Battle of Kinsale

Kinsale, Battle of, where Hugh O'Neill and Red Hugh O'Donnell were defeated by Lord Deputy Mountjoy on 24 December 1601 in the decisive battle of the Nine Years War (1594-1603). A long-promised Spanish expeditionary force finally reached Ireland in September 1601 but disembarked at Kinsale in Munster, which the Crown had already reduced to submission. The Spanish force of 3, 500 under Don Juan del Aquila was besieged by Mountjoy. The forces of O'Neill and O'Donnell trapped Mountjoy between the Irish and Spanish armies. A dawn attack by the Irish went disastrously wrong and they were routed.