Conclusion

Abstract

As seen by observers such as Giavarina, Cromwell’s acquisition of Dunkirk marked the emergence of a new threat to Catholicism comparable to that of Gustavus Adolphus. Cromwell’s achievements were also admired with nostalgia in the mid-1660s when compared with the current string of disasters. In reality his government was virtually bankrupt and was hard pressed to pay the troops who were supposed to carry out his designs. Behind this façade of success lay a Government that had seen off the Royalist threat but had many other problems left to trouble it, not least that of its own supporters. Despite the restoration of a semi-monarchical government in successive stages in 1653 and 1657, it was a regime ultimately depending on its armed forces among whom were men whose affection for some form of republic was only held in check by the reputation of the Protector. Once he was gone, they soon showed that their loyalty had been to the man rather than to the institution which he and his civilian advisers had built up around him. The Protectorate collapsed in eight months, though admittedly Richard Cromwell’s deposition was the work of a small group of Cromwell’s senior officers (led by Fleetwood and Desborough) rather than of the bulk of the Army.