From a military tactical standpoint...did Oliver Cromwell have it right?

Question

From a military tactical standpoint...did Oliver Cromwell have it right?

Answer 1

Cromwell is like many great reformers, doing something right and other things incorrectly.

Most famously he is the man who banned Christmas.

But his strategic point of view was the creation of a standing kings army. That is an army of the nation. One of the first in Europe since the roman days. Meaning the king was no longer dependent of the lords and nobles for military power.

Tactically I understand he is notthing special. Use of combined arms was a general philosophy in Eurpean war in the middle ages. That is tactic of not relying on one single part of your army (as the Greeks did with the Greek phalanx or the romans with the Legions).

Combined arms is also part of modern warfare. One of the most famous examples where this failed is in Naval warfare in WWII. The Japanese sensibly distruted relying on aircraft carriers and wished to continue a combined arms approach to the navy. The Japanese had better battleships than the US, but carriers proved to be such a decisive military unit that limited the US of battleships in the pacific.

The gulf war and the war Iraq has proved the value of combined arms. In the gulf war, the need for foot soldiers was seen despite US tanks and air support destroying the Iraqi army. Now in Iraq the US has too few foot soldiers to control the nation because the current US administration took the view they could win the day through tank and air superiority (sorry guys, you were wrong...as well as liars and cheats)

Answer 2

Cromwell was a rebel who fought against the King's Army.  He was the original "Old Ironsides", and a puritan, like most of those in the anti-royal faction in the English civil war.  It was Cromwell who cut off Charles I's head, and there has not been a "Royal Army" since.  There's a Royal Navy, and a Royal Air Force, even an "Ancient and Honorable Royal Artillery", but its the British Army since this regicide.

The "New Model Army" of the mid 1640s was a departure.  The intention was to have an army of professionals, both officers and men, intended for service anywhere in the country, so they were not tied to any garrison or area.  Since Cromwell's faction (the Parliamentary forces) won the war and Cromwell was able to execute the King and set himself up as dictator, it must have been more effective than the competing organizational schemes.

Answer 3

Maybe, but I wouldn't dare bring this up in Ireland lol.