Why did England invade Ireland in the 1600s?

Question

During the Protestant Reformation when the English invaded Catholic Ireland, what was the reason? Was it because they were trying to convert the Irish Catholics to Protestantism? Or were they just like "hey, lets invade Ireland because we're Protestant and they're Catholic." Did they want more land? I know they invaded northern Ireland and converted it to Protestantism, which is why today nothern Ireland is mainly Protestant and southern Ireland is mainly Catholic.

Answer 1

the english first invaded ireland about 400 years before that actually. the reason cromwell brought an army over is because at this time there was a rumour going around in england that the irish catholics were massachering protestants in ulster (northern ireland is a new concept,it was simply the province of ulster back then). in england it was rumoured that 200,000 protestants had been killed by catholics(even though only about 100,000 protestants lived in ireland at the time). the actual number of people that had died was about 10,000, 7000 protestants and 3000 catholics. cromwell hated catholics and also believed that he should go to ireland to defend the protestants, cromwell was ruthless and defeated the irish disposing nearly al big catholic landowners left of their land and giving it to british protestants.btw the north of ireland today only has a slight protestant majority today over catholics.

Answer 2

The invasion of Ireland in 1649 was part of what we now call the English Civil War.



(Although it was actually a series of wars, and involved England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.)



In 1641 - before the outbreak of war in Britain - there was a rebellion in Ireland, lead by the Irish Catholic aristocracy, to sieze control of the government from the mainly Protestant English & Scots ruling faction.



The rebels did well, and formed a ruling 'Confederation' with the Catholic clergy. By 1642, they controlled much of the country.



In 1642, war broke out in England between the King, Charles I, and parliament.



The Irish Confederation joined the Royalist side. (Charles was sympathetic towards the Catholic cause, whereas the Parliamentarians were staunch Protestants.)



They sent Irish troops to join the Royalist Armies in England, they fought against Parliamentarian forces in Ireland, & in 1644 they invaded Scotland.



But in Ireland, the leadership of the Confederation fell apart, arguing between themselves over whether to remain independent, or to submit to Royal command under King Charles.



It was a confusing situation: Pro-Royalist Confederates, Anti-Royalist Confederates, and English-led Parliamentarian forces all fought each other.



That was the situation in 1649, when the Parliamentarians finally won in England, executed the King, and established a Republic, under Oliver Cromwell.



Ireland was now the only part of the British Isles to remain at war. Cromwell himself led an invasion force to end the fighting once and for all. Over the next four years, 1649-53, the Parliamentary forces crushed all resistance and established their rule.

Although the campaign was undoubtedly brutal, it was very much the same as the rest of Britain had sufferred.



(For example, the massacre which followed the fall of Drogheda is often cited as an atrocity or war crime - but it was far less severe than the massacre which followed the fall of Newcastle, in England.)



Hope that helps!

Answer 3

Your question is off. The invasion of Ireland began in the 1160's after the Normans conquered England, they were asked to assist a dispossessed Irish lord regain his lands. Later the English King Henry II, brought more forces to Ireland to control the Norman lords and he captured Dublin and made the Irish High Kings swear fealty to him. This began the English rule of Ireland that lasted until the 20th Century.



In the 12th century, England was still a Catholic country, the Protestants didn't break away from Catholicism until the 16th century.



The English gradually extended their control over all Ireland until finally in 1603 they defeated the Irish in Ulster and were able to control ALL of Ireland.



They pushed to control all of Ireland for reasons of wealth, security and glory.



whale

Answer 4

English Conquest Of Ireland

Answer 5

Ireland was first invaded by the English in the 125th century, when King Henry II was asked to come to the aid of an Irish king who was at war with another irish king (Ireland had several different kings at this time).



For several hundred years, english rule in Ireland was mostly confined to the Pale (the area around Dublin). It was after the Reformation in the 1530s that friction really arose, when first King Henry VIII and later Elizabeth tried to consolidate their rule in ireland and impose the Reformed religion on the Irish.



It was Henry VIII who began the policy of giving land in northern Ireland to protestant settlers from England and Scotland, the 'plantations' as these were known.



Things got worse in the 1600s, with English rule becoming more oppressive, and Oliver Cromwell in particular was very harsh with the Irish, and huge numbers were killed at the massacre of Drogheda for example. Things deteriroated yet again when William and Mary became king and queen after James II was deposed. James attempted to retake the throne of England, and he met William's army at the Battle of the Boyne in ireland. After the Battle of the Boyne, harsh penal laws were imposed on the Irish Catholics, and their lives were made very difficult.



The population of southern Ireland remained largely Catholic despite the harsh penal laws and attempts to stamp out Catholicism.

Answer 6

I do not think they converted the Northern Irish,what happened was the Scottish Protestants flooded into Northern Ireland and were given the plum jobs.As your Will Rogers once said, the English and the Irish do not get on the best thing to do is tow Ireland away,but do not tell the English where.

Answer 7

During that time period most countries just want to have more land, more resources/riches, and will do all of it in the name of religion, saying that they want to convert the places they invaded. The reason England invaded Ireland is pretty much the same reason why it went out to colonize the New World and Asia. It just wanted to make itself richer. To justify the action, they try to convert the people they conquer to show that they are being good people.

Answer 8

Its not quite as simple as people let you believe. Its easy to use terms like the english did this and irish did that, In reality it was more complex, there were various groups in ireland, all of the british isles was catholic until 1600s, some protestants in ireland were nationalists some catholics loyalists, much depended on loyalties etc, infact its actually the normans and their descendents thats invaded everywhere, henry and elizabeth are their direct descendents and most english couldnt care less about ireland and invading it they were too busy surviving themselves after all the normans took land from the actual english and burnt villages even causing famine I think people have narrow views of history.

Answer 9

Mostly to end Ireland's use as a staging area by the Catholics.

Answer 10

Thx for the answers EVERYONE xx