This is possibly the most confusing and nonsensical period in English history. When you start throwing in the Scottish connections and the protestant vs catholic swirls, it is very difficult to keep track of anything.
"Throughout the early 1650’s Cromwell’s troops practiced a policy of scorched earth in Ireland which lead to the death by starvation and other causes of at least 200,000 and possibly as many as 600,000 in a total population of 2 million."
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=118...