Winston Churchill once described Russia as a "mystery wrapped in an enigma".

The same could pretty much be said of Oliver Cromwell. A man of many changing facets, a hero to some, the Devil to others. The more one reads about him, it seems the less one understands him. This is my personal view of the man.

Like the Alfred the Great and Henry V Cromwell was a deeply religious man, unlike them he remains a controversial figure even now.

Cromwell was a remarkable man, even in an age of remarkable men, he was the first and last commoner to be head of  state in England, he united the British Isles under one commonwealth, he was never beaten in battle and he helped lay down the principles of parliamentary democracy, despite his puritan values his reign was marked by religious tolerance.

All this was achieved after having spent the first 40 years of his life farming and raising 7 children.

Yet he is also remembered as a tyrant, a man who would willingly turn on friends if the need arose, fiercely ambitious and by Catholic Irish as the perpetrator of particularly nasty massacres. 

The first 40 years of Cromwell's life were spent in the back waters of Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire. Though not exactly poor, Cromwell was far from rich, the result of being a second son, but he was fairly well connected. This undoubtedly helped him to become an MP in the 'Long parliament '.

The 'English' Civil war -it could be said actually started and finished with the Scots. Charles I who was a Stuart king decided to make changes to the Scottish Presbyterian prayer book by imposing on them the English version. 

Nowadays it seems bizarre that such a thing could cause a war, but cause it most certainly did. the Scots 'Covenanters' rose in rebellion and easily beat the ramshackle army sent north by Charles. the Scots occupied Newcastle, demanding the equivalent of 'Danegeld' before they would withdraw.

Charles ordered parliament to provide him with more funds for another army to beat the Scots. Parliament refused. Parliament was controlled by Presbyterians who saw the Scots covenanters as allies, they also disliked the King and civil war broke out.

Cromwell was by this time a very vocal opponent of the King but still a bit player in the Civil war as a whole.

He returned to his home and raised a company of horse, as well as a local militia.

It was his cavalry which was to lead to his future glory. Well drilled, they trotted into battle reciting psalms. They became known as the 'Ironsides' and were never beaten in battle.

After the initial 60 volunteers, he went on to raise another 14 companies of horse which finally comprised the ironsides, he was duly promoted to Colonel.

As with the rest of his life he showed no favour to social standing, money, or even religious leaning when he appointed his officers. he appointed them on merit. This was eventually acted on by parliament as a whole when they instituted the famous 'New Model Army'.

 Personally I doubt that this meant that Cromwell was an egalitarian, he just insisted in the best men for the job. This was unusual and was not seen again in a 'British' army until the middle of the C20th.

The success of Cromwell's cavalry relied on their discipline. The Royalists had fine horse regiments but after a single charge they were inclined to charge off the field and disperse, such as they did at the battle of Edgehill whereas Cromwell held his men ready for further action if necessary.

In 1646 the king's last stronghold at Oxford surrendered. This was the end of the first Civil war, although now a lieutenant general Cromwell had never been in sole command of an army, that was to come.

In this brief period of peace a group popularly known as the 'Levellers' attempted social reform both in the army and in society in general. they wanted to continue reforms started in the New Model Army. They also wanted a fairer distribution of land and the vote for all persons of independent means.

Cromwell who belonged to a group known as the independents opposed this. talks were held at Putney but bore no fruit. The talks were interrupted by the second Civil war and the Irish campaigns.

The levellers rose in mutiny and were finally crushed by Cromwell at Burford in Oxfordshire. Burford still holds annual festivities honouring the 3 soldiers executed by Cromwell.

John Lilburne leader of "The Levellers"