How could the Commonwealth of England Survive?

How would this happen, and what would be the short term effects?

By not having Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector perhaps???
Actually as soon as the army realised that Richard was a weak ruler they quickly rushed to the most trusted (and tested) solution and that was restoring Monarchy... Now if we can replace Richard with a more suitable and strong Lord Protector English Republic (i love the sound of this:D:D:D) has a chance...
 
During the English Civil War, a political movement called the Levelers had some popularity within the enlisted ranks of the New Model Army. The philospher/pamphletist leader was John Evelyn who basically argued against the idea of the aristocratic model and for direct democracy and an extension of the voting franchise to all adult males. This put him way ahead of his time, and too much for landed-gentry types like Cromwell.

Cromwell surpressed the movement, but suppose some high-ranking officers like General Monck took up the ideology. Something like an American Revolutionary polity could have evolved, rather than a return to the monarchical system. Some of the Founders like Jefferson and Madison were aware of Evelyn's writings and may have been influence by them.
 
I am sure that this is not original, but my contribution is that if Oliver Cromwell had lived a bit longer AND had designated General Monck as his successor, the Commonwealth could have survived. Monck was a man of ability and ambition and he could have preserved and expanded the Commonwealth.
Ignoring for the moment those pesky butterflies, we might then have a bit later Lord Protector John Churchill and that would certainly make European politics and warfare interesting.
 
I think it would also help if you killed/captured a lot of the main Stuart Pretenders. This being Charles II, James Duke of York and William III (getting rid of his mother is easy enough.)

Now you could have Charles II captured, as instead of diverging from the main party that got captured he could instead go with them and be captured.

James, Duke of York could be dispatched of during the Battle of the Dunes.

Mary, Princess Royal catches smallpox from her husband and, due to her being weakened from the pregnancy dies soon after, the child isn't born or if he is then he won't survive.

Now you have a scenario where the only real contenders are Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester who's looked after by the government and in OTL seemed pretty loyal to Parliament. And the others are of course the German line, this will either (IMO that is,) lead to no succession. Or a bitter relationship between the Commonwealth and the Palatinate of the Rhine.
 
In the short term, have Monck decide against restoring the monarchy. He was really the arbiter of power and if he brought his troops down from Scotland in favour of Parliament, or even of himself as Lord Protector, the Restoration fizzles out.

Then of course you have to hope that a mechanism for succession of Lords Protector can be arranged to have the Commonwealth continue in the long run.
 
I think the problems started long before Richard. Remember that Oliver Cromwell, several years before his own death, realised that his republican model was ineffective and problem-ridden, and dissolved his own Parliament, preferring martial law as his favoured form of civil government. Really you'd need some ideological type to take over earlier, perhaps having Cromwell killed in battle just before the final victory in 1649, when politics were still very malleable?
 
Charles Fleetwood

Cromwell's son-in-law and by all accounts his heir-in-waiting, although unlucky for him Cromwell never wrote it down and hereditary sucession was deemed best. Popular in the army, puritan and jingoistic when it came to stamping out the Stuarts and Papal power, I'd imagine more war in Ireland, possibly an attempt to reignite the Protestant 'revolution' in continental Europe, but certainly another generation of the Commonwealth. Ultimately getting the commercial interests in on it, and once the odds of a Stuart restoration fade, the Tory landowners will come round too. Ultimately you'll have a 'Classic' Republic formed with military, commercial and agricultural interests controlling the state.
 
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