Oliver Cromwell Put An Entire Irish Town in a Church and Set it on Fire
In the United Kingdom, Oliver Cromwell is considered to be one of the most important statesmen in English history. But a lot of people like to forget about the Drogheda Massacre, which happened in Ireland in 1649. At the time, England and Ireland were engaged in the Eleven Years War. Oliver Cromwell showed up at an Irish village called Drogheda, and claimed that the town was full of rebels. So his soldiers sacked the town, slashing people in the streets. He then forced a large group of people into their church, and then set it on fire. Cromwell was quoted saying, “The righteous judgment of God on these barbarous wretches, who have imbued their hands with so much innocent blood”. Here’s the thing, though. There was never any evidence that the rebels were in Drogheda at all. So he chose a random village and killed 3,552 people.