Charles I and Oliver Cromwell: A Study in Contrasts and Comparisons [Hardcover]

Originally published in 1987, this book compares and contrasts the characters and careers of two great protagonists in the English Civil War and its aftermath. The book shows how Charles I and Oliver Cromwell were confronted with the same problems and therefore, to a surprisingly large extent, were obliged to deal with them in much the same kind of way. The book re-examines their military methods, their approaches to religion, their diplomatic manoeuvres, their domestic policies and the manner in which they handled their parliaments. Above all, it considers how their vastly different personalities determined their actions. Finally it debates how far a revolution, of which Cromwell was the instrument and Charles the victim, can be said to have taken place in the mid-seventeenth century or whether what occurred was simply a political rebellion sparked off by religious passion.

1. Prologue: Confrontation 2. The Child is Father of the Man 3. Men of God 4. Private Lives 5. Soldiering  I 6. Soldiering  II 7. Rulers at Home 8. Diplomacy and War  I 9. Diplomacy and War  II 10. Handling Parliaments  I 11. Handling Parliaments  II 12. Characters in Contrast 13. Revolutionary Times 14. Epilogue: Departure.

Originally published in 1987, this book compares and contrasts the characters and careers of two great protagonists in the English Civil War and its aftermath. The book shows how Charles I and Oliver Cromwell were confronted with the same problems and therefore were obliged to deal with them in much the same kind of way. 

A closely packed portmanteau of varied knowledge and mature thought, which travellers setting out on a voyage of discovery in the seventeenth century would do well to carry with them. C.V. Wedgewood, Time and Tide.