The Rise of Oliver Cromwell

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 August 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Oliver Cromwell is the only English commoner to become head of state and is one of the most remarkable and controversial figures in history. Energised by his Puritan beliefs he came to dominate the movement to remove Charles I and would come to be Lord Protector ruling the British Isles from 1653 until his death in 1658. As a military commander, he was a natural leader but also absolutely ruthless. Without formal military training before the Civil War, became arguably the best cavalry commander of his generation. His conquest and pacification of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, in particular, was brutal and remains controversial. Professor Ronald Hutton from Bristol University is Dan's guest on today's episode of the podcast. Ronald has recently published The Making of Oliver Cromwell making him the perfect person to give us an insight into this complicated and impressive figure.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Dan Snow's history.
0:04.0	Today we have such a fluent historian on the podcast.
0:07.0	I've been looking forward to getting him for ages.
0:09.0	He's Professor Ronald Hutton.
0:11.0	He's at the University of Bristol.
0:13.0	He's a bit of a legend there.
0:15.0	He's a legend to everyone who knows him.
0:17.0	He has just written a gigantic book on the making of Oliver Cromwell.
0:20.0	Oliver Cromwell, let's be clear about this.
0:22.0	He's the only commoner.
0:24.0	The only commoner ever to become head of state of what,
0:28.0	well, well, it's loosely called Britain, certainly England and Scotland.
0:32.0	He's the only person in the history of the world to ever conquer by four
0:38.0	of arms, England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
0:43.0	Edward I has a decent-ish claim, but you never quite finished the job.
0:48.0	And so Oliver Cromwell is truly one of the most remarkable,
0:52.0	most controversial figures in British history.
0:56.0	infamous now for the crimes he committed during his invasion,
1:00.0	pacification, conquest of Ireland.
1:02.0	And that's not all he's infamous for.
1:05.0	He is a absolutely fascinating figure and Ronald Hutton does him justice
1:09.0	in this podcast.
	...

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