The Battle For Kilmallock

When the Free State army captured Limerick city in mid-July 1922, Republican forces retreated south towards Cork and made their next determined stand around Kilmallock. This area barred the way to the heartland of the 'Munster Republic'. In one of the largest and most intense battles of the Irish Civil War, Free State and Republican troops fought for possession of Kilmallock, Bruree and Bruff, with the latter two towns repeatedly changing hands. The eventual Free State occupation of Kilmallock was a vital turning point in the war. In The Battle for Kilmallock John O'Callaghan outlines the goals of the opposing forces, assesses their respective strengths, charts the course of the combat over two weeks in late July and early August, examines key strategies, and evaluates the role of leading personalities. The book challenges inherited wisdom about the engagement and offers sobering insights into the conduct of the belligerents.

The first of a six book series on titles on the Military History Of The Irish Civil War, this is an in-depth study of the battle for Limerick city. The story concentrates on the vicious battle that took place between Republican and Provisional Government forces for the control of Limerick City. Occurring in the early days of the Civil War, hostilities arrived in Limerick with a whimper rather than a bang. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Pro-Treaty Commander of the city, Michael Brennan, negotiated a truce with the Anti-Treaty Chief of Staff, Liam Lynch. But the benefit of this lull in fighting accrued almost entirely to the Pro-Treaty side, gaining them time for reinforcements and weaponry to arrive. When it did, the city became a battleground of extreme viciousness. Several buildings were shelled by 18-pounder guns at point-blank range. The fighting around the Strand barracks was particularly heavy. Padraig Ó Ruairc offers a fresh perspective on the struggle that reduced the viability of the Republican's hoped-for Munster Republic and set the stage for the battle of Kilmallock which checked the pro-treaty rout that the initial stages of the Civil War had been.

By the sixth week of the Irish Civil War in 1922, all eyes turned to Cork, as the National Army readied its climactic attack on the 'rebel capital'. At 2 a.m. on a Bank Holiday Monday, Emmet Dalton and 450 soldiers of the National Army landed at Passage West, in one of the most famous surprise attacks in Irish military history. Their daring amphibious assault knocked the famed Cork IRA onto the back foot, though three more days of stubborn fighting was required for the National Army to secure the city. The retreating IRA left destruction in their wake, setting the stage for Michael Collins' fatal final visit to his home county. For the first time, 'The Battle for Cork' tells the full story of the battle for Cork, showing all the chaos, bravery and misery of the largest engagement of the Irish Civil War and the final defeat of Republican Cork.

This book follows the action that took place in the `Munster Republic' during the Irish War of Independence.

During the Irish Civil War, events of late 1922 and early 1923 together with waves of 'dishonourable' killings created poisoned relations between Republicans and 'Free Staters' which would last for several generations. The most enduring of these controversies, a policy of summary executions carried out by the Provisional Government from November 1922, continues to surround the argument. This book offers a fresh perspective on the causes, development and consequences of the Irish Civil War. Triggered by the signing of the Anglo-Treaty, there were those that would accept nothing less than complete Irish independence. Very few IRA commanders active in the field supported the Treaty and, as happens often in the dissection of civil wars, controversy over the conduct of both sides figures heavily within the text, where, at a local and national level, it left bitter legacies. This book offers an overview of the war in all regions of Ireland.

On 14 April 1922 a group of 200 anti-Treaty IRA men occupied the Four Courts in Dublin in defiance of the Provisional Government. Michael Collins, who wanted to avoid civil war at all costs, did not attack them until June 1922, when British pressure forced his hand. This led to the Irish Civil War as fighting broke out in Dublin between the anti-Treaty IRA and the Provisional Government's troops. Under Collins' supervision, the Free State rapidly took control of the capital. In 'Michael Collins and the Civil War', Ryle Dwyer sheds new light on Collins' role in the Civil War, showing how in the weeks and months leading to the campaign he secretly persisted with guerrilla tactics in border areas. This involved not only assassination but also kidnapping and hostage taking. In confronting those tactics on behalf of the British, for instance, Winston Churchill engaged in similar behaviour, including killing and hostage-taking. But until now much of this has conveniently been swept under the carpet of history.

Focusing on the people and the decisons they made, 'The Fall of Dublin' examines the attack on the Four Courts and the subsequent fighting in Dublin in June and July 1922 which signalled the beginning of the Irish Civil War. With the use of new sources the book challenges many of the pre-conceived thoughts on the fighting in Dublin – the role of the leadership on both sides, the personalities of those involved and even the destruction of the Four Courts. These sources not only shed new light on the conflict itself, but more importantly they are invaluable in telling the stories of the ordinary men and women on both sides of the divide who for many years have been forgotten. They include memoirs from people on the ground, military history bureau witness statements, a complete garrison list of people in the Four Courts, a copy of the army constitution and the proposed Free State constitution, and a copy of the republican proclamation.

On Wednesday, 2 August 1922, Free State troops landed at Fenit pier in the first of a series of seaborne landings on the Cork and Kerry coast. This was a risky and ambitious strategy for the Free State government, whose aim was to surprise the staunchly anti-Treaty republicans in Kerry. By attacking them from an unexpected direction the government hoped to shorten the war, however, over the months of August and September, the republicans mounted a series of counterattacks against the Free State army. When Free State troops were all but surrounded in their barracks, the innovative invasion from the sea by Free State forces under Emmet Dalton caught the Republican forces almost completely by surprise. In this book Tom Doyle looks at the various successes and failures of both sides in Kerry during the Summer campaign of 1922 and how the superior forces of the Free State army and the lack of support from the people for the republicans allowed the Free State to build up a strong presence in a crucial part of the republicans' heartland.

Wolfe's History, by the author of Finding Bix (2017), wraps its arms around a single, sprawling Irish and American family. In an opening essay, Wolfe introduces a cast of larger-than-life characters-from an Old West barkeep and a Gold Rush pharmacist to an IRA fugitive and a British recruit whose loyalties are tested during the Easter Rising. Together these fast-talking, writerly cousins live intricate lives that move quickly between past and present-complete with periodic and sudden outbursts of violence. A man is set ablaze on the prairie. A Jesuit is tortured in Dublin Castle. In the author's sure hands, their stories are converted into something broader and more searching than just a single family's journey. He wonders what binds the Wolfes together in the first place and whether the experiences of his own immediate family subvert the connections he feels with his ancestors. A biographical dictionary and fifty pages of family trees complete this impressive volume.