"The Bloody Man"

[EdT]

Oliver Cromwell occupies a unique place in British history. While other great, flawed figures of our past such as Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington, Elizabeth I or Henry V are proudly remembered as national heroes, Cromwell- one of England's finest generals, and the person who arguably did more than any other to establish the foundations of modern Britain- commands no such unanimity.

Some still passionately denounce him as a genocidal dictator, a "prototype Hitler" who introduced military rule to the British Isles, banned Christmas and dancing, and ruled through fear and the ruthless application of force. Others argue that he was a liberator, a noble foe of tyranny and oppression, and the originator of the British tradition for tolerance.

The one thing that can be agreed on is that it is difficult to imagine what might have happened, for good or ill, had a certain obscure Cambridgeshire Member of Parliament had not been present to influence the direction of Britain at one of the most tumultuous periods of the nation’s history.

But let's try anyway...

[EdT]

The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man."
2 Samuel 16:7-8.

[PCSwitaj]

And yet again, I shall follow with great interest - subscribed!

[General_Finley]

Consider this subscribed.

[Van555]

My first subscription!

[Cuāuhtemōc]

And again, I subscribe to another EdT timeline.

[Vosem]

I'll have to read up on him - I'm more familiar with 19th and 20th century British politics than Cromwell. When I think of him, I think of how Alexei Mihailovich kicked all the English merchants out of Moscow when Cromwell killed off Charles I.

Of course, knowing EdT, this timeline will educate me far better than Wikipedia ever could.

[Dunbar]

YAY another EDT timeline

[Shadow Knight]

Huzzah, another EdT TL! Can't wait to see what you've got in store for this one even though it means the end of the very delightful Caesariad is near.

[Blackadder mk 2]

No Cromwell?

I know nothing but the journey shall provide me the needed knowledge as I walk upon this path further. (Took me hell of a long time to come up with that one )

[Falkenburg]

This should be interesting.

Falkenburg

[Nazi Space Spy]

This is going to be great!

[Darth_Kiryan]

Another work of epicness coming up.

Subscribed.

[Theodore Gladstone]

I sense Turtledoves in this timeline's future!

[SavoyTruffle]

An EdT timeline is always grounds for awesome.

[stevep]

EdT

This could be very interesting, not to mention highly controversial, depending on how EdT develops things.

Hopefully there is a lot of life left in the Caesariad but subscribing to this as well.

Steve

[Admiral Matt]

Fascinating.

I'm intrigued by the format - the opening suggestion indicates that unlike your previous two works this entails the removal of a national leader, rather than the addition of one. Yet the title certainly implies that you've a particular.... replacement.... in mind.

[Sicarius]

Ground floor. I love this period of history and I love your other TLs, I am in.

[EdT]

Glad people are interested- I've certainly enjoyed the stuff I've written on it so far so I hope you will too. I'll post the prologue this evening.

Originally Posted by Vosem

Of course, knowing EdT, this timeline will educate me far better than Wikipedia ever could.

Originally Posted by Blackadder mk 2

I know nothing but the journey shall provide me the needed knowledge as I walk upon this path further. (Took me hell of a long time to come up with that one )

It's certainly been an education for me in writing it- when I started I knew next to nothing about the period myself. It's one of the reasons why I went for it, nothing teaches you history like writing alternative history. Hopefully no prior knowledge will be needed- it comes with copious footnotes and explanatory maps and have done my best to explain things as I go along, so it should work like FaBR in that regard. And of course I'm always happy to try and field questions along the way!

Originally Posted by Shadow Knight

Huzzah, another EdT TL! Can't wait to see what you've got in store for this one even though it means the end of the very delightful Caesariad is near.

Originally Posted by stevep

Hopefully there is a lot of life left in the Caesariad but subscribing to this as well.

Don't worry, the Caesariad isn't dead, and has another four chapters left. The idea is to work on finishing those at the same time as I continue to write this- expect one or both will end up slipping as a result, but I promise I'll get there in the end, they're different enough pieces that moving from one to the other is quite refreshing.

Originally Posted by Blackadder mk 2

No Cromwell?

Originally Posted by Admiral Matt

I'm intrigued by the format - the opening suggestion indicates that unlike your previous two works this entails the removal of a national leader, rather than the addition of one. Yet the title certainly implies that you've a particular.... replacement.... in mind.

Yes, this is a TL that deals with the absence of a figure at a crucial moment, rather than the appearance of a different one. If you want the "Fight and Be Right" or "A Greater Britain" format of "obscure person unexpectedly makes it big and screws up the British body politic" but set in the Civil War, then OTL already has that covered!

I should say from the outset though, this is not simply an 'alternate Lord Protector' TL. Things go off piste long before 1653; as much as anything this TL is about the consequences of somebody not imposing themselves on the situation, as Cromwell was in a position to do IOTL, rather than somebody different doing a similar thing.

As for the title, "The Bloody Man" is a theme that runs throughout. It was an epithet used IOTL, and, unfortunately for Britain ITTL, can be applied to at least three figures here, possibly more.

[EdT]

Oh, and while I'm here, I did an alternative, more period-appropriate cover for the TL;