Cromwell in Ireland (Hardcover)

by James Scott Wheeler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Oliver Cromwell spent just nine months in Ireland, from August 1649 to May 1650, but his impact lasted for centuries. This is the first modern account of his campaign to complete the English conquest of Ireland, something which had eluded every English monarch since 1170. The book sets out the history of the 1640s from the Ulster Catholic rebellion of 1641 to the execution of King Charles I, and completes the story by recounting the long cleanup operation that followed Cromwell's departure. Wheeler's panoramic survey of these crucial years in Anglo-Irish relations is the first narrative overview of the subject in modern times.

About the Author
James Scott Wheeler is Professor of European History at the United States Military Academy, West Point.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312225504
• ISBN-13: 978-0312225506
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,850,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Irish Overmatched, December 4, 2001

By	John J. Ross (Chestnut Hill, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Professor Wheeler's book is an excellent military and political history of the tumultuous and devastating decade in Irish history of the Cromwellian conquest. This Irish disaster unfolds slowly, but seems a foregone conclusion almost from the start, given the deep political divisions between Gaelic Irish, Old (Catholic) English, and Royalist Protestants that prevented the development of an effective anti-Cromwellian coalition. Furthermore, the generally brave, but notoriously undisciplined Irish levies were no match for Cromwell's New Model Army. (Although when well-led, the Irish were capable of giving Oliver a bloody nose, as at Clonmel, perhaps Cromwell's weakest display of generalship.) The only major criticism of this volume is it lacks somewhat in the flashes of color and character that give pleasure to posterity.

Wheeler documents the surprising brutality of both sides. Any reader seeking the ancient roots of the deep sectarian hatred in Ulster today would find this volume a good starting point.

It occurs to this contemporary reader that the furies and fanaticism of the era, and the figures of Oliver Cromwell, Ireton, and Ludlow, with their inhumanity, bigotry, violence, and barbarity, are eerily and unpleasantly familiar. For what is Osama bin Laden but Cromwell with a Kalashnikov, what are the Taliban but Roundheads with rocket launchers?

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OR WHAT IS THE HYPOCRITICAL PURITAN BUSH ARMIES BUT , August 1, 2006

By	C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cromwell in Ireland (Hardcover)

invading imperialists and Iraq Ireland?