Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Big man Tim McGarry and the wee man David Hume travel back to the year 1649. They take a look at the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and ask: was Cromwell really that bad?
Oliver Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland is still a controversial subject amongst historians. He is vilified by Irish nationalists because of the brutality of his actions. Cromwell was an ardent Puritan and anti-Catholic. His forces killed many Catholic soldiers and civilians in massacres at Drogheda and Wexford. He confiscated land from Catholics and gave it to English and Scottish settlers. He also banned Catholics from voting or serving in Parliament.
But was Cromwell just a man of his time? Were his actions simply typical of the way wars were fought in the 17th century? Were Cromwell’s actions just repeating what was also happening in the religious wars across Europe, or were they personal to the Catholic Irish?
Big man Tim McGarry and the wee man David Hume travel back to the year 1649. They take a look at the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and ask: was Cromwell really that bad?
Oliver Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland is still a controversial subject amongst historians. He is vilified by Irish nationalists because of the brutality of his actions. Cromwell was an ardent Puritan and anti-Catholic. His forces killed many Catholic soldiers and civilians in massacres at Drogheda and Wexford. He confiscated land from Catholics and gave it to English and Scottish settlers. He also banned Catholics from voting or serving in Parliament.
But was Cromwell just a man of his time? Were his actions simply typical of the way wars were fought in the 17th century? Were Cromwell’s actions just repeating what was also happening in the religious wars across Europe, or were they personal to the Catholic Irish?
