The Battle of the Boyne

The Battle of the Boyne, which took place on 12th July, 1690, is one of the most decisive battles in the conflict between William of Orange adn James II.

After the Siege of Derry the initiative slowly slipped from James' hands and his troops were pushed south by William's army. In June 1690 William moves his troops to Drogheda a´t the mouth of the river Boyne. On 12th July 1690 the Battle of the Boyne finally took place. The Williamite troops plunge through the river under fierce attacks from their Jacobite opponents and manage to strike a heavy blow. After three charges, the Jacobite infantry fled. William himself led the pursuit across seven miles of open countryside, before the last resistance was finally smashed in the evening.

James II. lost thrice as many men as William and had to flee to Dublin to escape his prosecutor. He left Ireland for France, where he spent the rest of his life shortly afterwards. The last battles of the war between Williamite and Jacobite troops were fought shortly afterwards at the Battle of Aughrim and at the Siege of Limerick, which culminated in the Treaty of Limerick, which allowed the Jacobites to leave fro the continent. This event came to be known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.

The Battle of the Boyne was the last time two kings fought each other on the British Isles. It also singnifies the completion of the English conquest of Ireland.

Sources: Kee, Robert: The Green Flag. A History of Irish Nationalism. London: Penguin Books, 2000. Maurer, Michael: Kleine Geschichte Englands. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1997. Staples, Norman: A Short History of Ireland. 2004.