Battlefield Ireland Quiz | European

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. One of the best-known battles in Ireland took place in 1690 and was to shape the destiny of several European nations. On which river did it take place?

Answer: Boyne

The Battle of the Boyne was fought on July 1st, 1690, but due to the later adoption of the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar, it is now marked on July 12th.

The fighting was between the armies of King William III (aka William Prince of Orange) and King James II.

James had been king of Britain and Ireland. However, he was a convert to Catholicism in the predominantly Protestant Great Britain.

William was the Protestant head of the Dutch royal house of Orange, and was married to James's daughter, Mary.

In 1688, Parliament invited William and Mary to take the throne and they landed with an army in Devon. James fled to France.

This is the point where pan-European politics came into play.

King Louis XIV of France was at the time determined to make himself overlord of Europe

A 'Grand Alliance' of other powers opposed this, and William of Orange was among them. Pope Alexander VIII supported the alliance.

Supported by the French king, James II landed in Ireland with an army, intent on winning back his throne and promoting the Catholic faith.

In this campaign, there were a number of battles throughout Ireland, but the most significant was on the banks of the Boyne.

The kings led their armies. William had 36,000 men, comprising English, Scottish, Dutch, Danes and Huguenots (French Protestants). James had 25,000, made up of Irish Catholics, reinforced by 6,500 French troops.

About 1,500 men died during the battle.

William was victorious. After a portion of James's army was drawn off in a movement toward the town of Drogheda, the remaining 6,000 Jacobite troops were unable to withstand the onslaught of 26,000 led by William as they crossed the Boyne.

William's victory made him leader of the Grand Alliance and in 1697 Louis XIV relinquished much of the territory he had won by conquest.
(Apologies for the length of the II, but the Battle of the Boyne is often simplistically portrayed - especially in Ireland - when it was part of a more complicated political stratagem.)

2. The Irish had been fighting among themselves for hundreds of years before forces from nations in Europe turned their attention to the Emerald isles. From the ninth century on, which group of people posed a threat to the native Irish peoples?

Answer: Vikings

Between the 9th and 12th centuries, Vikings regularly took part in raids on Ireland.
They also often allied themselves with local tribes in the seemingly interminable conflicts over the kingship of Ireland.

The Vikings founded the cities of Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford and Waterford.

Gradually, the Vikings settled among the local populace, often intermarrying.

They were content to settle mainly along the coast in places they had won in battle.

The coming of the Normans in the 12th Century was to end the direct Viking influence.

Much earlier the Greeks and the Romans knew about Ireland. While the Romans conquered Britain, there is little evidence that they invaded Ireland. That being said, evidence has been found of Roman settlements, or at last trading posts, in Ireland.

3. In the 10th Century, a decisive battle took place between Irish warlords and the forces of an invading people. Which battle paved the way for the Irish to gain control of the city of Dublin from the invaders?

Answer: Tara

In 980AD, the forces led by M�el Sechnaill mac Domnaill, fought the Norse Vikings of Dublin, led by Amla�b Cuar�n, near the Hill of Tara in what is now County Meath.

The Norse forces were routed. Historians believe their entire army was destroyed and this was to be the most decisive victory by the Irish over the Vikings (even if the Battle of Clontarf is more famous.)

4. By the latter part of the 12th century, Ireland seemed to have adapted to a settled if uneasy system of kingships. In 1169, though, one usurped king invited in a force of Norman mercenaries to help regain his throne. This began the Norman invasion of Ireland. Which king of England supported the intervention?

Answer: Henry II

Norman/English landings grew apace in the years that followed. They handed over lands they had conquered to King Henry II. Many Irish Kings also ceded to him.

In 1171, Henry landed in Waterford with an army and immediately set upon seizing more land.

Any hope that the Norman intervention would be short-lived, or even contained, were shattered when the Treaty of Windsor (1175) fell apart.

Henry encouraged further incursions into Ireland, though there were to be many battles between invaders and locals.

5. For centuries, Ireland was a place of war and many lives were lost during the long list of battles and sieges. In December 1688 the first major clash in a new episode of conflict began with the siege of a northern town. Which of these was it?

Answer: Derry

The siege of Derry (which is also known as Londonderry) marked the start in Ireland of what is now termed the Williamite War.

At the heart of the conflict were the ideological differences between the Catholic King James II of England and the Protestant William of Orange. James was not a popular king, and the English Parliament offered the throne to James's daughter Mary and her Dutch husband (and cousin) William.

James, though, was better thought of in Ireland than England and sought succour there, and the chance to reclaim his throne.

Two places that did not fall under his influence were Enniskillen and Derry. Derry was a fortified city - to this day it retains many of its original walls.

In 1688, James sent a force to take Derry, but its gates were shut to him by a group of young apprentices.

The siege that followed lasted 105 days and about 4,000 of its people died in times of starvation.

6. While Ireland had many battles between its own peoples, it was at times part of pan-European wars and campaigns. In 1760 the town of Carrickfergus was a bit-player in the wider scheme of things. Which nation seized the town and held it for five days?

