Impact of Irish Culture on U.S. Military Operations

Coming from Scandinavian countries, predominantly Denmark and Norway, the Vikings began raiding the British Isles in the late 700s (James). The Vikings primarily targeted monasteries, because that is where most of the wealth was concentrated (Loughrey). These raids were very violent, people were killed, and the survivors were sold into slavery (Loughrey). These violent raids earned the Vikings the reputation of barbarians, much like the Mongols a few centuries later in Asia. After some time, once the Vikings exhausted most of the wealth in the monasteries, they turned their interest into settling the British Isles (James). By the late 9th century the Vikings had conquered most of England (James). However, even though these Viking kingdoms did not last very long, the Scandinavians who resided there stayed. These Scandinavians would go on to change the British Isles in many ways. Despite the violent and negative impacts of Viking raids on the British Isles, once the Vikings settled down, they had a significant and positive peaceful impact on the British Isles culturally, politically, and economically.

Black Hawk Down develops Nationalism through its perspective of the armed forces. Bowden’s book demonstrates how our soldiers fight for us, as citizens, and Black Hawk Down gives the frightening details of battle other books would not. It’s intense details bring to life “the heroic efforts of American soldiers in Mogadishu’s maze of streets and alleys to survive the attacks of Somalis speeding past them in pickup trucks with assault rifles blazing” (Matray). The pure hell of the battlefield is depicted, giving the reader an image of what it is like to risk your life for your own country. Although we made mistakes in Mogadishu, our nation has built upon them. Nation-building in Somalia was a mistake and “Bush undoubtedly hoped that American voters would remember not only the disastrous results of U.S. “nation-building” efforts in Vietnam but more recently those in Somalia where Americans watched on television an angry mob drag the body of a dead U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu” (Matray). However, we have built upon our mistakes and changed our foreign policies due to ours faults in Mogadishu. Since, Black Hawk Down is nonfiction, it also gives the student academic lessons to draw upon.

By the mid-800s, the lands of Ireland, Scotland and England were attracting Viking settlers as well as raiders. Viking settlers founded Ireland’s first trading towns, including Dublin and Limerick. They used ports on the Irish coast to launch attacks within Ireland and against English

     One may question, what did the Irish have against the English? The answer one will find is, plenty! In Ireland, the landlords and agents and in American there were bosses and mine owners. The landlords in Ireland lived on large estates in the Irish countryside and charged

The first Viking attack on Ireland was in 820, and like the monk’s attacked in 793, the people of Ireland had no chance against the powerful Viking army. In the years following the first attack Viking’s gained leadership, and by 839, a brave Viking chieftain named Turges, declared himself king of Ireland. Turges sacrificed the Irish kings Armagh and Clonmacnois, to Thor, a Viking god.

When one sees the word Viking, the mind firstly shifts to men who are uncivilized and unprincipled. Using evidence of achievements and victories will not only show how much they impacted Europe, but how sophisticated Vikings actually were. As Charlemagne’s empire ended, the people of Europe showed extraordinary resilience toward the new movements of the era. From 800 to 1200 CE, Vikings ruled medieval Europe. These Vikings, along with thick soil, are credited with shifting Europe from endemic violence toward cooperation and legal order. An attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age. Vikings began to appear in Europe due to Scandinavian raiders repeatedly visiting the Christian countries of Europe. At first they were content with just raiding lands, but soon they began to seize land and proclaim rule. They sought riches, not land. With this established rule, Vikings promised safety and began to reform the lands they had acquired. The people agreed due to starvation and possible attacks from eneimes. The new lands had a need for settled agriculture, defensive warfare and commerce. As the Vikings began to fulfill these needs they saw an expansion in cooperation and rule of law among the villagers.

