The War of Dutch Colonies (a.k.a The Stupid, Stupid War, May 1562-December 1566)
The founding of the Dutch Trading Post in Chesapeake, in the very heart of Irish colonial claims, was intolerable to the Council of Chieftans, and a declaration of war was delivered to the Stadtholder of the Netherlands on May 21, 1562.
The army had only recently been mustered to full strength. In America, the situation looked very favorable, with the only standing army north of Florida in Delaware, the 400 cavalrymen left there since the days of Simms, and the numerous warriors of the Iroqouis in the interior. There was little doubt that with the Spanish and Iroqouis help we can oust the Dutch from our claims there.
In Europe, the situation was more cloudy. The Army of Erin stood ready in Leinster, under the command of Colonel Sean O'Donnel, grandson of the mastermind of the sack of London. O'Donnel was impetuous and boistrous, and was certain of Irish victory. His infantrymen were armed with arquebuses, and his cavalry with pistols, cutting edge for Ireland though commonplace in the rest of Europe, a far sight better than the Pikes of the Liberation Wars.
More than in our own arms we have the mighty armies of Spain, which few seriously doubt will pass up the chance to conquer in the Netherlands. Also, the armies of France do us service, as they and the Dutch are in a protracted, back-and-forth war along the borders, where great armies wipe each other out with gruesome regularity.
On the other hand are the allies of the Netherlands, Calvinists all. The german state of Hannover can do us no harm, but to the North across the narrow sea is still newly-reformed Scotland, who can hurt us indeed. And there always is the potential for Elizabeth the Enemy to seize any weakness by landing the armies of England, as she has always regarded Eire with unconcealed hatred.
Still, the early days of the war go well. The trading post which we objected to in Chesapeake was seized by "Simms Men", who then turned north to Conneticut. However, on June 16 the King of France, war-weary let the Dutch escape with paying only 135,000 gilders in indemnities. The impassioned pleas of the King of Spain and our own King Patrick fall on deaf ears as France rests. Had she carried on, the whole of after history may well have been altered- for good or ill, I leave to you to judge.
In July, Simms men seize the outposts in the Conneticut country north of St. Richards mission in Manhattan. The Dutch refuse to negotiate, and so both trading posts are put to the torch. Simms Men return to Delaware, though they are forbidden by St. Richard from entering his town of Ennis. St. Richard never approved of the war, and christened it "The Stupid, Stupid War".
On New Years Day of 1563, Spain joined the ranks of the Counter-Reformed, in part to support a rumored expidition by Spanish troops to the Netherlands. The hotheaded O'Donnell proposed a raid on the Netherlands with the Erin Army, but was summarily rejected, as the army was needed to guard against the Scots.
In June, an expidition sets out to build a mission in the rubble of the Dutch trading post in Chesapeake, though it fails, and its priests move to Ennis.
In August a glimmer of hope is sighted as a new King is crowned in Paris, Charles IX. That hope fades as it becomes apparent that Charles is not interested in renewing the war on the Dutch border in the immediate future.
In November, heretical swiss annex Catholic Savoy. We promise to aid our catholic brothers in throwing off the yoke of the Calvinists
The spring of 1564 brings a new element to the conflict. In March, patriotic clan chieftans donate 200,000 punts to the war effort (RE: gift to state). In April, the Russo-Venitian alliance goes to war again against the Turks and their client states of Kazan and Crimea. And England begins openly sending settlers to Roanoke and Chesapeake, the very lands we are fighting for! Damn Elizabeth the Thief!
On May 17 the Dutch walk out on our offer of a white peace. We had wanted to concentrate pn the new English threat to our colonial (and economic) future, but we can not afford to strike at England.
In July, Maximillian II is annointed Holy Roman Emporer. We had hoped it would pass to the Spanish monarchy, but such is life.
August 13, 1564, Seven thousand screaming Scotsmen storm the shores of Sligo. Belfast is placed under seige, and for the first time since Liberation a foreign army occupies Irish Territory.
O'Donnel and the Erin Army, now 4986 Arqubusiers, 1940 cavalrymen and 39 guns march north from Leinster, Vowing to drive the Scots back to their ships
September 17, 1564- The Battle of Sligo
O'Donnel's strategy was to take the port of Sligo, which the Scots were using as a supply point. Cut off from resupply and reinforcement, the Scots would be an easy target outside the walls of Belfast. The Scotish army recognized this, and marched almost all their troops to intercept the Irish, which they did just outside the town.
