He's considered the great bogeyman of Irish history. British military leader Oliver Cromwell's infamous seventeenth-century invasion set the stage for religious dissension in Ireland and created much of the political tension that continues to this day. See why his name represents liberty to England, tragedy to Ireland, and, in 1776, served as a warning and an inspiration to our American forefathers.
From 1649 to 1650, Oliver Cromwell, the Protestant Lord Protector of England, waged a brutal campaign of total war against the Catholic and Royalist citizenry of Ireland, remaining a polarizing cultural figure in both countries centuries later. Cromwell's initial attacks against the Catholic and Royalist forces were successful, resulting in atrocities at Drogheda and Wexford and the death of opposition leader Owen Roe O'Neill. Cromwell's army unexpectedly began to founder as he failed to take two key strategic positions at Duncannon and Waterford. Then, in the driving rain of Kilmacthomas, his army reached a low point when it was reduced by disease and slowed by the foul weather.
