James Scott Wheeler - The Irish and British Wars, 1637-1654: Triumph, Tragedy, and Failure

The Irish and British Wars, 16371654

The Irish and British Wars, 16371654 is an accessible and well-documented study of the wars of Britain and Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century. After a period of stability and peace during the early years of the century, Charles I set about carrying out administrative and religious reform in England, Scotland and Wales. The revolution that this prompted in Scotland was to repeat itself in Ireland, and four years later lead to civil war in England.

Connecting the strategic and tactical levels of war with political actions and reactions, Wheeler discusses how Britain and Ireland became battlegrounds in the

war of three kingdoms. With numerous maps and illustrations, the various stages of this period of turmoil are clearly demonstrated, right through to the execution of Charles I, the conquest of Catholic Ireland, and the eventual death of the English Republic.

James Scott Wheeler is Professor of European History at the United States Military Academy, West Point. His other publications include Cromwell in Ireland (1999) and The Making of a World Power (1999).

WARFARE AND HISTORY

General Editor: Jeremy Black

Professor of History, University of Exeter

AIR POWER IN THE AGE OF TOTAL WAR

NAVAL WARFARE, 18151914

John Buckley

Lawrence Sondhaus

THE ARMIES OF THE CALIPHS:

OTTOMAN WARFARE, 15001700

MILITARY AND SOCIETY IN THE EARLY

Rhoads Murphey

ISLAMIC STATE

SEAPOWER AND NAVAL WARFARE,

Hugh Kennedy

16501830

THE BALKAN WARS, 19121913:

Richard Harding

PRELUDE TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR

THE SOVIET MILITARY

Richard C.Hall

EXPERIENCE

ENGLISH WARFARE, 15111642

Roger R.Reese

Mark Charles Fissel

VIETNAM

EUROPEAN AND NATIVE AMERICAN

Spencer C.Tucker

WARFARE, 16751815

THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

Armstrong Starkey

AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF

EUROPEAN WARFARE, 16601815

AMERICAN SOCIETY

Jeremy Black

Harry M.Ward

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR

WAR AND THE STATE IN EARLY

J.F.Lazenby

MODERN EUROPE: SPAIN, THE

FRONTIERSMEN: WARFARE IN AFRICA

DUTCH REPUBLIC AND SWEDEN AS

SINCE 1950

FISCAL-MILITARY STATES, 15001660

Anthony Clayton

Jan Glete

GERMAN ARMIES:

WARFARE AND SOCIETY

WAR AND GERMAN POLITICS,

IN EUROPE, 17921914

16481806

Geoffrey Wawro

Peter H.Wilson

WARFARE AT SEA, 15001650

THE GREAT WAR 19141918

Jan Glete

Spencer C.Tucker

WARFARE IN ATLANTIC AFRICA,

ISRAELS WARS, 19471993

15001800: MARITIME CONFLICTS

Ahron Bregman

AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF

THE KOREAN WAR: NO VICTORS,

EUROPE

NO VANQUISHED

John K.Thornton

Stanley Sandler

WARFARE, STATE AND SOCIETY

MEDIEVAL CHINESE WARFARE, 300900

IN THE BYZANTINE

David A.Graff

WORLD, 5651204

MEDIEVAL NAVAL WARFARE, 10001500

John Haldon

Susan Rose

WAR IN THE EARLY MODERN

MODERN CHINESE WARFARE,

WORLD, 14501815

17951989

Jeremy Black

Bruce A.Elleman

WARS OF IMPERIAL CONQUEST IN

MODERN INSURGENCIES AND

AFRICA, 18301914

COUNTER-INSURGENCIES:

Bruce Vandervort

GUERRILLAS AND THEIR OPPONENTS

WESTERN WARFARE IN THE

SINCE 1750

AGE OF THE CRUSADES, 10001300

Ian F.W.Beckett

John France

The Irish and British Wars,

16371654

Triumph, Tragedy, and Failure

James Scott Wheeler

London and New York

First published in 2002

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Disclaimer: For copyright reasons, some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.

2002 James Scott Wheeler

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-46359-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-77183-4 (Adobe eReader Format)

ISBN 0-415-22131-5 (hbk)

ISBN 0-415-22132-3 (pbk)

Contents

List of maps

vi

List of plates

vii

Preface and acknowledgments

viii

Introduction

The Scottish Revolution and the two Bishops Wars

The outbreak of the English and Irish Revolutions, 16401642

The wars expand

Stalemate, turning point, and disillusionment

The creation of the New Model Army and the royalist defeat 120

Parliaments victory and search for a settlement

The defeat of the Irish Confederacy and the second English Civil War

The execution of Charles I and the conquest of Catholic Ireland 195

The triumph and failure of the Commonwealth, 164953

Triumph and tragedy: the first Dutch War and the death of the English Republic

Bibliography

Index

v

Maps

The British Isles, 163860

x

English strategic plan in the First Bishops War, 1638

Levens invasion of England, August 1640

Ulster, 16412

Edgehill, 23 October 1642

The kings advance on London, OctoberNovember 1642

Counties of England

Provinces of Ireland, 1640s

The Northern Campaign, 1643

The Western Campaign, 1643

The Gloucester Campaign, SeptemberOctober 1643

The Northern Campaign, 1644

The Confederate advance into Ulster, JulySeptember 1644

The Western Campaign, 1644

The Battle of Naseby, 14 June 1645

Major towns of Ireland, 164154

Joness Campaign in Leinster, August 1647

The Preston Campaign, August 1648

Operations around Dublin, 25 July2 August

Cromwells Campaign, September 1649

Assault on Drogheda, 11 September 1649

Assault on Wexford, 11 October 1649

English operations in Ireland, 164952

Cromwells invasion of Scotland, 1650

The Battle of Dunbar, 3 September 1650

The Worcester Campaign, AugustSeptember 1651

The Battle of Worcester, 3 September 1651

Naval battles of the Anglo-Dutch War

vi

Plates

(between pages 144 and 145)

Charles I, by Daniel Mytens the Elder

Henrietta Maria, unknown artist

Archibald Campbell, First Marquess of Argyll, by David Scougall 4

Robert Devereux, Third Earl of Essex, by Barcus Gheerearst the Younger 5

William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, by T.A.Dean after Van Dyck 6

Prince Rupert, Count Palatine, by Sir Peter Lely

James Butler, First Duke of Ormond, by William Wissing

Oliver Cromwell by Sir Anthony van Dyck

vii

Preface and acknowledgments

Warfare and the need of participants to support their war machines drove the political and institutional changes that took place in Britain and Ireland in the period 1637