the Council.
8. Cromwell as Lord Protector
a. Foreign policy.
b. Economic policy
c. Relations with Parliament.
9. Death and burial
10. General Characteristic and Assessment.
a. Private life and religious beliefs
b. Political views
11. A calendar of key events in Cromwell's life
Youth
Oliver Cromwell, an English soldier and statesman of outstanding gifts and a forceful character shaped by a devout Calvinist faith, was lord protector of
the republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1653 to 1658. One of the leading generals on the parliamentary side in the English Civil War against King Charles I, he helped to bring about the overthrow of the Stuart monarchy, and, as lord protector, he raised his country's status once more to that of a leading Euro¬pean power from the decline it had gone through since the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Cromwell was one of the most remarkable rulers in modern European history: for although a convinced Calvinist, he believed deeply in the value of religious toleration. At the same time his victories at home and abroad helped to enlarge and sustain a Puri¬tan attitude of mind, both in Great Britain and in North America, that continued to influence political and social life until recent times.
Cromwell was born at Huntingdon in eastern England on April 25, 1599, the only son of Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. His father had been a member of one of Queen Elizabeth's parliaments and, as a landlord and, justice of the peace, was active in local affairs. Oliver Cromwell was a minor East Anglian landowner. He made a living by farming and collecting rents, first in his native Huntingdon, then from 1631 in St Ives and from 1636 in Ely. Cromwell's inheritances from his father, who died in 1617,...
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