The Ira And Its Enemies

What is it like to be in the IRA - or at their mercy? This study explores the lives and deaths of the enemies and victims of the County Cork IRA between 1916 and 1923.

What is it like to be in the IRA - or at their mercy? This study explores the lives and deaths of the enemies and victims of the County Cork IRA between 1916 and 1923.

Between 1916 and 1923, Ireland experienced rebellion and mass mobilization, guerrilla and civil war, partition and ethnic conflict, and the transfer of power from British to Irish governments. The essays in The I.R.A. at War propose a new history of this Irish revolution: one that encompasses the whole of the island as well as Britain, all of the violence and its consequences, and the entire period from the Easter Rising to the end of the Civil War. When did the revolution start and when did it end? Why was it so violent and why were some areas so much worse than others? Why did the I.R.A. mount a terror campaign in England and Scotland but refuse to assassinate British politicians? Where did it get its guns? Was it democratic? What kind of people became guerrillas? What kind of people did they kill? Were Protestants ethnically cleansed from southern Ireland? Did a pogrom take place against Belfast Catholics? These and other questions are addressed using extensive new data on those involved and their actions, including the first complete figures for victims of the revolution. These events have never been numbered among the world's great revolutions, but in fact Irish republicans were global pioneers. Long before Mao or Tito, Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army were the first to use a popular political front to build a parallel underground state coupled with sophisticated guerrilla and international propaganda and fund-raising campaigns. Ireland's is also perhaps the best documented revolution in modern history, so that almost any question can be answered, from who joined the I.R.A. to who ordered the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson. The intimacy and precision with which we are able to reconstruct and analyse what happened make this a key site for understanding not just Irish, but world, history.

Because historians tell the story of humanity, we depend on them for our understanding of who and what we are. But writers of history can also distort the story, presenting their subjects, not as people, but as caricatures of good and evil. When such distortion becomes serious and deliberate, Owen Sheridan describes it as anti-history.Using a detailed examination of The IRA and Its Enemies, Sheridan shows how writer Peter Hart removes the humanity of IRA Volunteers during the War of Independence, depicting them as the popular press in Britain depicted Germans during the First World War-as objects of hatred. His Anti-History is a wake-up call, not only for historians but for thinking people everywhere.

This book examines the grass-roots relationship between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the civilian population during the Irish Revolution. It is primarily concerned with the attempts of the militant revolutionaries to discourage, stifle, and punish dissent among the local populations in which they operated, and the actions or inactions by which dissent was expressed or implied. Focusing on the period of guerilla war against British rule from c. 1917 to 1922, it uncovers the acts of 'everyday' violence, threat, and harm that characterized much of the revolutionary activity of this period. Moving away from the ambushes and assassinations that have dominated much of the discourse on the revolution, the book explores low-level violent and non-violent agitation in the Irish town or parish. The opening chapter treats the IRA's challenge to the British state through the campaign against servants of the Crown - policemen, magistrates, civil servants, and others - and IRA participation in local government and the republican counter-state. The book then explores the nature of civilian defiance and IRA punishment in communities across the island before turning its attention specifically to the year that followed the 'Truce' of July 1921. This study argues that civilians rarely operated at either extreme of a spectrum of support but, rather, in a large and fluid middle ground. Behaviour was rooted in local circumstances, and influenced by local fears, suspicions, and rivalries. IRA punishment was similarly dictated by community conditions and usually suited to the nature of the perceived defiance. Overall, violence and intimidation in Ireland was persistent, but, by some contemporary standards, relatively restrained.

Is terrorism ever morally justified? How should historical and cultural factors be taken into account in judging the morality of terrorist acts? What are the ethical limits of state counter-terrorism?For three decades the Provisional Irish Republican Army waged an 'armed struggle' against what it considered to be the British occupation of Northern Ireland. To its supporters, the IRA was the legitimate army of Ireland, fighting to force a British withdrawal as a prelude to the re-unification of the Irish nation. To its enemies, the IRA was an illegal, fanatical, terrorist organization whose members were criminals willing to sacrifice innocent lives in pursuit of its ideological obsession. At the centre of the conflict were the then unconventional tactics employed by the IRA, including sectarian killings, political assassinations, and bombings that devastated urban centres - tactics that have become increasingly commonplace in the post-9/11 world.This book is the first detailed philosophical examination of the morality of the IRA's violent campaign, and of the British government's attempts to end it. Written in clear, accessible prose, it is essential reading for anyone wishing to acquire a deeper understanding of one of the paradigmatic conflicts of the late 20th century.

What kind of people joined the IRA? Did Michael Collins order the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson? Using new research and questioning old assumptions, these essays address these and other controversies to suggest new ways of looking at the history of the Irish Revolution of 1916-23.

This fascinating and original book is the first to analyse the evolution of internal security policy and external defence policy in Ireland from independence to the present day. Professor O'Halpin examines the very limited concept of external defence understood by the first generation of Irish leaders, going on to chart the state's repeated struggles with the IRA and with other perceived internal and external threats to stability. He explores the state's defence and security relations with Britain and the United States and, drawing extensively on newly released records, he deals authoritatively with problems of subversion, espionage, counterintelligence and codebreaking during the Second World War. In conclusion, the book analyses significant post-Second World War developments, including anti-communist co-operation with Western powers, the emergence of UN service as a key element of Irish foreign and defence policy, the state's response to the Northern Ireland crisis since 1969, and Ireland's difficulties in addressing the collective security dilemmas facing the European Union in the post-Cold War era. It is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the development of independent Ireland since 1922.

A timely work of major historical importance, examining the whole spectrum of events from the 1916 Easter Rising to the current and ongoing peace process, fully updated with a new afterword for the paperback edition. ‘An essential book ... closely-reasoned, formidably intelligent and utterly compelling ... required reading across the political spectrum ... important and riveting’ Roy Foster, The Times ‘An outstanding new book on the IRA ... a calm, rational but in the end devastating deconstruction of the IRA’ Henry McDonald, Observer ‘Superb ... the first full history of the IRA and the best overall account of the organization. English writes to the highest scholarly standards ... Moreover, he writes with the common reader in mind: he has crafted a fine balance of detail and analysis and his prose is clear, fresh and jargon-free ... sets a new standard for debate on republicanism’ Peter Hart, Irish Times 'The one book I recommend for anyone trying to understand the craziness and complexity of the Northern Ireland tragedy.’ Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes