O'Neill's Rebellion in Ulster

1594

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, joined Red Hugh O'Donnell in open revolt against Elizabethan English rule in Ulster. Armed with modern firearms and Spanish gold, the Gaelic lords would wage the Nine Years' War across Ireland, inflicting several humiliating defeats on English armies before being ground down. O'Neill's modern firearms tactics and Spanish alliance made the Nine Years' War the most serious challenge to English rule since the Normans.