What do you think?
Rate this book
General Monck
316 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
5 people want to read
About the author
Maurice Percy Ashley
39 books6 followersMaurice Percy Ashley, CBE, was a noted historian of the 17th Century and a former editor of The Listener.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 10, 2016
I was always intrigued by Monck. On the surface at least he seems to simply be a constant turncoat opportunist. First he fights for Charles I in Ireland and Scotland, he is captured by Parliament’s forces and does two years in the tower then serves Cromwell against the Irish, Scots and Dutch, and then he turns again and restores Charles II to the throne (while also first backing then betraying the old Rump Parliament). This does look like a man who prefers to back the winning side rather than a cause.
Maurice Ashley’s biography gives a much more sympathetic portrayal of the man than that assesment. He comes across as undoubtedly a brave soldier, and admiral, fighting on the front line of battles on land and sea and prepared to go down fighting if called for so. That doesn’t quite fit with the image of mendacious politician readily swapping sides to save his skin with each change of government.
What Ashley slowly unravels is the picture of a man who prefers order to chaos, and conservative thought to extremism. That seemed to shape his political choices rather than saving his own skin. That said there is also a tendency to favour monarchy as he most (but not all) of his battles, both for King and Parliament, were to preserve order against Scots, Irish and Dutch rather than against English royalists. He also effectively viewed Cromwell, though not his son, as an effective and de fact monarch.
If he had one flaw that Ashley can’t hide it was that he was not above lying and scheming, particularly in the run up to the restoration of Charles II, but he saw this as a means to end of restoring order amidst the chaos following the death of Cromwell.
Maurice Ashley’s biography gives a much more sympathetic portrayal of the man than that assesment. He comes across as undoubtedly a brave soldier, and admiral, fighting on the front line of battles on land and sea and prepared to go down fighting if called for so. That doesn’t quite fit with the image of mendacious politician readily swapping sides to save his skin with each change of government.
What Ashley slowly unravels is the picture of a man who prefers order to chaos, and conservative thought to extremism. That seemed to shape his political choices rather than saving his own skin. That said there is also a tendency to favour monarchy as he most (but not all) of his battles, both for King and Parliament, were to preserve order against Scots, Irish and Dutch rather than against English royalists. He also effectively viewed Cromwell, though not his son, as an effective and de fact monarch.
If he had one flaw that Ashley can’t hide it was that he was not above lying and scheming, particularly in the run up to the restoration of Charles II, but he saw this as a means to end of restoring order amidst the chaos following the death of Cromwell.
Displaying 1 of 1 review