Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of the English Parliament in 1649. Since the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Ireland had been mainly under the control of the Irish Confederate Catholics, who in 1649, signed an alliance with the English Royalist party, which had been defeated in the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country - bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars. He passed a very harsh series of Penal laws against Catholics and confiscated almost all of their land. The Parliamentarian re-conquest of Ireland was extremely brutal, and it is alleged that many of Cromwell's actions during the re-conquest would today be called war crimes and genocide. Cromwell is still a hated figure in Ireland. However, a recent book claims that many of the actions taken by Cromwell were within the then accepted rules of war, or were exaggerated or distorted by later propagandists{{fn|1}}. Debate over his impact in Ireland is lively{{fn|2}}.

Guerrilla warfare, famine and plague

The fall of Galway saw the end of organised resistance to the Cromwellian conquest, but fighting continued as small units of Irish troops launched guerrilla attacks on the Parliamentarians. These men were known as "tories" (from the Irish word toraidhe meaning, "pursued man"). They operated from difficult terrain such as the Bog of Allen, the Wicklow Mountains and the drumlin country in the north midlands. and within months, made the countryside extremely dangerous for all except large parties of Parliamentarian troops. Henry Ireton and John Hewson both mounted punitive expedition to the Wicklow mountains to try and put down the tories there, but without success. In response, the Parliamentarians destroyed food supplies and forcibly evicted civilians who were thought to helping the tories. The result was famine throughout much of Ireland, aggravated by an outbreak of Bubonic plague. As the guerrilla war ground on, the Parliamentarians designated areas such as county Wicklow as what would now be called Free-fire zones, where anyone found would be killed. In addition they began selling prisoners as slaves to the West Indies. The combination of warfare, famine and plague caused a huge mortality among the Irish population. William Petty estimated the death toll of the wars in Ireland since 1641 as over 400,000 people, or about one third of the country?s population. Eventually, the guerrilla war was ended by publishing surrender terms in 1652 allowing Irish troops to go abroad to serve in foreign armies not at war with the Commonwealth of England. Most went to France or Spain. The last Irish and Royalist forces (the remnants of the Confederate's Ulster Army) formally surrendered at Cloughoughter in Cavan in 1653. However, low-level guerrilla warfare continued for the remainder of the decade and was accompanied by widespread lawlessness and banditry.

Related Topics:
Galway - Guerrilla - Tories - Drumlin - Henry Ireton - John Hewson - Famine - Bubonic plague - County Wicklow - Free-fire zone - West Indies - William Petty - Commonwealth of England - Cavan - 1653

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