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Elizabeth's Irish Wars
Originally published in 1996 and now available in paperback, a historical account of Anglo-Irish history between 1560 and 1602.
362 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
Cyril Falls
74 books3 followersCyril Bentham Falls CBE was a British military historian, journalist and academic of Anglo-Irish extraction.
During World War I he joined the British Army, receiving a commission as a subaltern in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He also served as a Staff Officer in the Headquarters of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division during the course of the war. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and was discharged from the British Army with the rank of Captain.
After completing his military service, Falls wrote a history of one of the units he had served with during the war. His first book, 'The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division' was published in 1922.
From 1923 to 1939 he was employed by the Historical Section of the U.K. Government's Committee of Imperial Defence, researching and writing several volumes of the British Government's 'Official History of the War'.
During World War II he served as the military correspondent for 'The Times' of London, from 1939 to 1945.
After the war he held the post of Chichele Professor of Military History at All Souls College, Oxford University from 1946 to 1953.
During World War I he joined the British Army, receiving a commission as a subaltern in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He also served as a Staff Officer in the Headquarters of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division during the course of the war. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and was discharged from the British Army with the rank of Captain.
After completing his military service, Falls wrote a history of one of the units he had served with during the war. His first book, 'The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division' was published in 1922.
From 1923 to 1939 he was employed by the Historical Section of the U.K. Government's Committee of Imperial Defence, researching and writing several volumes of the British Government's 'Official History of the War'.
During World War II he served as the military correspondent for 'The Times' of London, from 1939 to 1945.
After the war he held the post of Chichele Professor of Military History at All Souls College, Oxford University from 1946 to 1953.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 14, 2019
Excellent book, slightly antique in writing style, but still very readable, covering a much-neglected section of Tudor history.
August 6, 2011
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1695672...
I had previously read the first volume of Cyril Falls' Military Operations Macedonia, with its forensic and detailed account of every action fought by British troops in the Macedonia campaign of the First World War (the Great War, as he thought of it in 1933), and expected this to be a similarly detailed and map-heavy account of the major engagements of the period - Kinsale, the Battle of the Yellow Ford, the Battle of the Biscuits, etc; I was braced for detail but not a lot of enlightenment.
But it is far far better than I expected. I should have realised that since the detailed records are not there in the same way as they were for the First World War, Falls would have to take a different approach, and so indeed he does. The book starts with an account of how government functioned in Ireland, including the most lucid explanation of the roled of the Lord Deputy/Lord Lieitenant/Lords Justices and the Irish Council that I have read. He goes on to examine the weaknesses of the systems of recruitment/conscription and supply for the English (and Irish) military forces. From a slightly different perspective to Haigh, he explores Elizabeth's relative lack of control over military matters. He also looks at Essex's failures rather more sympathetically than I would (or the Queen did).
The extent to which violence, including the slaughter of captured enemy forces (600, including 400 civilians, killed by Sir Francis Drake on Rathlin Island in 1575; another 600 captured at Smerwick in 1580; hundreds, maybe even a couple of thousand, Spanish sailors shipwrecked after the failure of the Armada in 1588) was taken as a normal state of affairs is sadly reminiscent of many much more recent conflicts. Indeed, I found a lot of resonances between the Nine Years' War and the Sudanese conflict - the cattle-centred agricultural economy, the attempts by government forces to split the opposition and fight on the ground through local proxies (Falls displays outrage at the extent to which the English were prepared to abandon former Irish allies when they had outlived their usefulness), the religious dimension which led the rebels to appeal to fellow-believers outside the country; there is the obvious difference that John Garang was more intelligent, more determined and more ruthless than Hugh O'Neill, with the result that he managed to deliver independence for his people, though he did not live to see it.
Sir Nicholas White isn't mentioned explicitly in the text, but again I found Falls' contextualisation of two incidents in which he was involved, the peculiarly named cess controversy of 1577 and the 1580 expedition to Dingle and points west, very enlightening and helpful. Even more useful, from my own point of view, was Falls' account of the career of the Earl of Ormonde, who was White's patron in the early days and who was himself the most senior (and successful) Irish-born military commander on Elizabeth's side, as well as being the largest landowner in Ireland and the man who would have run the country if the earlier Tudor policy of appointing locals rather than English officials to run the executive arm had been maintained. In the administrative records he is more of a shadowy figure, I guess because having his own local base he had less to prove in Dublin Castle.
