Ireland 1649-52: Cromwell's Protestant Crusade

Description

Following the execution of King Charles I in January 1649, the English Parliament saw their opportunity to launch an assault on the Royalist enclave in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell was appointed as Deputy of Ireland to lead a campaign to restore direct control and quell the opposition. The first battle in Cromwell's bloody offensive was at Drogheda, where an assault on the city walls resulted in the slaughter of almost 4000 defenders and inhabitants. The Parliamentary troops then proceeded to Wexford where battle once again lead to a massacre. After Cromwell returned to England, his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, continued the operation which ended with the surrender of Galway in 1652 and led to the Act for the Settlement of Ireland, in which Irish Royalists and Confederates were evicted and their lands 'settled' by those who had advanced funds to Parliament.

Michael McNally was born in London in 1964. With an enduring interest in Irish military history, his previous titles for Osprey include Campaign 160: Battle of the Boyne (2005), and the Campaign 180: Easter Rising 1916 (2007). The author of the recently published 1691 - The Battle of Aughrim he is currently researching a history of the 'Wild Geese' and hopes shortly to commence work on a PhD course concentrating on the development of strategy and tactics in 17th-century Ireland. Michael is married with three children and lives in Germany where he works for a major reinsurance company. Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, specialising in the medieval period. He has illustrated numerous titles for Osprey, covering a wide variety of subjects from the dress of the 10th-century armies of the Caliphates, through the action of bloody medieval battles, to the daily life of the British Redcoat of the late 18th century. The son of the illustrator Michael Turner, Graham lives and works in Buckinghamshire, UK.