Ireland: Close The Cromwellian Conquest Of Ireland

This culminated in the Rebellion of 1798, lead by Wolfe Tone and the Society of United Irishmen, in which Hugh and Jimmy participated: “The road to Sligo. A spring morning. 1798. Going into battle” (445). But, as these characters soon discovered, the rebellion failed resulting in large executions and the passing of the Act of Union in 1800. This piece of legislation, effective from 1 January 1801, brought Ireland under the direct rule of the British Crown.

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.

The Irish Immigrants that came to the United States after the potato crop failure were not greeted with a warm reception. In fact, they migrated at a time when the U.S. was experiencing anti-immigrant movements, consequently leading to acts of violence and harsh words against them. A major contributing factor to the oppression they faced was the fact that they were so far off from meeting the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant criteria that was present in society. Surprisingly, the Irish were at one point treated and viewed worst than the African Americans because they would not accept their mistreatment in silence. Essentially, their resistance to the mistreatment that they endured made the White American consider them to be “out of place” therefore they were a problem, much like that of the Native American Indian, whom the British settlers feared during the early colonization of America. Similarly, the Irish were separated by employers and mixed with other immigrant groups to prevent revolts just as they did with the African slaves and Native American Indians during the colonial days. Notably, the Catholic Irish received the worst treatment for a period of time as their customs were considered unusual and were not tolerated. Unfortunately, the intolerance that persisted in society led to the burning of Catholic homes and a convent, destruction of churches, murders, as well as death (pg. 120). In an effort to save their selves, the Irish noticed the need to assimilate with

It could be argued that The Great Famine was the utmost turning point in Irish Nationalism due to the lack of action of the British Government, which left deep-rooted hatred for the English within Ireland. Government expenditure for the famine equaled a total of £8 million, 3% of the total government budget. The British Government stuck closer to a laissez-faire economic policy, which is echoed through Charles Trevelyan who claimed that through relief “people grow worse instead of better.” The Irish

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

Anglo-Norman invaders arrived in Ireland in 1169, attempting to colonize the island over the next 500 years. The invaders began to expand their influence across the island by means of force. These attacks caused rebellions from the Irish people, as they were no strangers to aggression from the East. “Religious persecution of Catholic Irish grew – in particular after the accession of Elizabeth I, a Protestant, to the throne in 1558. Oliver Cromwell's subsequent siege of Ireland in 1649 ended with massacres of Catholics at Drogheda and Wexford and forced the resettlement of thousands, many of whom lost their homes in the struggle. By 1691, with the victory of Protestant English King William III over the Catholic forces of James II, Protestant supremacy in Ireland had become complete. Catholics in Ireland suffered greatly in the subsequent period of British occupation, enduring laws that prevented them from bearing arms, holding public office and restricting their rights to an education. While many of those rights were eventually restored, the animosity between Catholics and Protestants remained.” (Washington Post, 1999).

Oliver Cromwell and his New Modern Army were heavily motivated by their political and religious beliefs, these beliefs gave them motivation and helped them succeed in their mission. At the time of the invasion of Ireland, England had just finished a civil war of its own. The parliamentary party just defeated King Charles to gain control over England. This party was strongly founded on the principal of Protestantism, rather than Catholicism. The New Model Army was motivated through political means, due in part to the allegiance between the Royalists and the Catholic rebels in Ireland. The New Model Army had already defeated the Royalists in England and as such they had a vendetta against them in Ireland. The New Model Army, especially Oliver

In England, Oliver Cromwell is considered a hero but is hated in Ireland. In Ireland he is harshly criticized for the things he has done. People in Ireland consider him worse than Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, and Ivan the Terrible combined. Many Irish mothers use Cromwell as a way to get their children to behave. They tell their children that if they do not behave properly, Oliver Cromwell will get them. When King Charles I was beheaded, Cromwell was one of the signers of his death warrant. Soon after this Cromwell served in the Rump Parliament. Some of the battles/wars that Oliver Cromwell did were Gainsborough, Marston Moor, Newbury II, Naseby, Langport, Preston, Dunbar, and Worcester. Before he began battling, he was not formally trained in military tactics. he often relied on impact instead of firepower. Oliver Cromwell had an amazing ability to lead and train his men. Another strength he had was his moral authority. He had a very unique relationship with his troops. In 1649- 50, Oliver Cromwell had a parliamentary invasion in Ireland. The alliance of the Irish Confederate Catholics and English royalist was a big military threat to the parliament. Cromwell’s hatred to the Irish was mostly religious because he was very opposed of the Catholic Church. In the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Cromwell’s association with the persecution of the Catholics deepened. In September 1649 at the Siege of Drogheda, Oliver cromwell’s military troops killed almost 3,500 people. Oliver Cromwell called the Drogheda massacre “the righteous judgment of god on these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood.” There were many Jesuit propaganda flyers that showed Cromwell’s soldiers killing defenseless women and children. He is still very hated in Ireland because of his association with the massacres, the persecutions of the Catholics, and the mass dispossion of the

