This Day in History: 16 December 2019
16 December 1653
366 years ago, today, Puritan and Parliamentarian General, Oliver Cromwell, was appointed as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell opposed the King at the time, Charles I, in the Long Parliament, called that due to its eight-year duration, and fought for Parliament in the Civil War, as he thought that Parliament leaders did not do enough to try to defeat Charles. At the end of the first Civil War in 1646, Cromwell and his New Model Army tried to negotiate peace, but Charles betrayed them by starting the Second Civil War. Cromwell was among those who put the King on trial in 1649 and subsequently sentenced him to death. After this, Cromwell was asked by Parliament to get rid of any remaining royalist supporters, who continued to rebel against Parliament, and so he did, particularly in 1649, at the siege of Drogheda in Ireland.
When Cromwell returned to Parliament, he found the last few MPs of the Long Parliament were still sitting and could not agree with them about how to rule since there was no king. To solve this, the army took control and declared Cromwell as Lord Protector. He was not a king, but he ruled like one. He also still could not agree with his Parliament, and dismissed them, so instead ruled through his military generals, turning into a dictator. With this role, he allowed greater religious freedoms for Protestants, but introduced moral restrictions for his subjects, which included the ban of theatre, the ban on drinking and the ban of celebrating Christmas. Cromwell also, positively, increased the navy, which defeated the Dutch, and captured Jamaica from the Spanish, but when he died, Cromwell's title of Lord Protector collapsed and Charles II was restored as king, therefore bringing back the monarchy.
Want to find out more about Oliver Cromwell? Visit https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oliver-Cromwell for more information. Or, watch the films 'Cromwell' (1970) or 'To Kill a King' (2003) for some interpretations of Cromwell's character.
To find out more about the Siege of Drogheda, visit https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Drogheda for more information.
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