In 1649 Oliver Cromwell sacked Wexford massacring thousands.
On the 22nd of August 1642 Civil War broke out in England with predominantly the North and West supporting the King (“Cavaliers”) while the South and East including London supported Parliament (the “Roundheads”) led by Oliver Cromwell. By the middle of 1643 the Royalists were gaining ground and it looked like the Parliamentarians’ would lose. But the Parliamentarians’ made a military alliance with the Scots who sent troops to defeat Royalists in the north and a year later Cromwell’s “New Model Army” defeated the Cavaliers at Naseby, Northamptonshire on the 14th of June 1645.
Charles I headed for Scotland and handed himself in, hoping for better treatment than he would receive in England but the Scottish handed him over to the English Parliament.
King Charles was tried for treason and found guilty on the 30th of January 1649. He was beheaded on the 6th of February 1649. On the same day, Scotland, Ireland and many royalists in England proclaimed Charles’s son, Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland. This proclamation was condemned as illegal by the English Parliament who declared the end of the monarchy making England a Republic for the first time in its history.
Oliver Cromwell became army commander and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, crushing any resistance. He led his ‘New Model Army’ to Wexford in Ireland and laid siege to the city on the 1st of October 1649 and after ten days they broke through and massacred 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 civilians.
In 1797 the naval Battle of Camperdown took place between French controlled Dutch Navy and the British Royal Navy
During the French Revolutionary Wars France began invading and conquering much of Europe in an attempt to grow its empire. Initially the French forces posed as liberators when they began their invasion of the Dutch Republic in late 1794 and by the 19th of January 1795 the Batavian Republic was declared. On the 16th of May the Treaty of The Hague 1795 was signed which put extreme control of the newly formed state under French leaders. Their army land and economy was effectively under French control but the greatest prize was the Dutch Navy. The Dutch navy had been one of the greatest navies in the world until its defeat in the fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780 – 1784) and although it had diminished since its defeat it was still a formidable force. The French Navy had suffered many defeats against the British Royal Navy but with control of this new resource France planned an invasion of Ireland.
The Dutch Fleet had been largely confined to their ports by a large Royal Navy fleet but when the Royal Navy was forced to return to England for supplies the Dutch fleet took advantage of the situation to break out into the channel. The Dutch Navy met with the awaiting Royal Navy on the 11th of October 1797 in the sea near Camperdown, England and the Battle began. The Royal Naval fleet defeated the Dutch fleet and captured 11 of their 26 ships. The Battle proved so disastrous to the Dutch that when the two navies met for a second time on the 30th of August 1799 the Dutch Navy refused to fight and surrendered.
