# Cromwell — Twenty Years After character guide

> Cromwell in Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Oliver Cromwell, General Cromwell

**First appearance:** 0036-xxxvii-cromwell-s-letter

## Snapshot

The general who toppled a king and now writes to France as England's master, weighing nations and souls with the same cold certainty.

## Who they are

Cromwell never appears in the flesh here so much as in his letter to Mazarin — a document that reads like a man who has already won and is merely informing Europe of the fact. He claims the Spirit of the Lord and the hope of the nation ride with him, yet his diplomacy is pure calculation: keep Charles out of France, keep France neutral, keep the war from spilling across the Channel. His shadow falls over every royalist scheme in the book, and the men who serve him — Mordaunt chief among them — carry his cold purpose into Paris drawing rooms.

## Relationships

### [Mordaunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/characters/mordaunt)

_professional_

Cromwell uses Mordaunt as a ruthless agent and tool for his political ambitions, with no personal warmth.

### [Mordaunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/characters/mordaunt)

_professional_

Cromwell uses Mordaunt as a ruthless agent and tool for his political ambitions, with no personal warmth.

### [Mordaunt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/characters/mordaunt)

_professional_

Cromwell uses Mordaunt as a ruthless agent and tool for his political ambitions, with no personal warmth.

## In the story

### [Cromwell's Letter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/chapters/xxxvii-cromwell-s-letter)

Author of the letter; not physically present but his political strategy and influence dominate the chapter.

### [Oliver Cromwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/chapters/lvii-oliver-cromwell)

Receives Mordaunt's report, grants his request for the prisoners, and reflects on his servants and loneliness.

### [Cromwell's House](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/chapters/lxviii-cromwell-s-house)

Holds a secret meeting with Mordaunt, discussing the king's death and the failed rescue.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/characters/cromwell
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twenty_years_after_se/characters