Editing Irish Confederate Wars (section)

===Stalemate===
[[File:Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin by Wright, John Michael.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin|Inchiquin]], commander in [[Munster]], who defected to Parliament in 1644, then returned to the Royalists in 1648; an example of the complex mix of loyalties and motives]]
The Civil War gave the Confederates time to create regular, full-time armies and they were eventually able to support some 60,000 men in different areas. These were funded by an extensive system of [[taxation]], equipped with supplies from [[France]], [[Spain]] and the [[Papacy]] and led by Irish professionals like [[Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara|Thomas Preston]] and [[Owen Roe O'Neill]], who had served in the Spanish army.

However, they arguably squandered an opportunity to conquer all of Ireland by signing a truce or "Cessation of Arms" with the Royalists on 15 September 1643, then spending the next three years in abortive negotiations.{{efn|On 14 December 1646, approximately six months after the end of the First English Civil War, Parliament enacted an ordinance to void the Cessation of Arms.<ref>{{cite web |title=December 1646: An Ordinance concerning the Cessation of Arms in Ireland, and Grants under the Great Seal of Ireland |editor1-last=Firth |editor1-first= C.H. |editor2-last=Rait |editor2-first=R.S |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinances-interregnum/p910 |website=BHO – British History Online |publisher=University of London |access-date=14 June 2020}}</ref>}} The period 1642 to 1646 was dominated by raids, with all sides attempting to starve their enemies by the destruction of crops and supplies, causing great loss of life, particularly among civilians. The bitterness it engendered is illustrated by a Parliamentary Ordinance of October 1644, which forbade 'giving of quarter to any Irishman or Papist born in Ireland who shall be taken in Hostility against the Parliament either upon the Sea or in England and Wales.'<ref>{{cite web |title=Table of acts: 1644 |editor1-last=Firth |editor1-first= C.H. |editor2-last=Rait |editor2-first=R.S |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/acts-ordinances-interregnum/xviii-xxx |website=BHO-British History Online |publisher=University of London |access-date=21 February 2019}}</ref>

An offensive against Ulster in 1644 failed to make significant progress, while defeat at [[Battle of Marston Moor|Marston Moor]] in July made it increasingly clear the English Royalists were losing the war; two weeks later, the [[Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin|Earl of Inchiquin]] defected to Parliament, giving them control of the ports of [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Kinsale]] and [[Youghal]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenihan, Padraig (ed) |first1=Kerrigan, Paul (author) |title=Ireland in Naval Strategy 1641–1691 in Conquest and Resistance: War in Seventeenth-Century Ireland |date=2001 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004117433 |page=157}}</ref> In late 1644, the Confederates took [[Bandon, County Cork|Bandon]] but Inchiquin retained control of Cork; Preston captured [[Siege of Duncannon|Duncannon]] in January 1645, then besieged Youghal but lack of supplies forced him to abandon the siege in March 1645.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McKeiver |first1=Philip |title=A New History of Cromwell's Irish Campaign |date=2008 |publisher=Advance Press |isbn=978-0955466304}}</ref>