The Reformation in England further distanced the Irish, as the majority of Irishmen adhered stubbornly to their Catholicism.Eventually, in Elizabeth's reign, both sides resorted to the use of force on a large scale in a series of bloody wars and rebellions that were to culminate in the Earl of Tyrone's 'Great Rebellion' of 1595-1603. This text by Ian Heath looks at the history, organisation and tactics of the armies of the Irish Wars 1485-1603, armies which included such troops as the fearsome Irish Galloglasses, who bore a deadly axe six feet long with a blade one foot broad!