However, nowhere is Cromwell more associated with fevered anti-Catholicism and murder than in Ireland. Cromwell came to Ireland in 1649 pursuing two objectives: to place the island firmly under the control of British leaders and to suppress those Royalists who wanted to return to the status quo, in which English monarchy ruled. Those Loyalists and also Irish Catholics were especially a thorn in the side of Cromwell, as he believed they were all potential traitors and willing to help any Catholic uprising that wanted to attack England. Cromwell personified the anti-Catholicism of his time and he believed he was carrying out the orders from God by taming the Irish. His first target was Drogheda, a town in which he slaughtered thousands of Irish people.

Catholic Ireland tried to break away from England after the Reformation, but Elizabeth’s troops crushed the Irish uprising in the 1570’s and 1580’s.

In the 16th century, Henry VIII turned England into a Protestant country, but most of the Irish people remained Catholic. Being that no one listened to the king, he sent in soldiers to push them to change religions. The land owners fled their land when the soldiers came in. New protestant colonists came in to settle on the island. The Catholics rebelled and tried to get their country back, but were not successful and were left without power and land. While Great Britain gained full control of the whole island in the 19th century, Ireland has joined Wales, England, and Scotland to become the United Kingdom.

Ireland has always had religious problems between, Pagans, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish people. Ireland has always been a place of interest in English eyes so Ireland was continually concord over and over by the English and the currency, traditions and religions changed with every English King, Queen or Irish Rebel. Between 1641 and 1691 Oliver Cromwell changed everything, Irish Catholics, Pagans and Jews were killed or shipped off to be slaves. The influence to immigrate was very strong, their options were to go to a new world of which they knew no one and had nothing, be killed for your religion, or be gathered up and shipped away as a slave. It was a hard decision they all were forced to

Ireland has changed in many ways since the beginning of time. Many different people have invaded Ireland and changed so many things. One of the most important continuous invaders of Ireland were the vikings. These vikings were only from Norway, known as ostmen, they were notorious for raiding and looting. But, things were different with Ireland they managed to settle and establish permanent bases there.

The American Army 's history, composition, and structure predisposed the leadership to a rigid fixation on conventional warfare. In contrast to the British army-as-force-projection model, the American Army found its first task a matter of national survival. This historical trend - the continued perception of the Army fighting a war of annihilation - helped in many ways to keep the Army purely focused on its military objectives. Unconditional surrender was the name of the game, and smaller political goals were seen at best as derivative to, and at worst, preventative of the fabled 'total victory '. The varied composition of personnel which make up the US army also ensured a degree of formality, and a deference to rank. The structure, born of open-combat wars at large scale, was constituted around large divisions, which often rotated officers and manpower in and out. In short, everything within the Army was organized -rigidly- around the principle of a large scale conventional war. What worked against the Germans would work against the Russians.

Cromwell made it illegal for Irish Catholics to hold office in Parliament, attend mass or live in towns. This forced the native Irish to the areas in the south of the island of Ireland. Landowners that participated in the wars were sold as slaves in the West Indies, an estimated 40,000 people (Toomey, 2013).

During the seventeenth century, Ireland continued to suffer under English trade restrictions because they denied union with England. This resulted in the authority of its own Parliament in Dublin to be extremely limited. Most of Irelands population during this time consisted of Catholics. The King of England who happened to be the King of Ireland as well started laws against Catholics. Catholics became limited, they were not allowed to run for office, serve in the military, become a teacher, go to Trinity College, leave to get a foreign education or buy land without a 30-year lease.

When the Adventurers arrived on their lands, they often found the former Irish owners still living on it. Little sympathy was found amongst the English military officers due to their newfound economic rivalry and the affection that some of the officers had gained through their exposure to the Irish for almost a decade . The Adventures, who were made up of mostly London merchant, had all the Anti-Catholic prejudices that were all too common at the time of their arrival . But little to nothing was actually done to rid the area of the Irish who were doing labor. The Adventures also made up only a small group that had little influence over policies in Ireland at the time. Shortly after the Adventurers’ arrival though, the Cromwellian Settlement would begin its unraveling that would lead to the Restoration of King Charles II in