Nine Years' War (Ireland)

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Nine Years' War
Part of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and the European wars of religion
Ireland in 1600 showing approximate Irish alliance control at its height (red), and English control (blue)
Date May 1593 – 30 March 1603 Location Ireland Result English victory Treaty of Mellifont (1603) Flight of the Earls (1607) End of Gaelic Ireland Territorial changes Entirety of Ireland is now under English control
Belligerents
Gaelic Ireland Kingdom of Spain	Kingdom of England loyalists
Commanders and leaders
Gaelic Chiefs: Aodh Mór Ó Néill Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Aodh Mag Uidhir (DOW) Brian Óg na Samhthach Ó Ruairc Fiach Mac Aodha Ó Broin † Risteárd Tirial (POW) Séamus Mac Tomás Mac Gearailt Cormac Mac Barún Ó Néill Domhnaill Cam Ó Súileabháin Bhéara Grainne Ní Mháille Somhairle Buidhe Mac Domhnaill Fínghlin Mac Donncha Mac Carthaig Mór Tiobóid Mac Ualtar Ciotach De Búrca Ruadhraighe Ó Domhnaill Brian Bán Mág Tighearnán Spanish leaders: King Philip II King Philip III Martín de Padilla Juan del Águila Pedro de Zubiaur Diego Brochero full list...	English leaders: Queen Elizabeth I King James VI and I William Fitzwilliam Henry Bagenal † John Norreys (DOW) William Russell Robert Devereux (Earl of Essex) Charles Blount (Lord Mountjoy) Thomas Norreys (DOW) George Carew Henry Docwra Arthur Chichester Irish loyalists: Niall Garbh Ó Domhnaill Donnchadh Ó Briain Cathoir Ó Dochartaigh Uilleac De Búrca full list...
Strength
~21,000, including: 8,000 in Ulster (1594) but thousands joined after 9,000 in Munster 3,500 Spanish (1601)	~6,000 (before 1598) ~18,000 (after 1598)
Casualties and losses
~100,000 soldiers and Irish civilians (the vast majority died due to famine)	~30,000 soldiers (though more died from disease than in battle) and hundreds of English colonists
Total dead: 130,000+

The Nine Years' War, sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion,^[1][2] took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It was fought between an Irish confederacy—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell—against English rule in Ireland, and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war began in Ulster and northern Connacht, but eventually engulfed the entire island. The Irish alliance won numerous victories against the English forces in Ireland, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and the Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a pivotal victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and created the groundwork for the foundation of the Plantation of Ulster.^[3]

The war against O'Neill and his allies was the largest conflict fought by England in the Elizabethan era. At the height of the conflict (1600–1601) more than 18,000 soldiers were fighting in the English army in Ireland.^[4] By contrast, the English army assisting the Dutch during the Eighty Years' War was never more than 12,000 strong at any one time.^[4]