It is said that some nights you can see the smoke of the Arquebuses and cannons, and hear the hooves of the cavalry and the cries of the ding Irish soldiers on still nights outside Sligo. In those fields the Army of Erin charged the Scots. The numbers were even, and the Irish not lacking in courage, but the army of Erin battered themselves against the Scottish lines like stormy seas against the Cliffs of Mohr. Three-and-one-half thousand of Erins bravest men perished there, in the face of Scottish guns and steel, and the Army of Erin was put to flight toward the sad stones of the Burren in Connaught, to seek solace amoung the tombstones raised in days before time.
O'Donnel survived the battle, though he fought manfully amoung the cavalry. In after days, he confided to his freinds that he wished he had not, as the weight of his failure at Sligo seemed to crush him. His once flamboyant manner was now greatly subdued and quiet, as if he was forever in his mind saying an Ave over the grave of a loved one.
The blame was often assigned to O'Donnell for the defeat, but in truth he shared one error with the rest of Ireland when he underestimated the resolve of the Scots. They were also better disciplined and trained, and so their lines held, and their losses were light.
As the Army of Erin limped into Connaught, Six thousand volunteers were called for in Galway to avenge the disgrace at Sligo, and they found no shortage of eager young men.
In October, Irish sailors mastered the use of the Astroble. The english were now deeply rooted in Chesapeake and Delaware, and settlers were leaving London to fill those lands with our enemies. St. Richard recruited one hundred pious laypeople to help populate his mission community in Manhattan.
The Chieftans decided to try and sever the Scottish supply lines and relieve Belfast by sea, and so the Fleet, nine converted merchant Galleons, led by the mighty flagship King Micheal, sailed into the Irish Sea.
November 8, 1564- Battle of the Irish Sea The Fleet of Nine, nine strong Irish galleons crewed by fishermens sons from the west, met the Scottish Royal Fleet, twelve galleons sent to keep the supply lines open. The Irish fought hard, but in the end Scottish numbers carried the day. By nightfall two Irish ships, the Mac Lir and the venerable King Micheal are sent to the ocean floor.
On November the 28, the volunteers in Connaught joined O'Donnel's tired men in the Burren, and in December the force, now 7798 Arquebusiers, 1477 cavalrymen and 35 guns, marched north to try again to relieve the embattled city of Belfast.
(to be continued....
This is longer than I thought for such a short war.)
The founding of the Dutch Trading Post in Chesapeake, in the very heart of Irish colonial claims, was intolerable to the Council of Chieftans, and a declaration of war was delivered to the Stadtholder of the Netherlands on May 21, 1562.
The army had only recently been mustered to full strength. In America, the situation looked very favorable, with the only standing army north of Florida in Delaware, the 400 cavalrymen left there since the days of Simms, and the numerous warriors of the Iroqouis in the interior. There was little doubt that with the Spanish and Iroqouis help we can oust the Dutch from our claims there.
In Europe, the situation was more cloudy. The Army of Erin stood ready in Leinster, under the command of Colonel Sean O'Donnel, grandson of the mastermind of the sack of London. O'Donnel was impetuous and boistrous, and was certain of Irish victory. His infantrymen were armed with arquebuses, and his cavalry with pistols, cutting edge for Ireland though commonplace in the rest of Europe, a far sight better than the Pikes of the Liberation Wars.
More than in our own arms we have the mighty armies of Spain, which few seriously doubt will pass up the chance to conquer in the Netherlands. Also, the armies of France do us service, as they and the Dutch are in a protracted, back-and-forth war along the borders, where great armies wipe each other out with gruesome regularity.
On the other hand are the allies of the Netherlands, Calvinists all. The german state of Hannover can do us no harm, but to the North across the narrow sea is still newly-reformed Scotland, who can hurt us indeed. And there always is the potential for Elizabeth the Enemy to seize any weakness by landing the armies of England, as she has always regarded Eire with unconcealed hatred.
Still, the early days of the war go well. The trading post which we objected to in Chesapeake was seized by "Simms Men", who then turned north to Conneticut. However, on June 16 the King of France, war-weary let the Dutch escape with paying only 135,000 gilders in indemnities. The impassioned pleas of the King of Spain and our own King Patrick fall on deaf ears as France rests. Had she carried on, the whole of after history may well have been altered- for good or ill, I leave to you to judge.
In July, Simms men seize the outposts in the Conneticut country north of St. Richards mission in Manhattan. The Dutch refuse to negotiate, and so both trading posts are put to the torch. Simms Men return to Delaware, though they are forbidden by St. Richard from entering his town of Ennis. St. Richard never approved of the war, and christened it "The Stupid, Stupid War".
