1655

Oliver Cromwell sends his son Henry to Ireland, for an apprenticeship in ruling a nation.

1655

Stymied by traditional institutions like parliament, the Protectorate turns to the army to extend its rule into the provinces.

1655

The New Model Army finds waging war on the other side of the world, and with little local intelligence, is harder than it looks.

1654-5

The Protectorate state draws up plans for the most ambitious amphibious campaign in English history, and the first step in conquering a global empire.

Spring 1655

An underground network of royalists seek to take advantage of instability within the Protectorate regime, but find that they are hampered by internal divisions of their own.

Fall 1654

Lord Protector Cromwell opens his first parliament, and soon discovers what James or Charles could have told him - that managing the men at Westminster is no easy task.

Now Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell is forced to finally make some concrete decisions about England's spiritual life. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his choices are as much political as religious.

1654

Having seized control of the state, Cromwell immediately ends the war with the Dutch, and adopts a much more conventional foreign policy.

December 1653

John Lambert, after orchestrating the demise of the latest attempt at a political settlement (the Nominated Assembly), produces his own solution - a written constitution.

1653

With the Rump hastily dissolved, England turns to an ad hoc assembly to craft a new political order.