Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution

This course will examine in detail the personality and career of Oliver Cromwell, and place it in the context of the unique and dramatic events that gripped mid-17th-century England. The classes will examine Cromwell’s life and career in a series of chronological sections, from his birth in 1599, through his rise to military prominence during the 1640s and his gaining of political power in the 1650s, up to his death in 1658. Throughout, the classes will focus especially on what Cromwell sought to achieve, the methods he employed, and the reasons why he proved unable to establish a stable regime during the period of the English Republic (1649-60). Particular attention will be paid to the light that Cromwell’s personality throws on the unfolding of events, the motives that guided him and the relationship between his ideas and his actions. To this end, we will examine a selection of primary sources, especially Cromwell’s own letters and speeches.