FAQ

Because historians traditionally have had an Anglo-centric view of the world and most of the key events take place in England although they also affect Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In recent decades this has changed and modern historians refer to the conflict as the 'War of the Three Kingdoms/Nations'.

Whilst the conflict with Charles I had been brewing for years it was finally sparked off in 1641 by a series of massacres of Irish Protestants by Irish Catholic supporters of the king. After vanquishing his enemies in the rest of the British Isles Cromwell embarked on a campaign of reconquest in Ireland and was subsequently villified by Irish nationalist historians and in popular folklore for some of his more brutal actions, especially concerning the siege of Drogheda. To have an Irish Catholic such as Richard Harris giving a largely sympathetic portrayal of Irish Nationalism's bogeyman was hugely controversial, especially as the Irish 'Troubles' had just been re-ignited in Northern Ireland at the time of the films release. In recent decades however the Shamrock Awakening movement has led to a reappraisal of the facts, noting that Cromwell killed fewer people and was generally much more merciful than his opponents and that Catholics enjoyed greater freedom under Cromwell than Protestants in continental Europe did under Catholic monarchs.