World War I Summary

Cromwell: Hero or Villain

General Oliver Cromwell was a significantly important man in the English history. He was the head of the one and only republic England had. He freed the country from the monarchy when it made puritan and protestant churches look like they were catholic. The question is; HERO or VILLAIN?

One of the reasons Cromwell Is considered a hero is the fact that he abolished the monarchy in 1649. Many people of the time liked this because since many civilians were puritans or protestants that despised King Charles I because he bought gold and silver and many other ornate items into the church, making them look like they were catholic churches. Some puritans believed Charles was urged by his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, which was a very catholic country.

On the other hand, many people argue that Cromwell was indeed a villain, because although the King had made puritans beliefs insignificant, when Cromwell became Lord Protector, he made catholic beliefs insignificant. Under this law, nobody was allowed to have any enjoyment as puritans believed this was unnecessary and that by working hard and leading a peaceful life you would get sent to heaven on death.

Another reason Oliver Cromwell is considered a hero is because he won the civil war for the Parliamentarians. He stopped the king misusing the parliament because the King only called parliament to collect taxes for his war.

However other’s say that although he fought for the reason that the parliament was not called upon for eleven years and then misused, when he himself became Lord-Protector, he found he could not cooperate with the parliament and dissolved it. This means that Cromwell is a hypocrite because he criticised the King for misusing the parliament and then did exactly the same thing.

Many people say Cromwell was a villain because he betrayed the levellers. Levellers were soldiers in the New Model army that were yeomen and craftsmen. They fought for the parliament because they hoped that the victory of the parliamentarians would lead to big changes in society. They wanted a society that in which men over 21 except servants and beggars could vote. But they were left disappointed, annoyed and angry when Cromwell and his parliament dismissed this idea. Cromwell thought that levellers would put the power of the country gentlemen like himself at risk. When they revolted he put them down by force. This also caused more opposition for Cromwell and his republic.

Cromwell was a villain because he cruelly massacred hundreds of Catholics at Drogheda. Cromwell did not think that the Irish were human beings with rights. He treated them contrarily to other enemies, for example the Scots. 

Many people say that these reasons can be justified because thousands of Catholics were needlessly massacred in ulster by Irish Catholics.

He killed all of the villagers including women and children with no mercy because of the Ulster killings in which the Irish Catholics killed many Protestants. But this does not justify Oliver Cromwell because that happened around ten year before the Drogheda killings.

Oliver also disobeyed the rules of war, because he gave no ‘quarter’ (giving quarter means to spare the enemy).

Cromwell said that he massacred the villagers at Drogheda because then it would prevent further bloodshed in other villages. That is wrong because it is immoral to massacre innocent people for that reason.

Cromwell is considered a hero by many historians because he refused the crown. All he wanted to do was get the country back to normal from the war. He wanted everything to be under control and he ruled the country well. However other people say he had more power and authority than any monarch but just without the crown.

In conclusion I think that Cromwell is a villain because he was a hypocrite. He executed King Charles for reasons that he does himself, he misused the parliament, he strips people from the right to have their own beliefs and religions and final he was even worse because he banned the citizens from having fun. He also massacre many innocent people for the wrong* reason.

     

There aren’t any right reasons for massacre people.

The First World War: Causes and Consequences

On 28^th June 1914, an Austro-Hungarian was assassinated by a Serbian. But was this enough to cause a world war involving more than 30 countries and the death of 10 million soldiers? 

Long-term Causes of World War One

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand may have been the spark that lit the fuse to the world war, but the explosions between countries had bigger factors contributing to them. These were (Sentences in this colour are only examples):

•         Military Rivalry is competition over the size of your country's army. This would lead to one country getting scared of the growth rate of another country's army. E.g. if Germany started building its navy, Britain would get scared and attack Germany while it is still weak. In the World War, Germany had fears of Russia army growing.

•         Colonial Rivalry is competition for more to create a bigger empire. This caused war because if two rival countries want to conquer the same country, they will have a battle. E.g. If Germany wanted to conquer Belgium, and so did France, France would attack Germany and vice-versa. This might result in France’s allies and colonies being dragged into the war and the same might happen to Germany which might result in a world war. It would also give an excuse E.g. for Britain to attack Germany’s army because of its growth. In which case Britain’s allies and colonies would get involved.

•         Nationalism is when members of one country consider their country to be superior to other countries. To prove their superiority they might invade or attack another country. This can then result in a world war if the allies of the invaded country get involved and then their colonies get involved. The feel of superiority may also result in the country building its army to show off its wealth and end up in the consequences of both military rivalry and economical rivalry.

•         Economical Rivalry is competition over economic power. It can lead to countries building weapons to show off their wealth. If another country is rich then they might want to stop that country getting richer so that country is attacked. Also to get richer they might find that a weaker country has good resources and try to conquer it leading to the consequences colonial rivalry. They might also develop their military, which in turn leads to the consequences of military rivalry. For example Germany might want to show off its wealth to France so it would line up some heavy artillery towards France scaring the French and France might attack Germany.

•         Alliances played a big part in the formation of a world war as it meant that if two countries got into war, the whole alliance would have to back them up. For example if Britain and Germany had a war, the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance would have to get involved. In the world war Austria-Hungary had a war with Serbia and for that reason Russia helped Serbia and Germany helped Austria-Hungary.

Balkan Wars

The Balkan wars were two short wars fought on the Balkan Peninsula during 1912-1913, and Serbia was the most successful country of those involved. It doubled the size of its land and this filled the Serbs with Nationalistic Pride. There were also Serbs living in Bosnia-Herzegovina and they wanted more and more to become part of Serbia.

But this meant that the Austro-Hungarian rulers were fear of a mutiny. Serbs in Serbia also had the same wishes to have Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of Serbia.Although compared to Austro-Hungaria, Serbia was relatively small, Serbia and Russia had culturistic and linguistic ties and this meant Russia was a substantial friend.

Plans for War

                                                                                General Schlieffen’s plans for war meant that if France is attacked via Belgium, England will be ready to Germany, but Schlieffen assumes that Britain will not keep up its treaty with Belgium. Although England doesn’t have much care about Belgium, England will want to keep the Coastline

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On 28^th June 1914, Arch duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, while visiting Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, members of a secret Serbian nationalist group called The Black Hand. The members involved were Gavrillo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, Muhamed Mehmedbasic, Trifko Grabez, Danilo Ilic, Vaso Cubrilovic, Cvijetko Popovic, Misko Jovanovic and Veljko Cubrilovic, who were instructed by Dragutin Dimitrijevic (Head of Serbian Military Intelligence) to perform the assassination.

Which Factor Played the Biggest Part?

I think that Alliances, is the biggest factor to cause a world war because it was reason that if any of Military Rivalry, Colonial Rivalry, Nationalism or Economical Rivalry were to cause a war between two countries, without Alliances, there would have been no other countries getting involved.

Sources

·         Primary Source- http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/

·         http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/causes.htm