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The Battle of Arklow took place at Glascarrig on the coast road through Arklow in County Wicklow during November 1649. It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland (allied with the Royalists), and the English Parliamentarians during the Irish Confederate Wars. == Background == By late October 1649, the Irish had suffered a number of major defeats at the hands of the army of the English Parliament – a defeat at the Battle of Rathmines, and the loss of the important towns of Drogheda and Wexford. Ormonde was keen to regain the initiative. In October, he received word (via Castlehaven, via his sister's footman)〔.〕 that a column of English soldiers was preparing to march from Dublin to Wexford to reinforce Cromwell's troops in the south. This presented the Irish leadership with a chance to engage the Parliamentarians without risking too many soldiers. Murrough O'Brien, the Baron of Inchiquin, and Theobald Taaffe (who had fought on opposite sides at the Battle of Knocknanuss only two years before) were given command of a force of 2,500. This operation was of particular importance to the credibility of Inchiquin: he was distrusted by the majority Catholic population of Ireland due to a number of atrocities he had committed in the previous years of fighting, and in the autumn of 1649 many of the Protestant soldiers in Munster formerly loyal to him had mutinied and joined with the forces of Parliament. He now had a chance to regain some standing; it was more or less Inchiquin's last throw of the dice. The English soldiers under Major Nelson left Dublin in the last days of October. As he proceeded through the Wicklow Mountains his soldiers were harassed by tories though these attacks did not substantially hinder the force. In the meantime, Inchiquin prepared an ambush a little to the south of the town of Arklow, where the hills come close to the sea. A log barricade was placed across the road to Wexford and 1,000 infantry men were deployed behind it or otherwise concealed by the roadside. Nelson, however, heard a rumour that an ambush was planned and so moved his force using a more roundabout route, hoping to avoid Inchiquin's army. Inchiquin realised what was happening, and swiftly moved his cavalry to intercept the New Model soldiers. Most of his infantry however could not keep up, and thus did not take part in the fighting. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Arklow (1649)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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