Introduction
In the modern history source book, Thomas Macauley talks about the reign of Thomas Cromwell’s during his tenure as a commissioner of the army. Macauley’s presentation is in the form of an essay in which he argues and analyses historical events that transpired when Cromwell was in power. This review circulates around the arguments and evaluates the quality of Macauley’s writing with a keen focus on the weaknesses of the story (Macauley. 1880).
Summary
This section is made up of Macauley’s narration on how Cromwell established and controlled his army. Macauley starts his story by stating the kind of parliaments in existence. He further describes the kind of men who are in power and the diverse moral grounds on which they base their leadership. He says that those men were in an independent religion.
Macauley further describes Oliver Cromwell’s achievements. He says that Cromwell was more than forty years old when he agreed to become one of the commissioners in the parliamentary army. Cromwell is the center of attention when his party becomes powerful. This is depicted when he noticed the weaknesses and strengths of royalists and came up with strategies to counter them. He redesigned his army and recruited God fearing members for public liberty.
The writer says that Cromwell’s ability came to surface in the year 1644 in Essex’s southern region where he became a victor. He managed to head an entire army and dismissed Essex from power. Moreover, Macauley terms Cromwell’s army as a different breed from Essex soldiers.
Macauley further narrates that soldiers who are supposed to form army parliaments should be at liberty to make resolutions for the states. Thus, becoming the most fearful and worst force in the region.
“Cromwell’s army had some level of morality and God’s fear that encompassed all the ranks,” says the writer. He continues to say that there were no visible oaths, neither drinking of alcohol, adultery nor gambling in their camps. The only observed weakness in Cromwell’s leadership was the act of restraining his army from invading pulpits owned by ministers in cathedrals.
Evaluation
This part is made up of an evaluation of the writer’s story. Macauley narrates about ancient leadership in Europe that revolves around Cromwell Oliver. He describes all the events that led to Cromwell’s rise and his entire reign. Moreover, the writer points out the most crucial activities that took place in during Cromwell’s leadership.
Macauley is biased in his story. It is obvious that any legend that happened to lead a people must have a fall. Cromwell’s success dominates the story as the writer does not state how his reign came to an end. In addition, there are many leaders in the story other than Cromwell, but there is no point where the writer states how these leaders challenged Cromwell in wars. He only explains how Cromwell defeated them (Macauley. 1880).
Finally, Macauley is too verbose and technical in writing. This makes it difficult for an average reader to comprehend. For instance, he states, “The ecclesiastical polity of the kingdom was remodeled” (p.90). This statement has a technical term thus it makes it hard for an average reader to understand it. Such readers might get frustrated when trying to find the authors meaning. These are some of Macauley’s weaknesses.
In conclusion, the review has evaluated the Modern History Source book by Thomas Macauley. The writer does a wonderful writing work that illustrates the ancient political events in Cromwell’s leadership. However, his narration is filled with biasness and the use of technical terms that are not easily understandable (Macauley. 1880).
Bibliography
Macauley, Thomas B. “History of England” Accession of King James II (1880):90-95.