History & Classics
Godly Brutality: The Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland 1649-1650
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
History & Classics
Start Date
11-4-2014 9:00 AM
End Date
11-4-2014 10:15 AM
Sponsor
Colleen Seguin (Valparaiso University)
Description
Few men are as resoundingly condemned in Irish culture than Oliver Cromwell. Indeed, Irish nationalist historians resoundingly paint him as a genocidal madman, much to the detriment of Anglo-Irish relations. However, when one dares to reevaluate Cromwell's 1649 invasion of Ireland, the event that damned him to the Irish for all time, one begins to question one's long-held prejudices toward "God's Executioner." The military, political, and social situation in seventeenth-century Ireland was a complex one that precludes any sort of monolithic understanding of either the causes or methods of Cromwell's invasion. Analysis of the events preceding the invasion, such as the nature of Ireland's Confederate government, help to explain not only why Cromwell could claim victory in nine months, but also why Cromwell's cause was not one of genocide, but of military necessity. Analysis of the campaign and the infamous sieges and massacres at Drogheda and Wexford that defined it show that the myth of Cromwellian war crimes ignores the seventeenth century's rules of war and, indeed, demonstrates that presentism and politicization have seeped into Cromwellian scholarship. Examining the whole of Cromwell's campaign in this light, one finds a man struggling to pursue an expedient, lawful, and godly method to victory: a pragmatic method in an increasingly bloody conflict. Cromwell's personal character both as a military and civilian leader is similarly nuanced: his campaign was characterized by religious zeal, brutality, and anti-Irish rhetoric, but showed little legitimate personal hatred towards the Irish and, indeed, shocking human warmth towards them in the aftermath of the invasion. One must recognize the limits of Cromwell's historical agency and his historical context, eliminating the term "genocide" from one's historical understanding of Oliver Cromwell and his actions in Ireland.
Godly Brutality: The Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland 1649-1650
Indianapolis, IN
Few men are as resoundingly condemned in Irish culture than Oliver Cromwell. Indeed, Irish nationalist historians resoundingly paint him as a genocidal madman, much to the detriment of Anglo-Irish relations. However, when one dares to reevaluate Cromwell's 1649 invasion of Ireland, the event that damned him to the Irish for all time, one begins to question one's long-held prejudices toward "God's Executioner." The military, political, and social situation in seventeenth-century Ireland was a complex one that precludes any sort of monolithic understanding of either the causes or methods of Cromwell's invasion. Analysis of the events preceding the invasion, such as the nature of Ireland's Confederate government, help to explain not only why Cromwell could claim victory in nine months, but also why Cromwell's cause was not one of genocide, but of military necessity. Analysis of the campaign and the infamous sieges and massacres at Drogheda and Wexford that defined it show that the myth of Cromwellian war crimes ignores the seventeenth century's rules of war and, indeed, demonstrates that presentism and politicization have seeped into Cromwellian scholarship. Examining the whole of Cromwell's campaign in this light, one finds a man struggling to pursue an expedient, lawful, and godly method to victory: a pragmatic method in an increasingly bloody conflict. Cromwell's personal character both as a military and civilian leader is similarly nuanced: his campaign was characterized by religious zeal, brutality, and anti-Irish rhetoric, but showed little legitimate personal hatred towards the Irish and, indeed, shocking human warmth towards them in the aftermath of the invasion. One must recognize the limits of Cromwell's historical agency and his historical context, eliminating the term "genocide" from one's historical understanding of Oliver Cromwell and his actions in Ireland.