days. The king Charles I was condemned to death and beheaded before a crowd of people on the 30 th January of 1649. [11, p.275] February of the same year the House of Lords was abolished and England was proclaimed a Republic ruled by Parliament . The royal courts of Europe raised an outcry, English embassadors were banished from many courts or even killed. Royalist writers worked up compassion and sympathy for the king, but Milton wrote a brilliant Defence of the Regicides where he showed the Parliament's policy as an act of struggle against tyranny.was the highest point of the English bourgeois revolution. The country took the way of bourgeois development. But its limitations were evident: the aristocratic landownership was left intact, and no really genuinely democratic Republic was in fact created. [3, p. 108]
3.4 Republican Britain and Cromwell s Dictatorship (1649-1660)
the 3 rd period (1649-1653) the independents republic (the block of the bourgeoisie and gentry) triumphed over the feudal absolute monarchy, but at the same time it suppressed all movements aimed at a further deepening of the revolution. The Independents, who in fact represented landowners, did everything to preserve big landownership and they were ready to raise taxes though the position of the peasantry, petty bourgeoisie and the town poor was bad enough. The protective function of the independents « republic in their home policy was combined with expansionist colonial policy in foreign affairs. Cromwell »s Irish expedition of 1649-1652 was in fact a massacre exterminating thousands of Irishmen. [7, p.88] was then that the new landed aristocracy was created to encourage counterrevolution in England. Millions of acres of confiscated Irish land were used to pay the debts to the city bankers and the wages to the army officers. The Irish revolt was easy for Cromwell to deal with since it was headed by the nobles and catholic clergy - so it could be fought against under the guise of fighting against the Pope and Catholicism. The soldiers of Cromwell «s army were promised the Irish rebel» s lands that would be confiscated after the suppression of the revolt. The promise was kept and the soldiers having no money to begin farming with, sold the lands to their commanders, officers and speculators whose only dream, now that they became big landowners, was to have nothing to do with the revolution but enjoy their property and see to its safety. They became the chief supporters of reaction.also attempted to strike for independence and they made use of the name of Charles II whom they invited to lead them. They were defeated, however, and Scotland was made a part of England in 1651.all these victories the Commonwealth felt strong enough to secure the interests of the bourgeoisie whose chief rival in trade was Holland. So the Dutchmen were no longer allowed to use their fleet for trade with England and its colonies in America. The war with Holland lasted two years (1652-1654) but already in 1653 the profitable termination of the war was evident, and that added to Cromwell's laurels gained by suppression the democratic movements within the country and the national liberation movement in Ireland and Scotland. His authority in the army was immense. The masses of the people did not benefit by any of those enterprises, the levelers and other democratic groups were again activizing their movement. ...
