WI: Spanish Invasion of Ireland during 1627?

In 1627 during the Anglo-Spanish War (1625-1630), Owen Roe O'Neill and some other exiled Irish lords petitioned the Spanish monarchy for an invasion to free Ireland using Irish regiments in the Spanish Army. What if the Spanish had gone ahead with the idea?
 
This means less Spanish interference in the 30 years war. With whatever result happening thereafter.

Spain needs naval dominance to secure a landing in Ireland and prevent English support for regional armies. Without Naval dominance Spains position in Ireland is not lasting. Especially when the Dutch come in with additional naval support for the English.
 
I believe the best time for the Spanish to pull this off might have been to direct the Spanish Armada in 1588 to Ireland and conquer it, instead of trying to invade Britain.

The main goal of the Armada was to punish and England and stop then from providing assistance to the Dutch rebels the Spanish we're fighting during the Eighty Years War. Knocking England out of their alliance with the Dutch was a short term goal that was already frought with all sorts of complications, but even then, England's fate was still in the balance.

However, what if Spain decided to play the long game instead? Spain would have never been able to fully subdue England, even after destroying her navy, defeating the hastily assembeled militias, and subsequently capturing London and the key ports in the south. Plus, they likely find themselves fighting another guerilla war, which was already draining Spanish coffers in the late 1500s.

In OTL, true English naval power seems to have been kick-started by the defeat of the Armada. The victory helped Elizabeth consolidate her power and unite a large portion of the country behind her. And in short order, the English were soon able to begin establishing their overseas colonies.

Ireland, under the direct control of Tudor England, was still heavily Catholic and were always looking for a way to revolt against their own overlords. In fact, they eventually did so with Spanish aid in 1594 before the Irish-Spanish forces were decisively defeated at Kinsale in 1601, when Spanish power was clearly on the decline and the English on the rise.

So what if Spain directed their Armada to invade and conquer Ireland instead? Now, this clearly doesn't aid Spain with any of her short term goals and does not immediately effect the camlaign in the Netherlands. But by invading Ireland, the Spanish find an overwhelmingly Catholic populace as well as powerful local families that would probably immediately rise up to expel their hated Tudor overlords and see the Spanish as liberators, at least at first.

The reason I say this is a long game strategy is because the benefits wouldn't become readily apparent to the Spanish, except when bit by bit, English financial support to the Dutch trickles down to nearly nothing because the English now have to reckon with the strongest power in Europe firmly entrenched in their rear with what would be overwhelming local support from a population that still hates the Tudors and the English. England would be forced to evolve very differently to deal with this persistent threat. The Spanish might not even have to station too many regular Spanish troops in Ireland either; it may be very possible to simply train the Irish into a professional standing army who's primary function would simply be to defend Ireland from the English, but could also be used to invade Britain from the west.

English naval capability is probably fast-tracked due to sheer necessity, but at the same time, with the Spanish threat literally at their backdoor, the mission of the English navy is profoundly different and evolves differently. Any potential English exploration and subsequent colonization is on a long-time back burner because they would have to devote the vast majority of their naval resources to preventing an imminent Spanish invasion, especially knowing that they won't have the army to actually defeat an entrenched Spanish army in Ireland in any bids to retake the island, as well as to protect their own shipping.

As for Spain, well now they have an unhindered outlet to the Atlantic and her colonies. With the English likely not making anything more than small scale expeditions to the new world and with Englisg privateers being forced to stay close to English waters instead of being able raid and pillage Spanish galleons and ports, more American gold and silver could flow into the Spanish Treasury and give them more licence to seek out new territory to explore and exploit. They could use that money into modernizing any existing Irish ports.

If England is still persecuting Catholics, and maybe newfound anti-Spanish paranoia could make this stance even more Hardline, English Catholics of all stations now have an easily accessible place to flee to, and if they wish, have a haven they can strike from if they want to raid and pillage English shipping and ports. We would definitely see a continuously running war for domination of the Irish Sea, which the English absolutely have to safeguard now that it's not a Tudor lake anymore. And now that the Spanish themselves need to retain their own naval superiority, they would be able to invest in that much easier with far better access to the Atlantic and the resources of the New World beyond gold, silver, and cash crops.

