The Irish Rebellion

Seventeenth century Ireland was a violent time. War and the economy were increasingly interrelated and the links between the two continuously shaped the erratic course of Irish history. Violence typically leads to decreased economic output and turmoil as was the case in seventeenth century Ireland. In order to accurately depict the links between war and the Irish economy of the seventeenth century I will draw four concise links. A critical driving force behind the Rebellion of 1641 was the poor Irish economy, the Irish Rebellion of 1641 decimated the short-term Irish economy, Cromwell’s subsequent military dictatorship redistributed Irish wealth, and Irish emigration compiled with continued violence stalled economic progress.
A critical …show more content…
In his five year reign, Oliver Cromwell succeeded in redistributing Irish wealth and turning the Irish economy on its head. As is still true today, wealth can be directly related to land ownership. During Cromwell’s military dictatorship, Catholic lands were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers which consequently flipped the Catholic-Protestant wealth relationship on its head. The post-rebellion situation in Ireland was desperate for Irish Catholics, and Cromwell saw it as a blank slate on which he could impose his will and fulfill the promises made by the British government to fund the violence in the first place. The Adventurers Act of 1642, and the corresponding Doubling Ordinance of 1643, preemptively raised the British funds needed for war by promising the crediting British Irish land that were to be retaken in the conquest. An act like this that legally steals from one owner and gives to another without compensation to the former can only be enforced in a time of war. Its justification lies in the theory that to the victor of war will go the spoils, a theme common throughout world history. By making these war time promises it ensured that the economic conditions of Ireland would change drastically. While previously the Catholic Irish owned large portions of fertile land and consequently held many positions of economic power, they were soon …show more content…
Violence during this Irish era was generally harmful to the Irish economy. The poor economy in early seventeenth-century Ireland was a catalyst behind revolution. War itself decimated the shot-term Irish economy. Cromwell’s military conquest reshaped the economic landscape and redistributed wealth. Irish emigration slowed the economic recovery. The instability of seventeenth-century Ireland was linked with the struggling economic conditions of the day in intricate