Oliver Cromwell Biography and Works.

Oliver Cromwell was born on April25, 1599 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire into a family of minor gentry. He studied at the Cambridge University.

He became a Member of Parliament for Huntingdon from 1628 to 1629. Cromwell experienced a religious crisis and became convinced that he would be guided to carry out God’s purpose in the 1630s. In 1640, he was elected to represent Cambridge, first in the Short Parliament and then in the Long Parliament.

A Civil War broke out between Charles I and the Parliament in 1642. Even though lacking military experience, Cromwell created and led a superb force of cavalry, the ‘Ironsides’. He rose from the rank of ‘Captain’ to that of Lieutenant-General’ in three years. He convinced the Parliament to establish a professional army – the New Model Army. The Army won the decisive victory over the king’s forces at Naseby in 1645.

Cromwell became the Army Commander and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where he crushed resistance with the massacres of the garrisons at Drogheda and Wexford in 1649.

He died of natural causes on 2 September 1658.

Trivia

The king’s alliance with the Scots and his subsequent defeat in the Second Civil War convinced Cromwell that the king must be brought to justice. Cromwell was a prime mover in the trial and execution of Charles I.