Oliver Cromwell: Tyrant or Something Else?

It seems to me that he was created the template of the modern revolutionary/tyrant.  The late Fidel Castro comes to mind.  The thing for me is that the people of his own time demonstrated their dislike for his rule.

The English Civil War’s aftermath resulted in the death of the King, Charles I and the rule of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell’s regime was unable to survive long after his death. The English substituted the son of Charles for the son of Cromwell. This was “The Restoration”.

I got a series on this in History Moments.

The series shows three different points of view of Cromwell’s record and of the Restoration — very different points of view. Carlyle shows us in Cromwell one of his most admired heroes; Green gives us the modern historian’s dispassionate conclusions; while the contemporary narrative of the old diarist, Pepys, preserves the personal observations of a participator in the scenes which he describes. Charles II had spent years in exile on the Continent. He was finally proclaimed King of England at Westminster, May 8, 1660. Pepys describes his convoy from Holland to Dover, and his reception by the people who had invited him to return to his country and his throne.

The first installment of my series: Of Cromwell’s Rule In England and the Restoration begins here: http://dld.bz/fnjHP

Many more stories here: http://dld.bz/fnjFG