Compare And Contrast The Three Kingdoms Of The Irish War

Piran Talkington

HST213- Essay 2

In the three kingdoms, the characters of war from 1639 to 1643 were widely different. The main differences were due to geopolitical situations as well as religious overtones and undertones. The levels of these very from country to country, however there is at least a small amount present in all three countries. In general, the war in Scotland was a religious war that was almost completely based off issues of religion. While in Ireland, the start of the war was due to political inequality but quickly evolved from political inequality into an ethnic and sectarian war based on religious persuasion. Furthermore, in England, the Civil wars were because of complex political disputes and were masked by religious concerns.

Whether the war was about religion, it was by focusing on religious issues that it was ultimately justified by every country that had a civil war/uprising in this timeframe.

In Ireland, the start of the war was due to political inequality but quickly evolved from political inequality into an ethnic and sectarian war based on religious persuasion. The war in Ireland was an incredibly violent war that lasted longer than it should have and was fought between the Ethnic versus sectarian (Catholic vs Protestant) and led into confederate wars. On the two sides, there were those who were loyal to the monarchy and those who were separatist. The war was divided along religious and ethnic lines however, it had impact on the politics of the time. In the beginning, the Catholics of Ireland wanted more political participation and attempted a coup with an attempt at the kingship. The Catholics, however, controlled most of the plantations so there was much resentment against the Catholics for the way they ran their plantations, adding fuel to the ever-growing powder keg that turns into the war. This very quickly disintegrated into a sectarian conflict of Ethnic versus Sectarian and that lead to a very bloody and violent war.