Qualla: Siege of Santo Domingo (1655) https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Santo Domingo (1655) https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655 Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The crabs, they said afterward, had won the battle. Spanish soldiers swore that the English invaders, stumbling through the tropical dark on the beach at Haina, had been so terrified by the clicking and rustling of land crabs that they mistook the creatures for an approaching army. It was a joke, of course - the Spaniards even fashioned a gold crab to parade through the streets of Santo Domingo in triumph. But the real story of April 1655 needed no embellishment. Oliver Cromwell's grand plan to seize the Caribbean from Spain had collapsed before it truly began, broken against the walls of a city defended by a force one-fifth the size of the attacking army.

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): Cromwell's Western Design https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Denisseag6, CC BY 2.5. The scheme was called the Western Design, and it was supposed to be easy. In 1655, Cromwell's Commonwealth of England decided to strike at the heart of Spain's New World empire. Religious conviction drove part of the decision - the Puritan rulers of England loathed Catholic Spain...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-cromwells-western-design.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): Thirty Miles of Misery https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Denisseag6, CC BY 2.5. High winds and heavy surf kept the English from landing near Santo Domingo itself. When the troops finally came ashore on April 13, 1655, they found themselves at the mouth of the Nizao River, thirty miles from the city. What followed was four days of grueling march through unfam...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-thirty-miles-of-misery.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): An Afternoon's Ruin https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Denisseag6, CC BY 2.5. The ambush came from a force of approximately 300 Spanish militiamen. Three hundred against thirteen thousand - and the three hundred won. The English, strung out and demoralized after their march, broke and ran. Venables' army suffered roughly 600 killed and another 400 wounded ...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-an-afternoons-ruin.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): Consolation Prize https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Denisseag6, CC BY 2.5. Desperate to salvage something from the disaster, the English fleet turned toward Jamaica. The island fell in six days - a far easier conquest, though one that hardly erased the shame of Santo Domingo. When Venables and Penn returned to England, Cromwell threw both of them into t...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-consolation-prize.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Santo Domingo (1655): The Gold Crab and the Gate https://qualla.com/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655/ Photo credit Denisseag6, CC BY 2.5. Santo Domingo celebrated. The gate where the Count of Penalba had organized the city's defense was renamed the Puerta del Conde in his honor - a landmark that still stands in the colonial heart of the Dominican capital. The story of the crabs became legendary: English soldiers su...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/7/q/3/siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-wp/d7q3-siege-of-santo-domingo-1655-the-gold-crab-and-the-gate.mp3 0:06 6 full