Oliver Cromwell--Soldier: The Military Life of a Revolutionary at War (review)

This convincing and well-presented military life of Oliver Cromwell focuses on his active career in the field. Some episodes are passed over rather briefly—for example, the final year of the principal civil war is slightly rushed, with surprisingly little on Cromwell at Winchester and Devizes, Bovey Tracey and Torrington. However, there is good and detailed discussion of the main phases of his career, with thoughtful comment about his role at Winceby, Marston Moor, Newbury, and Naseby and full coverage of the second civil war of 1648 and the campaigns in Ireland and Scotland of 1649–51. Both within the narrative and more fully in a fine concluding chapter, Dr. Marshall stresses Cromwell's aggressive approach to warfare, his willingness to engage in "wars of annihilation" (p. 9) to secure complete military victory, a bold, direct, and belligerent style which usually brought swift victory but which sometimes shaded into impulsive, risky, or brutal actions. Dr. Marshall notes his sometimes "faulty generalship" (p. 191) in Ireland, highlighting his "severe tactical defeat" (p. 232) at Clonmel and condemning Drogheda as "an appalling atrocity, even by seventeenth-century standards" (p. 233). In common with other historians, Dr. Marshall sees Cromwell's faith underpinning his military career and concludes that he was at his best in battle, leading from the front, while he was less adept at campaigns of manoeuvre and attrition and at siege warfare. Dr. Marshall also argues that Cromwell was not a great innovator and did not revolutionise the art of war. Instead, as a committed, courageous, and energetic military leader, with an eye for discipline and logistics, he learnt quickly—interestingly, Dr. Marshall suggests that his military learning curve was largely complete by 1644–45—and he operated well and effectively within the existing parameters of war.

This study, too, works well within its own parameters in providing a very good account of Cromwell's soldiering. The balanced and readable narrative draws upon an impressive array of printed primary and secondary sources, there are plentiful and well-selected quotations from contemporary sources and the text is supported by fourteen maps and plans, plus some black and white photographs. No archival discoveries are evident here and there is little that is entirely new or revelatory; the judgments are clear, crisp, and well-made, but they generally follow recent historiographical trends. The book takes a while to get going, with opening chapters setting the scene and context, before turning to Cromwell's own military contribution. Thereafter, there is a tight focus on Cromwell's active soldiering, while his role in military politics is largely ignored. More might have been said about his relationship with Manchester in 1644 and Fairfax in 1645–46, perhaps leading on to analysis of his influence in shaping the command and campaigns of the Eastern Association and New Model armies respectively, and his role in the army politics of 1646–47 is merely outlined here. Equally, Dr. Marshall is not concerned with Cromwell the politician and, although it is stated several times that his military career advanced and shaped his unfolding political career, the precise ways in which this happened and the degree to which his military experiences moulded his political goals are not explored much here. In short, within the clear parameters which Dr. Marshall set himself, he has succeeded admirably in producing a fine account of Cromwell the soldier, clear and accessible in its tone, informed and judicious in its judgements and conclusions, while leaving the field open for further detailed work on some key questions.