Cromwell's Irish campaign

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Whirlwind military campaign conducted by the Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell in Ireland August 1649–May 1650, following the victory of his Parliamentarians in the English Civil War (1641–49). He aimed to reassert English control over Ireland, where the Great Rebellion against Protestant English rule had erupted alongside the Civil War, and support for the Royalists had been high. The vengeful actions of Cromwell's army in Ireland, particularly the massacres at the battles of Drogheda and Wexford in 1649, have made his name synonymous with English oppression in the minds of Irish nationalists. His campaign effectively ended the military opposition to English parliamentary rule.

The Pillars of Hercules represent the promontories of Gibraltar and Ceuta. The shield represents the regions of Castile, Léon, Aragón, Navarre, and Granada. Effective date: 18 December 1981. >>