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The Battle of the Boyne Essay

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The Battle of the Boyne (Irish: Cath na Bóinne) was a turning point in the Williamite claim on the English throne.
The deposed King James VII of Scotland and James II of England and Ireland and his Jacobite supporters were defeated by James' nephew and son-in-law, William III and his supporters. By the invitation of Parliament, William had deposed James in 1688. Both kings acted as commander of their respective armies.
The battle took place on July 1, 1690 (Old Style) just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast. Each army stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne. William's forces easily defeated those of James who led an army of mostly raw recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known …show more content…

[edit]The competing sides

James VII and II
King of England, Scotland and Ireland
[edit]Commanders
The opposing armies in the battle were led by the Roman Catholic former King James II of England and Scotland and King of Ireland and opposing him, his nephew and son-in-law the Protestant William III ("William of Orange") who had deposed James from his English and Scottish thrones in the previous year. James's supporters still controlled much of Ireland and the Irish Parliament. James also enjoyed the support of the French king, Louis XIV, who did not want to see a hostile monarch, such as William, on the throne of England. To support James's restoration, Louis sent 6,000 French troops to Ireland to support the Irish Jacobites. William was already Stadtholder of the Netherlands and was able to call on Dutch and allied troops from continental Europe as well as from Great Britain.
James was a seasoned general who had proven his bravery when fighting for his brother — King Charles II — in Europe, notably at the Battle of the Dunes (1658). However, recent historians have noted that he was prone to panicking under pressure and to making rash decisions, probably due to the onset of dementia which was to overtake him completely in later years. William, although a seasoned commander was hardly one of history's great generals and had yet to win a major battle. Many of his battles ended in bloody stalemates, prompting

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