The English conquest of Ireland goes much deeper than just the events between 1565 and 1603. In the 1100’s, Ireland was not the Ireland we see

Oliver Cromwell is remembered by history as a radical Puritan hell-bent on the ethnic cleansing of Western Europe. Though he hailed from rather humble beginnings, Cromwell managed to leave quite a mark on the bloodstained tapestry of Irish history. Despite his initial toleration of most Protestant sects, his religious conversion to Puritanism in the 1630s shaped a great deal of his foreign policy. Believing his was a mission from God, Cromwell composed an aggressive but effective foreign policy of conquest, guided by the Elizabethan model.

The campaign had ultimately led to the creation of the Act of Ireland of 1920. This created a twenty-six county Irish Free State and six counties in Northern Ireland (Filardo-Llamas, 2013; White, 1989). This act also allowed Northern Ireland to choose whether or not to stay with Britain or become part of the Free State. Northern Ireland ultimately decided to stay with the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland created its own parliament in Stormont in Belfast (Bosi, 2012; Filardo-Llamas, 2013). The Free State was mostly inhabited by Catholics while Northern Ireland was populated mostly by Protestants (White, 1989). But the road to have a Free State did come at a price. Over 7,500 people lost their lives or were wounded between 1917 and 1923. Many lost their homes, family and friends (Hart,

The Irish had suffered long before in the hands of the English when Cromwell had been in control and had taken away land held by the catholic majority of the country to members of the protestant minority. This created a large tension among the population with the oppressed majority and the rather entitled minority who by Trevelyan’s snooty tone did indeed see themselves as the superior people in the country. (Trevelyan’s tone is probably the most dismissive when in discussion of the Irish, mayhaps showing his own true dislike.) (Trevelyan, p. 116-

against the Protestants. In 1829 Catholics were not suitable for schools throughout Ireland they were only suitable for Protestants. The Catholic peasantry were still called on to pay tithes, and they continued to be harassed by the exactions of tithe-proctors and others, who if the money was not forthcoming, seized the poor peoples cows, furniture, beds, blankets, kettles, or anything they could lay their hands on (History Of Nations 12 Ireland-Scotland p.224).The Catholics were a minority in Ireland much like in the history of Quebec where the English conquered the French, the French were considered lower forms of humans they weren’t up to English standards. As the years past the Catholics started to get back at the Protestants forming the I.R.A. I.R.A. and Protestant killings continued into the early 1900s, Britain began launching multi party- talks with the goal of forging a new assembly for northern Ireland and new relations between the north and Irish republic. By 1999, Protestant and Catholic negotiators had

In order to support the preceding statement, the excerpts from Comain’s Ireland’s Bloody Sunday can be used, which argue, “But after a presentation […] British soldiers brutally” (1972). The reason that led to the death of Irish people reflected in Comain’s poem can be undoubtedly attributed to the firing action of British soldiers. Hence, the rebels mentioned in Easter, 1916, were executed whereas the rebels mentioned in Ireland’s Bloody Sunday were killed during the protest.

For my research task I had picked Irish English (also known as Hiberno English). As English was first introduced to Ireland by the time of the Norman invasion. By the Tudor period, the Irish culture and language re-claimed its use in the territories it lost. However, the renewal of English expansion following the Tudor conquest of Ireland revived the use of their language, specifically during the plantations and the introduction of the Penal Laws, which banned the use of Irish. By the 19th century, English was the language that was spoken most in the whole country. It has reserved this position till the present day. Even though some people had their first language as Irish also was fluent in English.