Following the execution of King Charles, Oliver Cromwell, the leader of Parliament’s Army, stepped in to control the country. After Cromwell had stabilised England, he turned his attention to Ireland and in 1649 landed near Dublin with an army of 12,000 men. His first aim was to capture the town of Drogheda. After a brief siege the town was stormed by Cromwell’s troops and most of the defending soldiers and many of the town’s inhabitants were killed. Cromwell’s actions have been subject to much discussion – there are many who called Cromwell’s actions a massacre and there were those who argued that he was acting within the rules of 17th century warfare. Cromwell also faced and defeated the Scots twice, resulting in them joining the Commonwealth and having their parliament abolished. Do you think his actions show him to be a war criminal?
Tom Reilly is an Irish historian who was born in Drogheda. He was brought up on stories of the cruelty of Cromwell but wanted to find out the real story for himself. He wrote a book and said the following about his findings: ‘The reaction - among the under forties on the whole - was good, but among historians and the over forties it was bad. They can't seem to accept that an amateur could discover such a fundamental flaw in Irish history i.e that neither Cromwell or his men ever engaged in the killing of any unarmed civilians.’