The Colonial Ironsides

The Colonial Ironsides is a comprehensive survey of the role played by Oliver Cromwell’s expeditionary forces in subduing Royalist outposts abroad after the conclusion of the Civil Wars in the Three Kingdoms, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, the Scillies, the West Indies and North America. Beyond that, the book details the launch of the Western Design against Spain in the Caribbean and during its course, the failure of the expedition against San Domingo and the conquest of Jamaica. In Europe, the book studies the role of Cromwell’s expeditionary brigade, and Charles II’s army in exile, in the struggle between France and Spain in the Low Countries during the last years of the Protectorate: the Battle of the Dunes, the sieges of Dunkirk, Ypres, Oudenaarde and other towns leading to the acquisition of Dunkirk and Mardyke as a British colony on the Continent, the first since the loss of Calais under Mary Tudor.

The book is, in some ways, a prequel to the author’s earlier book published by Helion, The Last Ironsides: The English Expedition to Portugal 1662–1668. As such it shows how the troops that later went to Portugal and Tangier after Charles II’s restoration in 1660 came to be at Dunkirk. Overall, the book rediscovers a series of episodes in British military history that have been forgotten, not detailed fully since Victorian times. No other modern books describe the full extent of this period of conflict, although there are books which detail several of the campaigns. This decade of early expeditionary warfare marked a change in English foreign policy from raiding the colonies of others, chiefly Spain, to becoming an imperial power.

The book is very well provided for in terms of detailed and helpful maps of the theatres of war, many which being reproductions of contemporary prints. There are also a significant number of contemporary black and white images and numerous tables detailing the men, units and ships involved in each campaign.

"To sum up, yet another highly recommended Helion masterpiece to fill a space on the bookcase. Readers ought not be disappointed in this excellent book. I wasn’t." Colin Ashton, Carryings On Up The Dale Blog

"It seems that with the Civil Wars ending in the British Isles, Cromwell has some tidying up to do to bring some outlying Royalist holdouts to heel. In the same decade, he was all about expanding England's reach. To that end, he sent expeditions to the islands around the English coast as well as North America and down into the West Indies. This is alot of fighting to follow and lots of potential wargaming scenarios to set up. As if that isn't enough, there is English involvement on the Continent, leading to the acquisition of Dunkirk and Mardyke as colonies. All of that from a single book in Helion's excellent Century of the Soldier series." Wargames Illustrated, Issue 409, Jan 2022

"...[The Colonial Ironsides] sheds light into a lesser known part of the Cromwellian period and especially explains the convoluted nature of European diplomacy in a simple manner that I may not have seen so clearly before. I may now need to get a Spanish army to refight Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Flanders. Or find someone who has one. And I need to paint some English soldiers in redcoats. If you have even a slight interest in this period, then get this book as it is a great addition to any library." hamsterwrangler.com

"....Wargamers who possess a miniature New Model Army but have already refought the major ECW battles will find plenty of alternative employment for their little lead veterans in the varied operations described in these pages." Arthur Harman, Miniature Wargames Issue 473, Sept 2022

"This impressive book has an attractive title, but a misleading one. The subtitle is far more accurate. This is a series of thorough and convincing accounts of a whole range of expeditions by land and sea undertaken by the New Model Army and (for want of a more accurate title) the New Model Navy across the 1650s. It is a very substantial prequel to Riley’s The Last Ironsides: the English expedition to Portugal 1662–1668." Cromwelliana 2022