chapter fourteen Flashcards
the revolutionary nature of the actions of 1644 alienated
much of the political nation
limitations of the support for the revolution carried out by
the new model army
shaped the years to come
yet the regimes were defensive and reactive rather than seeking
to develop a revolution
blair worden described Cromwell as an
ideological schizophrenic
tensions remained between the rump and
the new model army
rump regarded itself as legitimate power and in command of the army it recognised
as well as the soldiers
that in practice the new model army was the real power in the land
this defensivness was exacerbated why the threat to
the rump from Ireland , Scotland , royalists and Charles I’s son , Charles Stuart
these threats also meant that the tension between the rump and the army was held at bay as
they had to co operate to defeat the threats
in feb 1649 the rump voted to abolish
the monarchy and the apparatus of monarchical government
thus formalise a republic
in may 1649 a republic was formalised in acts to abolish
the monarchy
and the house of lords
on 2 jan 1650 the rump passed an engagement act by which
all adult males had to declare loyalty to the commonwealth
the engagement act was reinforced by the reason act passed in July 1650 which made it
illegal to deny the authority of the regime as vested in the commons
in practice it proved impossible to enforce
the engagement
having sought to give the establishment some legal basis , whether the rump survived depended on
how it met the threats from Scotland and Ireland
argyll the leader of the Scots covenanters immediately declared
Charles Stauart as Charles II of Scotland
the arrival of Charles Stuart in Scotland made another
Scottish invasion imminent
Cromwell returned from
ireland to meet this threat
when argyll succeeded in persuading Charles Stuart to accept the covenant in return for
military aid to invade England
the rump decided to strike first
Fairfax refused to lead the invasion as he had become increasingly concerned about
the radicalisation of the army and had stood alone from the developments that had led to the regicide
Fairfax objected to the strike against the Scots in Fairfax’s place Cromwell had become
commander in chief
Cromwell campaign in Scotland did not start well rather than face Cromwell and the NMA in battle the Scots
led by David Leslie withdrew behind defensible positions
by September 1650 Cromwells invasion of 16,300 had been reduced to about
11,000
Cromwell retreated to Dunbar and planned to
ship his army back to England
Cromwells weekend force was quickly pinned down by a
Scottish army twice its size
in London Thomas Harrison led the London radicals in prayed for what appeared ti ve the
hopeless position into which Cromwell had led his forces
despite his position of weakness at Dunbar on 3 September 1650 Cromwell
defeated the far larger Scottish army almost double the size of his
on 3 September 1650 how many Scots were killed and captured
3000 killed
10,000 captured
Cromwells remarkable victory at durbar which he regarded as the hand god was based on
Leslies strategic mistakes and a suprise attack on the English
the new model army victory was also underpinned by the following underlying factors
- religious motivation with NMA
- English sea power that ensured that Cromwells forces could be resupplied
- Englands stronger economy meant the army was better funded
after the failure of the Scots they put … in charge
Charles stuart II
in 1651 Lambert attacked
the main Scottish army at Inverkeithing
Lambert with his force sustained a handful of casualties with x killed and x imprisoned
2000
1400
Cromwell taking advantage of lamberts victory established English control in
Perth
the best NMA forces were behind Charles Stuarts force and therefore his path into England was open and a
retreat back to Scotland was blocked
the opposing forces one England were less trained and included
militia and new recruits
after the regicide some Irish supported Charles Stuart , Cromwell landed with
10,000 parliamentary troops in Ireland in August 1649 to impose English protestant control to punish the catholics for their 1641 rebellion
ireland was not only paying for the bloodshed of 1641 but it would be exploited
financially for the new regime
Cromwells stance is clear in his declaration to the Irish catholic clergy in
January 1650
Cromwells Irish campaign of 1649-50 involved a series of
bloody sieges of Irish catholic strong holds
the most infamous blood siege was at
drogheda and wexford
Cromwell was determined that his campaign in Ireland should be a swift destruction of the
irish catholics to pose a serious threat to English authority so that he would return to face the threat from Scotland of Charles Stuart and the covenanters
after a victory by parliamentary troops under colonel Michael Jones at Rathmines just before Cromwells arrival , the war in ireland for Cromwell was during
august 1649 to may 1650 was essentially a series of bloody sieges of irish catholics strongholds to break the back of their ability to resist
when Cromwell left for England in may 1650 to organise an invansion of Scotland he left (his son in law) Breton to further impose
English control of ireland through commanding an army of occupation that remained in the country until 1660
Charles Stuart was keen to invade England with the of the
scottish royalist force of 20,000
Charles starts ultimate aim was to secure the
English throne which required him to secure London
there was general disillusionment with the republican regime across a range of the population and an invasion of England would allow
Charles to escape the influence of the Presbyterian leaders ins Scotland whom he felt were seeking to control him
Charles’ invading force faced several serious obstacles
- desertions from invading force meaning only 13,000 crossed to border
- the army of Scots attracted little support form the English
- Leslie the Scottish general appaeared uncommitted to the invansion
- the republics intelligence network built plots to overthrow the republic if successful would’ve helped scot invasion
- a rising in Norfolk in dec 1650 was quickly supressed
- Charles secured no foreign aid for his invasion
when Charles Stuart crossed the border he faced x troops led by the two pre eminent generals of NMA Lambert and Harrison
4000
although heavily outnumber the NMA generals harried their force and steered it south allowing
Cromwell and other elements off the NMA to co ordinate
when Charles’ troops refused to move on from Worcester it was then the
royalists who were heavily outnumbered
despite this disadvantage there was a long bitter struggle around and in worcester until
Charles fled for the continent leaving his troops behind
3000 royalists were dead but only
200 of the NMA
the victories in Ireland , in Scotland and at Worcester saved the
rump in the short term
another consequence if these victories was the consolidation of
Cromwell as the dominant figure of the age