Answer: France

In February 1760, during the Seven Years' War, 600 French troops seized the castle at Carrickfergus and threatened nearby Belfast.

In reality this was a diversionary manoeuvre for a larger French invasion intended for farther south in Ireland.

Confronted by a hastily gathered local militia and the arrival of a Royal Navy squadron, the French withdrew.

7. By the early part of the 1700s, England could claim to rule over the island of Ireland. Local peoples were appeased, or replaced by settlers brought in from Scotland and England. These were largely Protestants who displaced the local Catholic landowners. In 1798, a concerted effort to overthrow British rule was mounted. Which group led the 1798 rebellion?

Answer: United Irishmen

While conflicts in Ireland are often simplistically painted as between Catholic and Protestant, the United Irishmen had support from both faiths. Indeed, many leading founders and supporters were Presbyterians, whose own denomination was often as cynically persecuted by the establishment as that of the Catholic church.

The United Irishmen were led by Wolf Tone, a Presbyterian. In 1796, he persuaded the French to try to invade, but their fleet was beaten back by bad weather while off the coast of Ireland.

Two years later, a series of rebellions began, but even with the help of successfully landed French allies, the rebels were defeated and their cause was brutally repressed.

Wolfe Tone was arrested, tried and convicted of treason. He took his own life rather than submit to death by hanging.

8. After 800 years of dominancy over Ireland, English/British rule was threatened by a rebellion that was to lead eventually to the ending of that rule over a major part of the island. At what time of year in 1916 did that rising take place?

Answer: Easter

On Easter Monday, March 26, 1916, around 1,600 nationalists seized public buildings in Dublin, the most iconic of which was the General Post Office.

Other events took place throughout Ireland, but were not as well supported.

One of the rising's leaders, Patrick Pearse, proclaimed Ireland an independent republic and also proclaimed a provisional government.

Over the next week, the rising was put down by the authorities. Around 450 people died and about 2,000 were injured.

Historians have debated just how the rising fitted into the campaign for an independent Ireland.

There is a school of thought that the rising would have been branded a failure had it not been for the actions of the authorities. Fifteen leaders of the rebellion were arrested and executed by firing squad. That hardened the hearts of many who might not otherwise has supported a rebellion.

The Irish are noted for their self-deprecation and their ability to find the lighter side to just about anything. The comedian Dara � Briain has joked that the rebels chose Easter to launch their rising because it was a bank holiday and the British administration would take longer to realise what was going on.

9. In 1921, a treaty was signed between Great Britain and Irish nationalists to establish a new "Free State" in 26 of Ireland's 32 counties. That might have been expected to bring about peace after a bloody rebellion, but instead a civil war ensued between differing groupings as they jockeyed for power. In 1922, one of the leaders of the war of independence was ambushed and shot dead by rival forces. Who was he?

Answer: Michael Collins

Michael Collins had been a long-time advocate of Irish independence. In 1919 he led the Irish Volunteers in a guerrilla campaign against British forces.

In 1921, a cease-fire was declared, and Collins was one of those who negotiated a settlement with Britain.

Not everyone was happy with the settlement, particularly as it allowed six northern counties to remain part of the United Kingdom.

The "Irish Free State" came into being in 1922, but there was immediately a split between rival factions and civil war ensued involving the new national authorities and the Irish Republican Army.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 people, died before the civil war was crushed in 1923.

On August 22, 1922, Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army, was in a convoy of Government soldiers near Beal na Blath in Co Cork when it was ambushed by rebels. Collins was shot in the head and killed.

Many of the circumstances surrounding the death remain uncertain.

10. Ireland and Great Britain had a fractious relationship over a period of 800 years. Which British leader's actions were considered to be particularly heinous by the Irish?

Answer: Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell fought in the English Civil War on the side the the pro-Parliamentarian "Roundheads". Their opponents were the pro-Royalty "Cavaliers".

After the defeat of the Cavaliers, Oliver Cromwell was one of the signatories of the death warrant of King Charles 1

That same year, 1649, he was put in charge of an army to suppress rebellion in Ireland that had started in 1641.

Cromwell spent just nine months in Ireland and crushed the rebellion.

His reputation, particularly among the Irish, was one of ruthlessness.

In September 1649, his army captured the town of Drogheda and massacred nearly 3,500 people, including townspeople and 2,700 Royalist soldiers.

A month later at the siege of Wexford, 2,000 Irish soldiers and perhaps 1,500 civilians were killed.

With the caveat that many of the claims made against Cromwell are contested, some commentators believe that what Cromwell did amounted to "war crimes".

According to historian Micheal O Siochru: "There was a very definite etiquette of warfare that certain things were allowed and certain things were not allowed. When it came to dealing with the Catholic Irish, Cromwell moved beyond that in his conduct of warfare. As commander-in-chief, he has to take ultimate responsibility."

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Battlefield Ireland Trivia Quiz

The island of Ireland has seen some bloody battles through the years. Fight your way through this quiz to test your knowledge of battles, sieges and rebellions.

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