On this day in 1653, Oliver Cromwell becomes the first Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth after defeating King Charles

43 comments

  5. Good or bad, we can agree that he was objectively based as fuck. Executing a King believed at the time to be annointed by the Almighty himself is one of the most based actions possible.

  8. England: Overthrows the monarchy and installs a military dictatorship that tried to commit genocide against Catholics.

    France: Overthrows the monarchy and creates a peaceful secular republic.

    Spot the difference

  10. The English Taliban. Tried to get rid of Christmas, theatre, sports, walking on Sunday except to church. Thank god a lot of the puritans decided to bugger off to America.

  14. When Charles II came to power he pardoned all except his father’s killers.

    “Cromwell’s body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey on 30 January 1661, the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I, and was subjected to a posthumous execution, as were the remains of John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton. (The body of Cromwell’s daughter was allowed to remain buried in the Abbey.) His body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, London, and then thrown into a pit. His head was cut off and displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. Afterwards, it was owned by various people, including a documented sale in 1814 to Josiah Henry Wilkinson, and it was publicly exhibited several times before being buried beneath the floor of the antechapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in 1960”.

  16. Very surprised (and happy) to see all the negative comments. Having chatted with english history buffs before, people seem to rate him much higher than other old revolutionaries like Caesar, Napoleon, etc. That period always seemed like little Dark Age to me.

  29. Almost a century and a half before the French revolution, but it feels like it isn’t talked about half as much.

  30. in all honestly, the guy was basically blamed for every time something went wrong from coronation of Charles, the real cunt of this story, and the Glorious Revolution.

    not a hero, but not the defining supervillain of the period either

  31. But the painting is great. I can see the subject didn’t spit into his pint. Or maybe it was a cold winter day, when the picture was taken.

  34. Charles I, my daddy

    Lost his throne

    And kings were banned

    They chopped off his head

    Then Olly Cromwell ruled the land

    Old Olly wasn’t jolly

    He was glum, and he was proud

    Would be miserable as sin….

  42. Did not last long though, not long after his death and sons i belive attempts to rule, the lord protector collapsed and Charles 2nd was restored to throne.

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