Anyway, an excellent read and an unexpected pleasure. (
I had previously read the first volume of Cyril Falls' Military Operations Macedonia, with its forensic and detailed account of every action fought by British troops in the Macedonia campaign of the First World War (the Great War, as he thought of it in 1933), and expected this to be a similarly detailed and map-heavy account of the major engagements of the period - Kinsale, the Battle of the Yellow Ford, the Battle of the Biscuits, etc; I was braced for detail but not a lot of enlightenment.
But it is far far better than I expected. I should have realised that since the detailed records are not there in the same way as they were for the First World War, Falls would have to take a different approach, and so indeed he does. The book starts with an account of how government functioned in Ireland, including the most lucid explanation of the roled of the Lord Deputy/Lord Lieitenant/Lords Justices and the Irish Council that I have read. He goes on to examine the weaknesses of the systems of recruitment/conscription and supply for the English (and Irish) military forces. From a slightly different perspective to Haigh, he explores Elizabeth's relative lack of control over military matters. He also looks at Essex's failures rather more sympathetically than I would (or the Queen did).
The extent to which violence, including the slaughter of captured enemy forces (600, including 400 civilians, killed by Sir Francis Drake on Rathlin Island in 1575; another 600 captured at Smerwick in 1580; hundreds, maybe even a couple of thousand, Spanish sailors shipwrecked after the failure of the Armada in 1588) was taken as a normal state of affairs is sadly reminiscent of many much more recent conflicts. Indeed, I found a lot of resonances between the Nine Years' War and the Sudanese conflict - the cattle-centred agricultural economy, the attempts by government forces to split the opposition and fight on the ground through local proxies (Falls displays outrage at the extent to which the English were prepared to abandon former Irish allies when they had outlived their usefulness), the religious dimension which led the rebels to appeal to fellow-believers outside the country; there is the obvious difference that John Garang was more intelligent, more determined and more ruthless than Hugh O'Neill, with the result that he managed to deliver independence for his people, though he did not live to see it.
Sir Nicholas White isn't mentioned explicitly in the text, but again I found Falls' contextualisation of two incidents in which he was involved, the peculiarly named cess controversy of 1577 and the 1580 expedition to Dingle and points west, very enlightening and helpful. Even more useful, from my own point of view, was Falls' account of the career of the Earl of Ormonde, who was White's patron in the early days and who was himself the most senior (and successful) Irish-born military commander on Elizabeth's side, as well as being the largest landowner in Ireland and the man who would have run the country if the earlier Tudor policy of appointing locals rather than English officials to run the executive arm had been maintained. In the administrative records he is more of a shadowy figure, I guess because having his own local base he had less to prove in Dublin Castle.
Anyway, an excellent read and an unexpected pleasure. (
March 27, 2015
After recently reading Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, I picked up Elizabeth's Irish Wars, hoping to gain greater insight into what was happening on the other side of the pond during the period preceding Pilgrim and Puritan immigration to New England. Not only did I gain these insights, but Elizabeth's Irish Wars replaced my vague unfounded concepts of Irish national identity with a more accurate understanding of the amazingly complex interrelationships between the people and powers of Ireland and England, Scotland and Ireland, Spain and England and Ireland, and most surprisingly amongst the different clans and groups within Ireland itself. Extremely well researched, documented and delivered.
September 23, 2020
A good narrative account of Elizabeth's wars with Ireland, albeit somewhat dated now in both views and language - I love the way the author advocates the use of tobacco in protecting against respiratory infections. Obviously, it has a military slant, but it avoids much of the crushingly dull explanations that often accompany military history, and looks also at political and social history. A good and lively grounding in Irish history of the time.
May 12, 2025
This is actually a 1950 book reprinted in 1996. The author while an accomplished historian appears to be unable to completely escape his own Ulster Protestant roots and includes a number of sideswipe comments about the Irish at a number of points in his narrative. This remains the principal history of these clashes but reflects a great opportunity here for a modern balanced history yet to be written.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews