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}}.

The Battle of Rathmines and Cromwell?s landing in Ireland

By the end of the period known as Confederate Ireland in 1649, the only remaining Parliamentarian outpost in Ireland was in Dublin, under the command of Colonel Michael Jones. A combined Royalist and Confederate force under James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde gathered at Rathmines, south of Dublin, in order to take the city and deprive the Parliamentarians of a port in which they could land. Jones however launched a surprise attack on the Royalists while they were deploying on August 2, putting them to flight. Around 3000 Royalist or Confederate soldiers were killed in the subsequent rout. Oliver Cromwell called the battle, "an astonishing mercy", as it meant that he had a secure port at which he could land his army in Ireland, and that he retained the capital city. With Admiral Robert Blake blockading the remaining Royalist fleet under Prince Rupert of the Rhine in Kinsale, Cromwell landed on on August 15.

Related Topics:
Confederate Ireland - 1649 - Dublin - Michael Jones - Royalist - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde - Rathmines - Parliamentarian - Launched a surprise attack - Oliver Cromwell - Robert Blake - Prince Rupert of the Rhine - Kinsale

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Ormonde's troops retreated from around Dublin in dissaray. They were badly demoralised by their unexpected defeat at Rathmines were incapable of fighting another pitched battle in the short term. As a result, Ormonde hoped to hold the walled towns on Ireland's east coast to hold up the Cromwellian advance until the winter, when he hoped that "Colonel Hunger and Major Sickness" (i.e. hunger and disease) would deplete their ranks.

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