Cromwell; Hero Or Villain?

Oliver Cromwell lived during the 17th Century. He was born at Huntingdon on the 25th of April 1599. His parents were Elizabeth Cromwell and Robert Cromwell. Cromwell. He went to school at Huntingdon Grammar (which is now the Cromwell Museum) and then later he went to Cambridge University. After he left school, Cromwell became an East Anglian Landowner. He received a small inheritance from his father who died in 1617, but made most of his living by farming and renting out his land. He wasn't very powerful, less powerful than most people in his class, until the Civil war began in 1642.

There has been much debate over whether Cromwell was a hero who saved his country from a maniacal dictator, or a villain who simply became one. This will likely never be resolved, but I have attempted to put forward some reasons for each argument and my decision based on these reasons.

Cromwell was a villain for many reasons including:

Ð'* He closed Parliament, this was the reason he executed Charles 1st.

Ð'* He executed the king.

Ð'* He slaughtered innocent women and children.

Ð'* He got rid of many popular holidays and venues.

In 1653, Oliver Cromwell decided to close parliament. Although this does not prove that Cromwell was a villain, it does prove he was a hypocrite as closing parliament was one of the main reasons that Charles 1st was executed.

Cromwell was one of the people on the jury which tried Charles 1st after the second Civil war. This jury sentenced Charles 1st to death, which makes Cromwell indirectly guilty of regicide (the murder of a monarch). Some people could also argue that this is also homicide which, although it is true, is not quite as serious because Cromwell had already killed many in battle and sentenced other people as part of a parliament.

During his invasion of Ireland in 1649 Ð'- 1650, Cromwell, or more accurately his soldiers, ruthlessly slaughtered innocent civilians. A total of 3500 people were massacred at the siege of Drogheda in September 1649, nearly every man in the town was killed and a high percentage of the women were killed too. Later, at the siege of Watford, a similar thing happened when 2000 soldiers and 1700 innocent townspeople were killed. A total of 130 000 people in Ireland were killed or sold into slavery. Instead of solving the disruption in Ireland, Cromwell made everything worse, a situation which has been replicated countless times in history and is even going on to some extent in Iraq today.

It is widely known today, that Cromwell abolished the popular holiday of Christmas as well as abolishing taverns, theaters, gambling and other means of entertainment. While he may have though that he had a good reason for this, the fact remains that this was an unprovoked attack on all Christians and today would also be considered an attack on human rights.

Even with all of his bad points, Cromwell did have some good in him. During the Civil war he was, without doubt, a hero. This was for reasons such as:

Ð'* He created an equal