How harsh was Cromwell in Ireland

Question 1

Why did parliament send an army to Ireland

Answer 1

• English rule in Ireland had never been secure
• There had been problems in Ireland since the Catholic
  Irish had rebelled and massacred Protestant settlers in
  
• About 4,000 Protestants had been killed, but
  Parliament put the figure nearer 200,000.- When the
  civil war ended, parliament wanted to re-
  establish its control in Ireland
• At first the number of soldiers sent was too small, they
  faced serious issues from a combined protestant and
  Catholic army
• The Rump decided that the unrest in Ireland had to be
  crushed and in 1649 Cromwell was appointed to
  command a force of 30,000 men

Question 2

How did Cromwell’s tactics in Ireland differ from the previous campaign

Answer 2

• Cromwell wanted to avoid a long drawn-out campaign
  and therefore dealt quickly and harshly with any
  resistance, justifying his actions on the grounds of
  military tactics

Question 3

What events occurred at Drogheda September 1649

Answer 3

• Cromwell first move in the war
• The ‘laws of war’ were made clear that if surrender was
  refused and a garrison was taken by assault then its
  defenders could be lawfully killed
• When the parliamentarians had broken the town they
  pursued the defenders and destroyed defensible
  positions
• The parliamentarian colonel offered to spare the lives
  of 200 men if they surrendered
• They did so however Cromwell has them slaughtered
  an hour after
• The slaughter was repeated in other parts of the town

Question 4

What were the motives for Cromwell’s actions

Answer 4

The garrisons that were attacked contained English Royalists and were therefore seen as part of the alliance that Charles had led. Therefore they were responsible in part for the second civil war and should be punished as others had

The Catholics had carried out massacres in 1641 and Cromwell’s army had a god-given duty to avenge the deaths of Protestants

Question 5

Why did Cromwell return to England

Answer 5

-Late spring of 1650 due to the threat from Scotland

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Question 6

Cromwell at Wexford October 1649

Answer 6

At the siege of Wexford in October 1649, 2,000 Irish soldiers and perhaps 1,500 civilians were killed

Question 7

What points do historians highlight when criticising Cromwell

Answer 7

Slaughtering civilians as well as soldiers.

Transporting many Irish Catholics as slaves to the West Indies.

Giving Catholics’ land to Protestant settlers and exiling the Irish to poor land in Connacht in the west of Ireland.

Question 8

What points do historians highlight when supporting Cromwell

Answer 8

Cromwell ordered his men not to kill civilians and hanged those who did.

Cromwell refused to show mercy to the people of Drogheda, as the laws of war allowed at the time, because they had refused to surrender. He wrote later that he gave the order only to stop bloodshed in the long run.

There is little evidence that he ever sent slaves to the West Indies.

Cromwell left Ireland two years before the Act for the Settlement of Ireland (1652) which confiscated Catholics’ lands.