Cromwell Against The Scots

Although also known as the Third English Civil War, the author makes it clear that this was the last war between the Scots and English as separate states. He narrates in detail the the events following the exiled King Charles II’s landing in Scotland and his alliance with the Scots Covenanters, erstwhile allies of the English Parliamentarians. Cromwell’s preemptive invasion of Scotland led to the Battle of Dunbar, a crushing defeat for the Scots under David Leslie, though this only unified the Scottish cause and led to the levying of the Army of the Kingdom under Charles II himself. Charles II led a desperate counter-invasion over the border, hoping to raise a royalist rebellion and forcing Cromwell to follow him, though he left Monck to complete the pacification of Scotland. Cromwell caught up with Charles II at Worcester, where the Scots/Royalist army was decisively defeated and destroyed, thousands of the prisoners being sold into slavery in the West Indies and the American colonies. This revised and updated edition contains an expanded chapter on the aftermath of the war and the fate of the POWs, drawing on major new archaeological evidence, as well as an expanded Conclusion.

After an introduction establishing Cromwell's war against the Scots from July 1650 to May 1652, this book discusses Charles' landing and Fairfax's resignation as commander-in-chief of the English Republican Army, both events occurred on the same day. It then addresses the causes of the war, Charles II's landing in Northern Scotland from the Continent. The story continues chronologically, from Cromwell's invasion of Scotland, through the Battle of Dunbar, and the slow establishment of the king's power over the Scottish government. The end came with the fall of the last of the Scottish castles, Dunnottar, to English conquest. The Scots enjoyed a distinct military recovery after the Dunbar defeat, but their aims and those of the king were always at cross purposes: the king was intent on the invasion of England, the Scots on resistance to English conquest. Finally, Cromwell's manoeuvres in the summer of 1651, and the English victory at Inverkeithing, allowed the king to invade England. This ended in another Scots defeat at Worcester. The removal of the Scots Army to England meanwhile allowed the English under Monck to complete their conquest of Scotland. Throughout, the political dimension, particularly in Scotland, is kept in view. At the end, the author comments on the relevance of these events to the present Scottish situation.

Although also known as the Third English Civil War, the author makes it clear that this was the last war between the Scots and English as separate states. He narrates in detail the events following the exiled King Charles II's landing in Scotland and his alliance with the Scots Covenanters, erstwhile allies of the English Parliamentarians. Cromwell's preemptive invasion of Scotland led to the Battle of Dunbar, a crushing defeat for the Scots under David Leslie, though this only unified the Scottish cause and led to the levying of the Army of the Kingdom under Charles II himself. Charles II led a desperate counter-invasion over the border, hoping to raise a royalist rebellion and forcing Cromwell to follow him, though he left Monck to complete the pacification of Scotland. Cromwell caught up with Charles II at Worcester, where the Scots/Royalist army was decisively defeated and destroyed, thousands of the prisoners being sold into slavery in the West Indies and the American colonies. This revised and updated edition contains an expanded chapter on the aftermath of the war and the fate of the POWs, drawing on major new archaeological evidence, as well as an expanded Conclusion.

Crown, Covenant and Cromwell is a groundbreaking military history of the Great Civil War or rather the last Anglo-Scottish War as it was fought in Scotland and by Scottish armies in England between 1639 and 1651. While the politics of the time are necessarily touched upon, it is above all the story of those armies and the men who marched in them under generals such as Alexander Leslie, the illiterate soldier of fortune who became Earl of Leven, James Graham, Marquis of Montrose and of course Oliver Cromwell, the fenland farmer and Lord Protector of England.Historians sometimes seem to regard battles as rather too exciting to be a respectable field of study, but determining just how that battle was won or lost is often just as important as unraveling the underlying reasons why it came to be fought in the first place or the consequences that followed. Here, Stuart Reid, one of Scotlands leading military historians, brings the campaigns and battles of those far off unhappy times to life in a fast-paced and authoritative narrative as never before.

This book examines the role of religion in the story of Oliver Cromwell's invasion and subsequent occupation of Scotland. Analysis of the printed propaganda produced by the Scots and the English makes it clear that both nations defined their positions, and gained support, in overtly religious terms. During their decade-long occupation of Scotland, the English Commonwealth actively sought to undermine Scottish Presbyterianism. Public disputes, public preaching and Scotland's printing presses were all used to weaken the influence of the Kirk, while eager English soldiers and chaplains tried to convert Scots to their own particular religious sects. Policies of the Scottish Kirk and State in the previous decade had ostracised a significant portion of the Scottish people. As a result, English missionaries found some Scots eager to hear alternative forms of Protestantism preached. Dispelling myths that the sectarian presence had little impact on Scottish religion, this book describes the endeavours of the Independents, Baptists and Quakers to gain converts, with varying degrees of success.