Excerpt from The Life of General Monk: Duke of Albemarle KE 'of albemarl and Your Great Father the E A RL of BA TH were more intimately u nited by an early Acquaintance in their Youth; and in their riper Years, by a happy Concurrence of Counfels and Actions, in the Accomplifhment of the truly Glorious 'restoration. But. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

George Monk - or Monck, as the name is spelled today - was one of the key figures in English political military and naval history, and the man single-handedly responsible for the Restoration of Charles II after the Civil War and Cromwell's rule. This adulatory biography - amounting at times to a hero-worshipping hagiography - is of great historical interest, being the first Life of the great man, written by someone who knew Monk almost too intimately: his personal physician, Thomas Skinner. (The General suffered from indifferent health, partly thanks to his hard soldiering, and died of oedema only four years after the Restoration). A poor west country squire, Monk began his military career as a Soldier of Fortune in Europe. On his return home his abilities won him swift promotion and he was made Governor of Dublin after putting down the 1641 Irish rebellion. As a Royalist, he was captured by Parliament at the battle of Nantwich and spent two years as a prisoner in the Tower - a time he put to good use by writing a political and military treatise. He was freed and sent to Ireland again, where he served Parliament as faithfully as he had the King, becoming close to Cromwell and steering clear of Royalist plots. He was the Protector's right-hand man at the Battle of Dunbar, and remained in Scotland to complete the country's subjugation. As he was in Edinburgh, Monk avoided any part in Charles I's execution or the subsequent unpopularity of Cromwellian rule. He was thus able to bring his Army south at the right moment and negotiate the 1660 Restoration without bloodshed - for which a grateful Charles II made him Duke of Albemarle. He died in 1670. As well as his soldiering, Monk was an Admiral - commanding the Fleet in the first two Anglo-Dutch wars. He was also founding Colonel of the British Army's oldest Regiment - the Coldstream Guards. This biography contains an eye-witness account of his famous march from Coldstream to London; and refutes some of the 'errors' made about Monk by his Restoration rival, the Duke of Clarendon, in the latter's book 'The History of the Great Rebellion'.

General George Monck is famous for the key role he played in the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. His actions changed the course of British history, but his statesmanship in the dangerous time between the death of Cromwell and the bloodless return of Charles II distracts attention from his extraordinary career as a soldier and general, admiral, governor and administrator. During the confused, often bloody era of the English Civil Wars and the Protectorate he was one of the great survivors. Peter Reese, in this perceptive new study, follows Monck through his long, varied career, from his impoverished upbringing in the West Country and his military apprenticeship on the Continent, to his experience as a commander on both sides during the civil wars. He distinguished himself on the battlefields of Ireland and Scotland, and as a general-at-sea for both Cromwell and Charles II. His shrewdness and firmness of character, his skill as a leader, his high popularity with his troops and his occasional ruthlessness gained for him a formidable reputation. On Cromwell's death he was one of the few men in England with the power, personal authority and political skill to secure the restoration of Charles II and to bring to an end twenty years of conflict.

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