Siege of Galway (1651/1652)

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Siege of Galway (1651/1652)
The heavily fortified city of Galway in the 17th century
The heavily fortified city of Galway in the 17th century
date August 1651 to May 1652
place Galway , Ireland
output parliamentary troops conquer the city
Parties to the conflict

Irish Confederation Forces

English New Model Army and Protestant settlers

Commander

Thomas Preston

Charles Coote

Troop strength
3,000 6,000 - 7,000

The Siege of Galway ( English Siege of Galway , Irish Léigear Chathair na Gaillimhe ) took place from August 1651 to May 1652 during the reconquest of Ireland (1649-1653) by the English, initially under Oliver Cromwell . Galway , a port city in western Ireland, was the last city controlled by Irish troops. The fall of the city put an end to controlled resistance against parliamentary troops.

The parliamentary army was commanded by Charles Coote , an English settler who had already led troops in Ulster during the Irish Confederation Wars . He had a strength between 6,000 and 7,000 men. The Irish garrison in Galway was under the command of Thomas Preston and was a "collection" of various troops from across the country, particularly troops that entered Galway after the loss of the city of Waterford .

Galway was secured by modern defenses in the 1640s and Galway Bay, as well as Corrib and Lough Atallia, made it difficult for attackers to attack the city. Only a small area in the north offered the possibility of a frontal attack, which however could easily be taken under fire from the city. Coote was aware of this, and so he decided in August 1651 to besiege the city. He blocked the land route and stationed a parliamentary fleet in Galway Bay to prevent supplies or reinforcements by sea. In the west the city remained open , where the Irish general Richard Farrell was stationed with 3,000 soldiers in Connemara .

In November 1651, after the fall of Limerick , the conquest of Galway became the task of Henry Ireton , commander in chief of the parliamentary forces in Ireland. He sent more troops to Galway and intensified the blockade. But only after another seven months did the city capitulate.

Ulick Burke , at that time commander in chief of the Irish troops, tried to raise an army at Jamestown ( County Leitrim ) to break the siege, but few troops followed his call. In March 1652 the surrender negotiations began, which Thomas Preston had to agree to on May 12, 1652, as food shortages and an outbreak of the bubonic plague made further defense impossible. Coote also agreed and so Preston was able to leave Ireland with most of his troops to join the Spanish army. There was no atrocity against the civilian population and private property was respected, with the exception of Catholic traders, known as the Tribes of Galway, who were expropriated.

literature

  • Pádraig Lenihan: Confederate Catholics at War, 1641–49. Cork University Press, Cork et al. 2001, ISBN 1-85918-244-5 .
  • James Scott Wheeler: Cromwell in Ireland. St. Martin's Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-312-22550-4 .