Hello everyone, I am Captain Nemo, welcome aboard the Nautilus, Captain Nemo takes you on a journey through the oceans of knowledge.
It is well known that the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, and the monarch is Queen Elizabeth II. However, Britain established a republic more than 300 years ago, laying the foundation for the rare republican power in Europe at that time to dominate the world. Why the British republic at that time could not be maintained, the captain explained to you.
First, born into the nobility
Richard
On October 4, 1626, Richard Cromwell was born into a small aristocratic family in Huntington, Kingdom of England, the son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Boucher. At that time, Oliver Cromwell was just an ordinary gentleman in England, not a protector of the country in the future, so Richard's childhood was spent in his hometown unremarkably, not much different from the children of gentlemen of the same class.
English Civil War
In 1642, the First Civil War broke out between the Parliament of England and King Charles I of England, and Oliver Cromwell rose to become the leader of the Parliamentary Army, leading the New Model Army to fight against the King's Army. Due to the strong idea of the divine right of kings in Europe at that time, confrontation with the king was a great rebellion (the first commander of the Parliamentary Army, Robert de Flo, had been passively opposed to the King's Army before being removed), so Oliver Cromwell did not let his son Richard join the New Model Army, but let him continue his higher education.
Charles I
In 1646, the Parliamentary Army won the victory by imprisoning Charles I, ending the First English Civil War. Richard joined the New Model Army the following year as the captain of a lifeboat. Charles I, who fled in 1648, provoked a second civil war, but Richard never went to the front to participate in the battle and experienced the tempering of war, resulting in his lack of understanding of the military and having no prestige in the army, laying a hidden danger for his rapid downfall in the future.
Second, serve as a parliamentarian
Cromwell
In 1649, Oliver Cromwell executed Charles I, winning the Second English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell then established the Republic of England and became the supreme ruler of England. Richard was married to Dorothy Mayor in the same county and held public offices such as sheriff in his hometown of Huntington.
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell conquered Ireland and Scotland, merging it with England to form England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. At the same time, Oliver Cromwell declared himself a protector, dissolved the small parliament that did not obey his orders, and established a military dictatorship in the British Isles, making the islands enter the period of protectorate.
Anglo-Soviet Love Federation
Since England practiced a republican system and made it hostile to the monarchies of the European continent, Oliver Cromwell vigorously expanded the navy in order to maintain the security of the British Isles, so that the English navy grew stronger, and soon entered the ranks of Europe's first-class navies, laying the foundation for its future domination of the world's oceans.
In 1654, Oliver Cromwell organized the First Protectorate Council in order to maintain order in England. Richard then ran for office in the Huntington constituency and was elected to the first Protectorate Parliament. The parliament was then taken over by radical lawmakers, freed from the control of Oliver Cromwell, and was forced to dissolve after more than 4 months of existence. It can be seen that the strength of the opposition in the English Parliament doomed the mediocre Richard to not be able to take power for a long time.
Britain
In 1656, Oliver Cromwell had to convene the Second Protectorate Council in order to finance the war against the Kingdom of Spain. Richard was successfully elected to parliament in the Cambridge University constituency and was again involved in the operation of parliament. But the second parliament also existed for less than a year and a half, when it was dissolved by Oliver Cromwell because of the excessive influence of the opposition.
In 1657, Oliver Cromwell decided to let Richard succeed him as Protector, and he entered the core of power in England, becoming a member of the Privy Council of the Protectorate and becoming more involved in the operation of the government. But oliver Cromwell only had one year left to live, and he had little time to deal with all kinds of major events, and there was not much time to train Richard, resulting in his mediocre ability and his inability to control the situation later.
Third, he served as the Protector of the State
Protector of the Nation
On 3 September 1658, Oliver Cromwell died, and Richard succeeded him as Protector. But Richard faced a very serious situation, first of all he did not have much military experience, so senior generals questioned his command ability; Second, the government is saddled with nearly £2 million in debt (half of which is owed by the army) and is in a dire financial position.
In order to solve the financial problems, Richard had to convene the Third Protectorate Council in January 1659 to discuss the tax increase bill. But the third parliament had a complex faction and a stronger opposition, so Richard was simply unable to control parliament. Fearing that Parliament would cut military spending, the military leadership submitted a petition to Richard requesting an increase in taxes to sustain military spending.
New Model Military Regulations
Richard submitted the army's petition to Parliament, which ignored it, banned military officers from meetings, and demanded that they swear not to destroy Parliament by force. The army was furious and demanded that Richard dissolve Parliament, but he refused. In April, the army forced Richard to dissolve Parliament by force. Richard then realized that he was mediocre and could not control the situation, so he voluntarily resigned in May and no longer served as a protector.
Fourth, retire to old age
Charles
After resigning, Richard went into exile on the European continent and lived an anonymous life. Subsequently, all walks of life in England believed that only a monarchy could restore stability in England, and in 1660 they welcomed Charles II (the son of Charles I) to succeed to the throne, and the Stuart dynasty was restored, and the Republic of England was destroyed. In 1680, Richard, who had been in exile for more than twenty years, secretly returned to England and lived in seclusion on the estate of his friend Thomas Pengeley until his death on 12 July 1712 at the age of 85.