Many of Cromwell's actions that followed the end of the British Civil War were unwise and hypocritical. He was ruthless in controlling the revolts that took place within the army itself at the end of the war (linked to failure to pay troops) and showed little sympathy for the Levellers, an egalitarian movement that contributed heavily to the cause of parliament.
Cromwell dissolved the Republican Parliament in 1653 and took control of the state, as Lord Protector perpetual. His foreign policy led to a conflict with the Republic of the Seven Netherlands in 1652 - the First Anglo-Dutch War, which was eventually won by Admiral Robert Blake in 1654, with Cromwell already serving as Lord Protector. In 1655 it conquered the territory of Jamaica of the Spaniards, turning it into the main English colonial space in the Caribbean.
