Oliver Cromwell

Military commander

Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell's influence as a military commander and politician during the English Civil War dramatically altered the military and the political landscape of the British Isles.

Having joined the Parliamentary Army with no military experience at the age of 43, he recruited a cavalry unit and gained experience and victories in a succession of battles in East Anglia. He famously recruited his officers based on merit rather than on the basis of noble birth, saying: "I would rather have a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else". As a result, the New Model Army under Cromwell's command became a centre for political radicals like the Levellers and a myriad of radical religious sects like the Fifth Monarchists.

Cromwell had no formal training in military tactics, but had an instinctive gift for command. He succeeded on several occasions in outmaneuvering Prince Rupert, who was a veteran of European warfare. His army was very disciplined. Profanity and drunkenness were met with fines. His soldiers went into battle singing hymns, including the Psalms of David. Again, this suggests that Cromwell was consciously modeling his army on Biblical lines.

On the other hand, Fraser (2001) says that he would also jest and joke with his men, and that when he was among them he was "a larger than life character who naturally embodied their own passions and even their jokes" (176).

Cromwell's troops came to respect his bravery and his concern for their well-being. Promoted to general in charge of cavalry for the New Model Army, he trained his men to rapidly regroup after an attack, tactics he first employed with great success at the Battle of Naseby and which showed a very high level of discipline and motivation on the part of his troops. With successive military victories Cromwell gained political power, until he became the leading politician of the time. By the end of the first civil war in 1646, the King was a prisoner of the Parliament. Cromwell, however, commanded the army that had won this victory and as a result was in a position to dictate the future of England.

Cromwell showed in the English Civil Wars that he was a brave and daring cavalry commander. However, in the years to come he would also be recognized as an exceptional commander of whole armies. His successful conquests of Ireland and Scotland showed a great mastery of organizing supplies and logistics for protracted campaigns in hostile territory.