Posted on 11/14/2006 8:32:32 AM PST by xzins
Massacre of Drogheda under Oliver Cromwell.
the Staff or associates of Christian History Institute.
After the massacre, Oliver Cromwell declared to the English Parliament, "I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands in so much innocent blood and that it will tend to prevent the effusion [shedding] of blood for the future, which are satisfactory grounds for such actions, which otherwise cannot but work remorse and regret."
Oliver Cromwell, responsible for a massacre. Just what happened at Drogheda, Ireland on this day, September 11, 1649 is hard to pin down with certainty. Two groups stood to gain by issuing propaganda against Cromwell. The Irish hoped to inflame patriotic fervor by magnifying the event and certain Englishmen hoped to discredit Cromwell because they feared his growing power.
Parliament had sent the Protestant Cromwell into Catholic Ireland to subdue it and prevent Prince Charles from landing and preparing an invasion from the nearby Island (he used Scotland as his launch pad instead). Aware that previous armies had bogged down in Ireland, usually because of insufficient financing, Cromwell insisted on having the necessary money in hand before he sailed. That way he could pay for supplies as he needed them and not make enemies by robbing the common folk. Once in Ireland, he moved quickly, knowing that a drawn-out war favored the inhabitants, not the invaders.
The situation in Ireland was complex. The Irish were badly divided and several betrayed their own towns. They offered little effective resistance to Cromwell. In fact, he reduced opposition across most of the island within eight months, although subordinates required another decade to complete the work he had begun.
Drogheda was one of the first cities Cromwell faced. He offered fair terms and gave his men strict instructions against excessive violence. However, the situation fluctuated a good deal. As Drogheda's fortunes waned or waxed, the garrison alternately negotiated or stalled. Cromwell's troops broke through the wall before negotiations were complete (possibly with inside help) and rushed through the town, killing virtually everyone in the city. They set fire to St. Mary's church, burning alive those who had taken refuge in it and then butchered women hiding in the vaults below. Some accounts say they used Irish children as human shields and killed every priest, treating them like combatants, because they had encouraged the defenders. According to those tales, only thirty defenders survived and they were sold as slaves to Barbados. At least one of the English soldiers claimed that Cromwell himself ordered the slaughter.
Defenders of Cromwell say that not only did he not order the slaughter but that the massacre of the women never happened. Cromwell himself insisted (even before he left Ireland) that no one in arms was massacred, destroyed or banished. His statement fell short of denying that civilians were slaughtered. Tales of civilian massacres increased at the time of the restoration of the English throne when it was both politically correct and safe to say the worst things one could about the man who cut off the head of King Charles I.
Whatever the truth, Cromwell surely is to blame for not attempting to stop the massacre. By the brutal standards of the time, killing a defiant garrison was acceptable, but butchering civilians was not. By his own statement, it is clear Cromwell hoped that the events at Drogheda (and at Wexford a few days later) would shorten the war. At Wexford, his troops committed another massacre, although apparently without his approval. A priest writing over a century later claimed 300 women were slaughtered beside a cross at which they had taken refuge and seven friars were killed in the performance of their duty. Whether this is true or not, Cromwell considered the victory an unexpected providence and said he prayed that God would have all the glory.
The present religious troubles in Ireland were aggravated by the events at Drogheda and Wexford. British soldiers, for example, are called "Cromwell's lads." However, it would be unjust to leave the impression that Cromwell's campaign was the beginning of the Irish religious troubles. Eight years before Cromwell's invasion, for instance, Catholics slaughtered hundreds of Protestant civilians in Ulster.
Resources:
Allen, John. One Hundred Great Lives. New York: Journal of Living, 1944.
Coonan, Thomas L. The Irish Catholic Confederacy and the Puritan Revolution. New York: Columbia University, 1954.
Copeland, Lewis. World's Greatest Speeches. New York: Book League of America, p. 147ff.
"Cromwell." A History of the Irish Race.
(www.ireland.org/irl_hist/hist31.htm) "Cromwell, Oliver." Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 - 1996.
"Cromwell and the Drogheda Massacre." (www.bbc.co.uk/education/beyond/factsheets/makhist/ makhist7_prog5c.shtml)
"Cromwell Devastates Ireland." www.doyle.com.au/cromwell.htm).
( Drinkwater, John. Oliver Cromwell. New York: George H. Doran, 1927.
