Cromwell, Our Chief of Men

Cromwell, Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser (1973, is a biography of Oliver Cromwell. The title is from a poem praising Cromwell by John Milton, perhaps the most famous and accomplished poet of the English Commonwealth. Fraser's goal is to "rescue" Oliver Cromwell and rehabilitate his reputation as a statesman and leader, while not glossing over his obvious faults. From Fraser's point-of-view one of Cromwell's main flaws was his tendency to lose his temper in the heat of battle and this character flaw explains the Massacre at Drogheda (1649) and much of his conduct fighting the Irish during the English Civil War. His other main character fault was to see events as the result of "providence" which can easily led him into...