I'm actually gonna go and do way more research on this period, because I think I could be on to something here I can really sink my teeth into.
 
I believe the best time for the Spanish to pull this off might have been to direct the Spanish Armada in 1588 to Ireland and conquer it, instead of trying to invade Britain.

The main goal of the Armada was to punish and England and stop then from providing assistance to the Dutch rebels the Spanish we're fighting during the Eighty Years War. Knocking England out of their alliance with the Dutch was a short term goal that was already frought with all sorts of complications, but even then, England's fate was still in the balance.

However, what if Spain decided to play the long game instead? Spain would have never been able to fully subdue England, even after destroying her navy, defeating the hastily assembeled militias, and subsequently capturing London and the key ports in the south. Plus, they likely find themselves fighting another guerilla war, which was already draining Spanish coffers in the late 1500s.

In OTL, true English naval power seems to have been kick-started by the defeat of the Armada. The victory helped Elizabeth consolidate her power and unite a large portion of the country behind her. And in short order, the English were soon able to begin establishing their overseas colonies.

Ireland, under the direct control of Tudor England, was still heavily Catholic and were always looking for a way to revolt against their own overlords. In fact, they eventually did so with Spanish aid in 1594 before the Irish-Spanish forces were decisively defeated at Kinsale in 1601, when Spanish power was clearly on the decline and the English on the rise.

So what if Spain directed their Armada to invade and conquer Ireland instead? Now, this clearly doesn't aid Spain with any of her short term goals and does not immediately effect the camlaign in the Netherlands. But by invading Ireland, the Spanish find an overwhelmingly Catholic populace as well as powerful local families that would probably immediately rise up to expel their hated Tudor overlords and see the Spanish as liberators, at least at first.

The reason I say this is a long game strategy is because the benefits wouldn't become readily apparent to the Spanish, except when bit by bit, English financial support to the Dutch trickles down to nearly nothing because the English now have to reckon with the strongest power in Europe firmly entrenched in their rear with what would be overwhelming local support from a population that still hates the Tudors and the English. England would be forced to evolve very differently to deal with this persistent threat. The Spanish might not even have to station too many regular Spanish troops in Ireland either; it may be very possible to simply train the Irish into a professional standing army who's primary function would simply be to defend Ireland from the English, but could also be used to invade Britain from the west.

English naval capability is probably fast-tracked due to sheer necessity, but at the same time, with the Spanish threat literally at their backdoor, the mission of the English navy is profoundly different and evolves differently. Any potential English exploration and subsequent colonization is on a long-time back burner because they would have to devote the vast majority of their naval resources to preventing an imminent Spanish invasion, especially knowing that they won't have the army to actually defeat an entrenched Spanish army in Ireland in any bids to retake the island, as well as to protect their own shipping.

As for Spain, well now they have an unhindered outlet to the Atlantic and her colonies. With the English likely not making anything more than small scale expeditions to the new world and with Englisg privateers being forced to stay close to English waters instead of being able raid and pillage Spanish galleons and ports, more American gold and silver could flow into the Spanish Treasury and give them more licence to seek out new territory to explore and exploit. They could use that money into modernizing any existing Irish ports.

If England is still persecuting Catholics, and maybe newfound anti-Spanish paranoia could make this stance even more Hardline, English Catholics of all stations now have an easily accessible place to flee to, and if they wish, have a haven they can strike from if they want to raid and pillage English shipping and ports. We would definitely see a continuously running war for domination of the Irish Sea, which the English absolutely have to safeguard now that it's not a Tudor lake anymore. And now that the Spanish themselves need to retain their own naval superiority, they would be able to invest in that much easier with far better access to the Atlantic and the resources of the New World beyond gold, silver, and cash crops.

I'm actually gonna go and do way more research on this period, because I think I could be on to something here I can really sink my teeth into.

I find the idea of a Spanish Ireland very interesting as well and think it could work, Irish exiles in Spain were officially considered to be fellow Spaniards in part due to the Irish mythologically descending from Míl Espáine who is said to have invaded Ireland from Iberia, and Hugh O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnell were prepared to swear their allegiance to Philip II and have an Ireland in personal union with Spain.

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