Hill, Christopher. God's Englishman; Oliver Cromwell and the English revolution. Harper and Row, 1970. Russell, Bertrand. Wisdom of the West. New York: Fawcett, 1964; p. 252.
Smellie, Alexander. Men of the Covenant. Revell, 1903. Source of the image.
1. Separate Religions in conflict in Ireland.
2. Political intrigue at home undercutting England's Cromwell.
3. Propaganda that even today can't be sorted out.
4. Continued conflict for years.
5. Realization that the initial campaign should be short and sweet.
6. Others.
I'm sure there are dissimilarities, too. One thing that strikes me is that the England/Ireland thing STILL isn't resolved.
BTTT
Later reading.
This is about the time that my protestant Scotch-Irish family came to America. Ireland is pretty, but I wouldn't want to live there!
It strikes me that England, Ireland, and N. Ireland should have some helpful opinions on dealing with clandestine wars and emerging with something similar to a victory.
Hopefully, we can do better than 3 centuries at the task.
Including, one hopes, a subsequent Glorious Revolution!
Pretty expensive today.
Cromwell put us off the idea of republicanism for good. Never was a country so pleased to restore it's monarchy than England in 1660.
They weren't separate religions conflicting, they were two christian sects conflicting. As for continued conflict in Ireland, from the battle of the boyne in 1690 right up to the 20th century Ireland was largely peaceful - that's nearly as long as the USA has existed!
I was struck by the role that propaganda played.
It sounded like Cromwell was on the losing end of the information war.
'This is about the time that my protestant Scotch-Irish family came to America.'
If you use the word 'Scotch' to describe people in Scotland you'll more than likely get a punch in the gob. Scotch is a drink, people are Scots so Scots-Irish is ok, but not Scotch-Irish. So says my Scots brother in law anyway! ;-)
<< from the battle of the boyne in 1690 right up to the 20th century Ireland was largely peaceful >>
Actual there was a major uprising in 1798, and localized violence waxing and waning throughout this period
Cromwell ping
'It sounded like Cromwell was on the losing end of the information war.'
So often the case - those with right on their side usually feel less need for propaganda to support their position. Remember the Iraqi information minister cheerfully telling the media there were no coalition forces anywhere near Baghdad as an M1A2 rolls past on the other side of the river! :D
Belfast had its own "issues" in 1848, 1886, and quite a few other years as well.
No question that the massacre at Drogheda is a permanent blot on Cromwell's reputation. Many have tried to make the argument that you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, and that Cromwell did what he had to do.
Most notable in this regard are two poems: Andrew Marvell's "An Horatian Ode" and Milton's Sonnet 16 on Cromwell as an instrument of divine providence.
But it won't wash. The murder of women and children is still remembered. The English Civil War, called by some the Puritan Revolution, was a seminal event in world history, but the English themselves preferred to call back Charles II.
'Actual there was a major uprising in 1798, and localized violence waxing and waning throughout this period'
There was a fairly major uprising in America between 1861 and 1865 which accounted for more deaths than have died in all the battles of Ireland, but no-one would describe the US as anything but largely peaceful. By the standards of the day, Ireland was largely peaceful for over 200 years.
Yes, it was largely peaceful during the Famine in 1847 and onward - lots of Irish died while grains were exported from Ireland to the British Empire. Happy, happy, happy. And peaceful.
My people left Ireland in 1850. My ancestor was illiterate and very peaceful. Well done, England!
Funny that nobody is calling for the Brits to pull out of Ireland, quagmire though it is.
I see the parallels here but fail to read any solutions in the outcome.
I prefer Genghis Khan's treatment of Islamic troublemakers - problems solved for his lifetime and into the lifetimes of his successors.
The tangle of relgious intrigue is also thought provoking. There wered Catholics and protestants, but the protestants were divided. Cromwell, I think, sided more with the puritans. There were a host of Anglicans (in the tradition of Laud) still in England. I'm not sure what the mix of protestantism in Ireland was....my guess would be the same split, and maybe split along class lines.
In Iraq we've got the Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. The Christians exist but are minor, except for the US Military is predominantly Christian.
The Sunnis trust no one, even though the Kurds are Sunni.
It was a huge tangle with great emotions. I think the tangle still exists, but the emotions (for many) are not overwhelming.
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