39. What social groups supported Oliver Cromwell? What new kind of army did he create? How did o. Cromwell govern the country?

Several MPs had commanded the Parliamentarian army. Of these, the strongest was an East Anglian gentleman farmer named Oliver Cromwell. In the “Long Parliament” Cromwell was among a group of members known as the “fiery spirits”, or Independents, who demanded overthrow of the monarchy.

As relations between the King and Parliament worsened, Cromwell volunteered to raise forces in his home counties, despite his lack of military experience. He turned out to be a universally successful general, a man of great military talents. He created an army of a New Model – of educated people, with able leaders, iron disciple and regular pay.

Cromwell accepted the title of Lord Protector of a United Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland and the colonies.

From 1649–1660 Britain was a republic, but the republic was not a success. Cromwell and his friends created a government far more severe than Charles‘s had been. They had got rid of the monarchy, and they now got rid of the House of Lords and the Anglican Church.

From 1653 Britain was governed by Cromwell alone. He had greater powers than King Charles had had. His efforts to govern the country through the army were extremely unpopular. He acted like a tyrant. When the new Parliament made a feeble attempt to question his system of dictatorship and insisted on its own supremacy Cromwell dissolved it; he did the same with the next Parliament; when the workers and peasants attempted uprising, he suppressed them cruelly.

By and by he intensified his oppression and imposed military dictatorship on the country. He appointed military officers, Major-Generals, to govern 11 districts into which England was divided for the purpose. Hundreds of ale-houses were closed, and many amusements of the people such as horse-racing, cock-fighting and even celebrating Christmas and Easter were forbidden. The regime was losing support and as neither the common people, nor the upper classes were satisfied with the results of the Revolution, the monarchy was restored after Cromwell’s death.

Cromwell died in September 1658, and the Republic died with him.

40. Why did Scotland agree to the union with England in 1707? What was the new official name of the united state?

In Scotland, some claimed that union would enable Scotland to recover from the financial disaster wrought by the Darien scheme through English assistance and the lifting of measures put in place through the Alien Act to force the Scottish Parliament into compliance with the Act of Settlement.[21]

The combined votes of the Court party with a majority of the Squadrone Volante were sufficient to ensure the final passage of the treaty through the House.

Personal financial interests were also allegedly involved. Many Commissioners had invested heavily in the Darien Scheme and they believed that they would receive compensation for their losses; Article 15 granted £398,085 10s sterling to Scotland, a sum known as The Equivalent, to offset future liability towards the English national debt. In essence it was also used as a means of compensation for investors in the Company of Scotland's Darien Scheme, as 58.6% was allocated to its shareholders and creditors.

The English purpose was to ensure that Scotland would not choose a monarch different from the one on the English throne. The two countries had shared a king for much of the previous century, but the English were concerned that an independent Scotland with a different king, even if he were a Protestant, might make alliances against England. The English succession was provided for by the English Act of Settlement 1701, which ensured that the monarch of England would be a Protestant member of the House of Hanover.

The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. The Acts joined the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland (previously separate states with separate legislatures, but with the same monarch) into a single, united kingdom named "Great Britain".