On New Years Day of 1563, Spain joined the ranks of the Counter-Reformed, in part to support a rumored expidition by Spanish troops to the Netherlands. The hotheaded O'Donnell proposed a raid on the Netherlands with the Erin Army, but was summarily rejected, as the army was needed to guard against the Scots.
In June, an expidition sets out to build a mission in the rubble of the Dutch trading post in Chesapeake, though it fails, and its priests move to Ennis.
In August a glimmer of hope is sighted as a new King is crowned in Paris, Charles IX. That hope fades as it becomes apparent that Charles is not interested in renewing the war on the Dutch border in the immediate future.
In November, heretical swiss annex Catholic Savoy. We promise to aid our catholic brothers in throwing off the yoke of the Calvinists
The spring of 1564 brings a new element to the conflict. In March, patriotic clan chieftans donate 200,000 punts to the war effort (RE: gift to state). In April, the Russo-Venitian alliance goes to war again against the Turks and their client states of Kazan and Crimea. And England begins openly sending settlers to Roanoke and Chesapeake, the very lands we are fighting for! Damn Elizabeth the Thief!
On May 17 the Dutch walk out on our offer of a white peace. We had wanted to concentrate pn the new English threat to our colonial (and economic) future, but we can not afford to strike at England.
In July, Maximillian II is annointed Holy Roman Emporer. We had hoped it would pass to the Spanish monarchy, but such is life.
August 13, 1564, Seven thousand screaming Scotsmen storm the shores of Sligo. Belfast is placed under seige, and for the first time since Liberation a foreign army occupies Irish Territory.
O'Donnel and the Erin Army, now 4986 Arqubusiers, 1940 cavalrymen and 39 guns march north from Leinster, Vowing to drive the Scots back to their ships
September 17, 1564- The Battle of Sligo
O'Donnel's strategy was to take the port of Sligo, which the Scots were using as a supply point. Cut off from resupply and reinforcement, the Scots would be an easy target outside the walls of Belfast. The Scotish army recognized this, and marched almost all their troops to intercept the Irish, which they did just outside the town.
It is said that some nights you can see the smoke of the Arquebuses and cannons, and hear the hooves of the cavalry and the cries of the ding Irish soldiers on still nights outside Sligo. In those fields the Army of Erin charged the Scots. The numbers were even, and the Irish not lacking in courage, but the army of Erin battered themselves against the Scottish lines like stormy seas against the Cliffs of Mohr. Three-and-one-half thousand of Erins bravest men perished there, in the face of Scottish guns and steel, and the Army of Erin was put to flight toward the sad stones of the Burren in Connaught, to seek solace amoung the tombstones raised in days before time.
O'Donnel survived the battle, though he fought manfully amoung the cavalry. In after days, he confided to his freinds that he wished he had not, as the weight of his failure at Sligo seemed to crush him. His once flamboyant manner was now greatly subdued and quiet, as if he was forever in his mind saying an Ave over the grave of a loved one.
The blame was often assigned to O'Donnell for the defeat, but in truth he shared one error with the rest of Ireland when he underestimated the resolve of the Scots. They were also better disciplined and trained, and so their lines held, and their losses were light.
As the Army of Erin limped into Connaught, Six thousand volunteers were called for in Galway to avenge the disgrace at Sligo, and they found no shortage of eager young men.
In October, Irish sailors mastered the use of the Astroble. The english were now deeply rooted in Chesapeake and Delaware, and settlers were leaving London to fill those lands with our enemies. St. Richard recruited one hundred pious laypeople to help populate his mission community in Manhattan.
The Chieftans decided to try and sever the Scottish supply lines and relieve Belfast by sea, and so the Fleet, nine converted merchant Galleons, led by the mighty flagship King Micheal, sailed into the Irish Sea.
November 8, 1564- Battle of the Irish Sea The Fleet of Nine, nine strong Irish galleons crewed by fishermens sons from the west, met the Scottish Royal Fleet, twelve galleons sent to keep the supply lines open. The Irish fought hard, but in the end Scottish numbers carried the day. By nightfall two Irish ships, the Mac Lir and the venerable King Micheal are sent to the ocean floor.
On November the 28, the volunteers in Connaught joined O'Donnel's tired men in the Burren, and in December the force, now 7798 Arquebusiers, 1477 cavalrymen and 35 guns, marched north to try again to relieve the embattled city of Belfast.
(to be continued....
This is longer than I thought for such a short war.)
