This is an essay about Oliver cromwell. The topic was:Should Cromwell be condemned for his actions at Drogheda?

Essay by diegogranziolJunior High, 7th gradeA+, May 2004

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In this essay I will try to solve the question should Cromwell be condemned for his action is Drogheda?

It was quite obvious Cromwell did not like the Irish because of the Ulster killings in 1641 he said "you, unprovoked, put the English to the most unheard of and most barbarous massacre (without sex or age) that ever the sun beheld". He believed the Irish should be punished for this. He got his revenge with the Drogheda massacre. Cromwell and his armies nearly killed 3,000 people including not just the soldiers, also many women and children. The rules of war were that the attacking commander had to order the town to surrender. If they did he would have to spare them, if they didn't he could kill them. Cromwell did ask Drogheda to surrender but its Defending commander refused so he did not have to spare them. Cromwell also thought the death of these 3,000 people would save many other lives he said the killing "will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future" he was probably right because many other towns surrendered after what happened to Drogheda. After Drogheda there was another massacre at Wexford. Cromwell did not order this but did not stop it either, it seemed that the death of Irish families did not matter to him; this was probably because he was angry about the Ulster killings. He also didn't make distinctions between common folk and soldiers he even said the families who were killed had been "made with their bloods to answer for the cruelties which they had exercised upon the lives of poor Protestants".

There are very many ways of looking at this argument, you could say that Cromwell was only doing a good job as a military commander and...