Battle of the Boyne: Protestant Victory Shapes Ireland
William of Orange landed in Ireland with a multinational army of English, Dutch, Danish, and Huguenot troops to confront the Catholic forces of the deposed King James II at the River Boyne on July 12, 1690. William's Dutch Blue Guards forced a crossing at a shallow ford while James watched from a nearby hill, and the Jacobite army crumbled after their best infantry was routed. James fled to Dublin and then to France, earning the Irish nickname "Seamus an Chaca" (James the Coward). The Protestant victory established the political and religious order that would define Ireland for centuries, and the Battle of the Boyne remains the most celebrated date in Ulster Unionist culture.
July 12, 1690
336 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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