A question for the Irish folk? and British as well, i suppose

[rt052192]

What are your thoughts on Oliver Cromwell? I have learned about his conquests in history class and can completely understand why the Irish hate him, but how do the British view the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth? Also, is my view from the Irish perspective correct? I am of the Polish and Italian descent so I have other people/groups to hate and loathe, but I am curious to know about the views of other ethnic groups.

 

[not_the_dm]

The Puritans closed down pubs. That's reason enough to hate them.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

I had a positive view on him.
Then I found out what that fether had done.
Now I have little-to-no respect for him.

 

[Randomologist]

It's difficult to judge a person centuries dead by modern standards. On one hand, he brutally murdered entire villages, and relished the prospect of further bloodshed; On the other, a man who was a) doing his job and b) believed it was in the best interests of his religion, and thus God was on his side.
This said, I don't think he deserves that statue outside Westminster. He may have been a fine military commander, but by today's standards I think he'd be little more than a highly decorative butcher.

 

[fishman279]

He banned christmas. Enough said.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Hah, he tried to get rid of "the unfair monarchy", which granted, was unfair.

"Lord Protector" of Britain is definitely a significant step away from that though isn't it?

I think he's quite the git.

 

[LokiSuaveHP]

As a person with his policies, he was a Puritan nutjob. However, his influence on military organization was profound. However, calling him anything less than a despot is giving him too much credit.

 

[WrongSprite]

Seeing as I've just handed my coursework in on him, I should know this

I'm pretty much neutral towards him. On one hand, he was a pretty amazing human being, and he managed a shitload of pretty cool feats. On the other hand, he was a shameless hypocrite, as he basically turned into the guy he replaced.

 

[Plinglebob]

He's one of those people who's now just a bit of a footnote in our history. Its normally a case of "They chopped off the kings head and Oliver Cromwell took charge. He then died and we decided we liked having a king so brought them back."

 

[Booze Zombie]

Well, it's obvious he did some good things, but a lot of bad things, too.
Pretty human, corrupted by power and as soon as he died, most of his work was undone.
Which says something about his work and how people felt about him, I suppose.

 

[lostzombies.com]

Complete and utter scum (From an Englishman) he shut down pubs, theatres, festivals, banned Christmas and blew up nearly all of the castles in the country out of spite. Anyone who destroys history (IMHO) isn't worth the air they breath.

He was just a communist dictator, anti humanity, anti tradition, anti history and managed to destroy a large part of this country's history

and he was covered in huge facial warts

 

[batterj2]

He's one of those people who's now just a bit of a footnote in our history. Its normally a case of "They chopped off the kings head and Oliver Cromwell took charge. He then died and we decided we liked having a king so brought them back."

His son, no less, Charles II!

 

[Valksy]

I dislike extremists on either end of the spectrum. To my mind Cromwell was pretty freaking extreme and what good he may have done is just swamped by the uber puritanical BS. Whatever he might have done in terms of democracy (and that is arguable) is utterly undone by massacres in Ireland.

To be a gamer geek - if offered a choice to play as cavalier or roundhead then I would choose cavalier every time. And not just because the hats were swishier

 

[nolongerhere]

Cromwell is one of the biggest bastards who has ever lived. He fucked up Britain with his Puritan ways, fucked up Parliment by getting rid of anyone who disagreed with him (not that it was that good to begin with, but still), and what he had done in Ireland is nothing short of monstorous.

 

[Blizzarded Soul]

Bit of a bastard if you ask me. Forbidding anything that could be considered as 'fun' and killing the monarch who only wanted to defend his 'god-given right' to preside over England as King rather than hand over all power to unruly politicians. Granted the monarchy was a bit unfair, but dammnit at least it got things done, unlike having to run things by committees, then sub- committees, then reforming things in case it offends someone, then having a vote on the changes, then possibly having a referendum etc etc. The Beaurocracy.....oh the beaurocracy *shudders*.

 

[Redingold]

He's one of those people who's now just a bit of a footnote in our history. Its normally a case of "They chopped off the kings head and Oliver Cromwell took charge. He then died and we decided we liked having a king so brought them back."

I have to agree with this. I no practically nothing about Cromwell, save that he banned Christmas. I'll do some research.

EDIT: Yeah, he's a dick.

 

[bobknowsall]

He's (rightly) reviled by the Irish, because he treated us in a manner that would be considered appalling these days. My English friends say he's viewed as something of a nutter by the general population of England too. He was not a nice man, to understate somewhat.

 

[Nickolai77]

He banned Christmas, theatre and entertainment in general, he was a dictator, and a hypocrite too. Acted like he was King, and even appointed his son to take charge after he had died. Fortuantly Charles II came back, and normality ensured.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

Bastard closed pubs and was Puritan, killed one of the Monarchs, banned mince pies on Christmas Day (a law which is still in place but nobody say anything unless my schools lied to me again) and he just seemed a general dick.