Dr Ciska Neyts. Continental influences on confederate warfare (1641-9) by History Hub

Recording of a paper by Dr Ciska Neyts (Hertford College, University of Oxford) at the 2014 Tudor and Stuart Ireland Conference.

About the paper: Continental influences on confederate warfare (1641-9)

This paper will re-evaluate the generally accepted notion that the return of Irish veterans from continental armies in 1641/2 significantly altered the character of confederate warfare during the 1640s. Deploying an ‘integrated’ approach towards the study of early modern warfare, this paper will argue that confederate warfare only intermittently succeeded in waging war the continental way, because the logistical infrastructure the Irish set up could not support continental ‘grand war’. Instead, the Confederates waged predominantly ‘small war’ which placed emphasis on quick actions by small numbers of troops, ambushes, raids and skirmishes. The influence of confederate commanders with continental experience thus did not manifest itself through the use of tactics that dominated conflicts on the Continent. However, this paper will argue that the veterans’ presence was primarily of political importance to the Confederates. Commanders like Owen Roe O’Neill and Thomas Preston influenced the behaviour of confederate troops through their insistence on respecting quarter and other aspects of the laws of war, which instilled respect amongst their opponents. More significantly however, their arrival in Ireland created the potential for waging war the continental way and, even though they might only have been able to do so when logistical circumstances allowed for it, this gave the Confederation a level of credibility that could not be derived from the damage inflicted on the civilian population with ‘small war’ tactics.

The 2014 Tudor and Stuart Ireland conference was generously supported by UCD School of History and Archives, UCD Research, Marsh's Library, Graduate Studies at NUI Maynooth, and the Department of History at NUI Maynooth.

Recorded for podcasting by Real Smart Media (@real-smart-media) for History Hub.