In the terms of the Second Ormond Peace, the Irish Confederates agreed to give their support to the Royalist cause. After the execution of Charles I just weeks later, on 30th January 1649, they were joined by the Protestant Ulster Scots. The English Parliament responded by declaring war, and Oliver Cromwell led a very successful (and brutal) campaign through south-eastern Ireland, taking Drogheda and Wexford in quick succession. Waterford, however, showed the greatest resistance, holding firm against Cromwell's siege in the final months of 1649. The Parliamentary commander Henry Ireton renewed the siege in the spring of 1650, and in August, the city eventually surrendered.
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