A History Of The Irish Army

The Irish Army draws its traditions from three sources: the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War. This book charts the history of the Irish Army, through its evolution from a guerrilla force to the legally constituted military arm of the Irish Government, up to the present day.

This is a major, collaborative study of organised military activity and its broad impact on Ireland over the last thousand years or so, from the middle of the first millennium AD to modern times. It integrates the best recent scholarship in military history into its social and political context to provide a comprehensive treatment of the Irish military experience. The eighteen chronologically-organised chapters are written by leading scholars each of whom is an authority on the period in question. Drawing the whole work together is a wide-ranging introductory essay on the 'Irish military tradition' which explores the relationship of Irish society and politics with militarism and military affairs. The text is illustrated throughout by over 120 pictures and maps.

A comprehensive history of the Irish soldier from ancient time to the present day.

Since its establishment in 1930 the Irish Military College has had a vital influence on not only the Defence Forces but on the nation. It has formed all of the nation's commissioned officers, many of whom have achieved distinction both within and outside of the Defence Forces. The story of this relatively unknown national institution is intriguing as it has attempted to fulfill the roles laid down for it in 1923 in training and instructing officers and officer candidates. The task has not been easy, as the Military College has inevitably been subject to the many changes and fluctuations in the duties, roles and fortunes of the wider Defence Forces.In this book Colonel Tom Hodson, a former instructor in the Military College and a graduate of École de Guerre, Paris, charts its history. He recounts how from its early predecessor, the Army School of Instruction, the Military College has repeatedly re-invented itself, culminating in the requirement for today's modern institution to embrace and impart instruction based on the needs of the Irish Defence Forces and the procedures of European and NATO armies.

In the spring of 1980, the Irish Department of Defence sanctioned the establishment of a new unit within the Irish Defence Forces and the Irish Army Ranger Wing (ARW) came into being. In the decades that followed, its soldiers have been deployed on active service at home and abroad, generally without the knowledge of the wider public. The ARW is made up of seasoned men from across the island, who are selected through tough competition. Only the best of the best make it through and are trained in an extraordinary range of specialist skills. Being one of these elite operators takes more than simply being a skilled soldier – it means believing you are the best. Shadow Warriors tells the story behind the creation of the ARW, from its origins in specialist counter-terrorism training in the late 1960s and the preparation of small unconventional units in the 1970s to the formation of the ARW itself in 1980 and its subsequent history. The first and only authoritative account in the public domain of this specialist unit, authors Paul O'Brien and Sergeant Wayne Fitzgerald have been granted access to the closed and clandestine world of Ireland's Special Forces, who train hard, fight harder and face unconventional types of warfare, yet prefer to stay out of the limelight.

The Franco-Irish connection has been maintained since the 17th century and it is often forgotten that the initial contacts between the two countries were largely military. This book, the proceedings of a 2007 conference, represents the latest research on this military connection. Contents: Ã?Â?Ã?Â?amon Ã?Â?Ã?Â? CiosÃ?Â?Ã?¡in (NUIM), Irish soldiers and regiments in the French service before 1690; Pierre Joannon (Irish consul to France), The Irish in France; Nathalie Genet-Rouffiac (SHD), The first wave of Irish Jacobite exiles; Pierre-Louis Coudray (U Angers), Irish soldiers in Angers; Eoghan Ã?Â?Ã?Â? hAannrachÃ?Â?Ã?¡in, Irish soldiers in Les Invalides; Lavinia Greacen, The life and career of General Lally; Clarke de Dromantain (U Bordeaux), Jacobite regiments in the American War of Independence; Georges Martinez, The Irish in the army of the Princes; Hugh Gough (UCD), French military strategy towards Ireland, 1792-1815; Sylvie Kleinman (TCD), The French career of Theobald Wolfe Tone; Nicholas Dunne-Lynch (U Liverpool), The Irish Legion of Napoleon; Janick Julienne (Paris VII), Irish involvement in the Franco-Prussian War; Jerome aan de Wiel (UCC), DeuxiÃ?Â?Ã?Â(c)me bureau operations in Ireland, 1900-5; SiobhÃ?Â?Ã?¡n Pierce (NMI), Irish soldiers in France in WWI; David Murphy (TCD), Irish people in the French Resistance in WWII.

The first of a projected two-volume survey of Irish military history, this is a facsimile version of the original articles from the Middle Ages to the present day. The articles were first published in the Irish Sword, the journal of the Military History Society of Ireland. The Society was founded in 1949 with the aim of promoting the study of Irish military history, defined as the history of warfare in Ireland and of Irishmen in war. Among the essays on medieval warfare are an account of the part played by Irishmen in the Crusades and an analysis of the military history of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are particularly well represented as warfare was frequent in that period, including the Tudor re-conquest, the rebellion of 1641 and subsequent overflow of the English Civil War into Ireland, and the Williamite war of 1689-91. Writers such as Cyril Falls on Hugh O'Neill, G A Hayes-McCoy on The Army of Ulster 1593-1603 and J G Simms on Cromwell at Drogheda feature in this section. In the part covering the eighteenth century the military exploits of Irish soldiers in foreign armies are examined by Micheline Kerney-Walsh, while Charles Petrie describes the position of Ireland in international strategic thinking in his Ireland in Spanish and French Strategy, 1558-1815. There are two papers on the rebellion of 1798: Richard Hayes The Battle of Castlebar 1798 and Paul Kerrigan's Weapons and Tactics of 1798.

This book chronicles the important role of Ireland's seabourne military forces in the Civil War and in the Emergency and explains the rebirth of the Irish Naval Service in the past two decades. Ever since the Boreal Seas rose sufficiently to form the islands of Ireland and Britain some 8000 years ago, both have been dependant on water transport for their being. Their history has been formed by the sea from the days of the later Stone Age cultures to the present. In this century there have been so many changes to the approach of the Irish to the sea that Aidan McIvor's book is both timely and necessary. Much has been written about the manifold problems of Ireland and many books deal with her extraordinary history. But this is a book in a different category. Based on a great deal of research, it is the tale of the maritime country which, since the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, has consistently turned her back to the sea unless unusual events have caused a temporary change of heart.