RAW GENERALS AND GREEN SOLDIERS: Catholic Armies in Ireland 1641-1643

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Study of the Catholic armies in October 1641 with a rising in Ulster. Insurgent slaughter of Protestant settlers in the winter of 1641-42 quickly gained canonical status. English and Scots armies routinely massacred natives in the spring and summer that followed. Reveals underlying pattern and purpose in what would otherwise be one apparently random battle, siege, skirmish, massacre, and cattle raid after another, devoid of form or meaning. Includes a focus on strategic, operational, and tactical operations.

One reason why the Catholics lost so many battles may be that their generals fought battles when they needn't have, showed a fatal preference for the all-out attack, and did not always deploy in a manner that let their army's components (pike, shot, and horse) act in mutual support. Another reason may be that the rankers were less invested in the Catholic cause than their officers. The first part of the Wars of Religion in Ireland (1641-53) shuddered to a halt in September 1643 when the insurgents, now embodied as the Confederate Catholics, agreed to a ceasefire with Charles I's representative in Ireland.