In the early years of the English Civil War (1642-1651), a French traveller in England remarked that the Irish "are better soldiers abroad than at home." Between 1585 and 1818, over half a million Irish were lured from their homeland by promises of glory, money and honour in a constant emigration romantically styled "The Flight of the Wild Geese." Throughout this period, the Irish brigades in France and Spain participated in conflicts ranging from...