Cromwellian conquest of Ireland

The reconquest of Ireland began in 1649, when Oliver Cromwell reached Ireland with his New Model Army in the name of the Long Parliament. Since the Rebellion of 1641, Ireland had been largely under the control of the Confederacy of Ireland, which had formed an alliance in 1649 with the English Royalist Party, which had been defeated in the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated the Confederate-Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the island, ending the Irish Confederate Wars.

This re-conquest of Ireland was extremely brutal - many of Cromwell's acts at the time would be considered war crimes today, but were mostly within the normal rules of war at the time. This episode of Irish history is referred to in Irish as An Mallacht Cromail ("The Curse of Cromwell").

Background

The English Parliament, which had emerged victorious from the English Civil War, had several reasons for sending an army to Ireland. The first - and most important - reason was the alliance formed between the Confederacy of Ireland and the English Royalists around Charles II, the son of the executed Charles I. The aim of the alliance was to invade England in order to restore the monarchy there. Even if the Confederacy had not formed an alliance with the Royalists, it is likely that the English Parliament would still have attempted to retake Ireland. Ireland was considered an integral part of the former English kingdom, which was now a republic. In addition, many English parliamentarians wanted reparations for the massacres committed against English settlers in the 1641 rebellion. Another important reason for the conquest was the fact that the English Civil War had been financed in part with loans whose lenders were to be paid off with expropriated lands on the island of Ireland.

Cromwell in Ireland

After the end of Confederation Ireland in 1649, the only area controlled by supporters of Parliament was the city of Dublin under the command of Michael Jones. In order to conquer this area as well and deprive the Parliamentarians of an important port, Confederate and Royalist troops under the command of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde assembled south of Dublin in the town of Rathmines.

However, Jones made a surprise attack against the Alliance on August 2, which eventually ended in the Battle of Rathmines. Around 3,000 Royalist and Confederate soldiers were killed during this engagement. Cromwell called this battle an amazing blessing, as it allowed him to keep a port (Dublin) where he could land his troops. While Admiral Robert Blake blockaded the Royalist fleet under Prince Ruprecht of the Palatinate near Kinsale, Cromwell reached Ireland on August 15 with 35 ships - fully loaded with soldiers, arms, artillery and ammunition. Two days later Henry Ireton reached the Irish island with another 77 ships.

James Butler's troops withdrew from the Dublin area - demoralised by the unexpected defeat at Rathmines. Butler hoped to defend the fortified towns on the east coast of Ireland against Cromwell until winter, and continued to hope that Colonel Hunger and Major Sickness would then thin the ranks of the enemy.