The Rule of the Major Generals

In a sense, the rule of the Major Generals was a response to the royalist risings of 1655, but it was also the result of a need to reorganize the army which, serving in England, Scotland and Ireland, was a considerable drain on the limited financial resources of the government. The Major Generals, war-hardened professional soldiers, proved themselves efficient in carrying through Cromwell's program, but their involvement in local government alienated the country at large, and the long-term effects of their activities were felt long after the Restoration. The election campaign of the summer of 1656 was marked by the Major Generals' efforts to enforce their own choices on voters for the proposed Parliament, and resistance from former political associates of Cromwell who equated the generals with the court of a new, personal, ruler. The fact that the Council of State had to exclude many elected MPs indicated the Major Generals' failure.