The Irish entered into a confederacy with English Royalists and the era in question is in fact known as Confederate Ireland, so the comparison of Cromwell to Sherman is very apt for several reasons.
Just how did Oliver Cromwell erase the Irish Catholic population, or attempt to do so? Provide historically documented facts, please, and not wild partisan guesstimates from people with an historic axe to grind.
I do have Irish ancestry, and am not without sympathy. I’ve been there many times and have friends in the Republic of Ireland. I love the country and it’s people. But there is an element of grudge that has built over the centuries that is very much like my beloved south and southerners as far as Sherman.
I also have Anglo-irish ancestry, English who held plantations in Ireland. Scotch-Irish ancestry, too. So, it’s not at all unfamiliar to me, as far as either religon or history. But, my points of view very likely will not match yours, so far as interpretation of historic fact is concerned.
There are two sides to every story, at least, if not more than that.
Maybe “Erase” was too strong of a word. But he had no love for Catholics or the Irish. The seige of Drogheda, where he killed 3,500 civilians, including Priests and Nuns and of Wexford where 1500 civilians where put to the sword are examples{ I excluded military casualites because they were under arms, or maybe they werent. But still I didnt add them because they can be justifed}
Of course these figure may be inflated because the Irish hated Cromwell so much they blew up the numbers for propaganda purposes.
But we are looking at these thing from our viewpoint. Mass killing were pretty much the rule durning that time. And when you add religion to this, it got ugly. The irish probily would have done the same if the roles were switched. Religion tends to bring out the ugly in some people.
I am German Catholic so I have no dog in this fight. But the Irish still use his name as a curse. That doesnt happen for no reason.
As for Sherman, There is no evidnace that he committed any type of mass killings. He may have burnt every thing in sight and committed other what we would call “War Crimes” but there was no such things as war crimes in either Cromwell or Shermans time.
I am capable of looking at the two sides of every story. In between the truth is in there. But there is no denying that Cromwell was a cast iron basterd.
You are wasting your time, although I admire the effort. I don’t think I have ever seen such an historically illiterate set of posts on FR. The “grudge” was manufactured by centuries of Stuart and Catholic historiography. This thread resembles nothing so much as Orwell’s three minute hate.
If you want to read a contemporary account of Cromwell and his life, Lady Antonia Frazier’s biography is detailed and quite good.