Kingdom Overthrown

Seventeenth-century Europe was a theatre of almost endless rivalry and destruction, where wars of religion and dynastic succession wreaked havoc across the continent. Kingdom Overthrown: The Battle for Ireland, 1688-1691 tells the story of the Williamite War, in which Ireland became the unexpected stage for a truly European struggle. To the Irish officers who served in both armies it was a fight for control of land, property and influence. It was also part of a pan-European war that would have far-reaching consequences: it saw the last ever confrontation on a battlefield between two claimants to the English throne, William of Orange and King James II, and it featured many intense and gruesome clashes, including the Siege of Derry and the battles of Aughrim and the Boyne. Driven by first-hand accounts of soldiers and officers in both armies, collected from historical manuscript collections, correspondence and personal memoirs, Kingdom Overthrown presents an accurate, and above all human, account of one of the most destructive conflicts ever fought on the island of Ireland.