History Ireland Podcasts
Unmanageable Revolutionaries—women in the ‘decade of centenaries’
Unmanageable Revolutionaries—women in the ‘decade of centenaries’ It is nearly 40 years since Margaret Ward’s pioneering Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women andIrish Nationalism, 1880-1980 (1983) first appeared. How has women’s history, and history written by women, fared in the meantime, particularly in this ‘decade of centenaries’? Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, in discussion with Síobhra Aiken,…
Read MoreMichael Collins—man and myth
Michael Collins—man and myth Born in West Cork in 1890, Michael Collins joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) as ateenager while working as a clerk in London. He fought in the GPO in 1916, and rose to prominenceby the War of Independence, combining the positions of Dáil minister for finance and IRA director ofintelligence. How…
Read MoreArthur Griffith, ‘father of us all’
Arthur Griffith, ‘father of us all’ So said Michael Collins, yet despite his central role in the development of the Irish nationalism from which the Irish State would emerge, Arthur Griffith has had to settle for a side-line role in the national historical memory. How fair or accurate are accusations of anti-Semitism, misogyny or ‘selling…
Read MoreThe life and times of Harry Boland
The life and times of Harry Boland One of the most engaging figures of the revolutionary period, Harry Boland, along with his brother Gerry, joined the IRB in 1904 and participated in the 1916 Rising. He was centrally involved in the subsequent reorganization of Sinn Féin and the Volunteers and was uniquely close to the…
Read MoreThe assassination of Sir Henry Wilson and the Irish Civil War
Image: Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson (1922) by Sir Oswald Birley. (Belfast City Council) On 22 June 1922 Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, former Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and Unionist MP for North Down, was assassinated outside his London home in Eaton Square. The anti-Treaty IRA were blamed and six days later, under pressure…
Read MoreThe ‘Belleek/Pettigo triangle’, May/June 1922
The ‘Belleek/Pettigo triangle’, May/June 1922 As part of the so-called ‘Northern Offensive’, on 27 May 1922, a combined force of pro-TreatyNational Army and anti-Treaty IRA occupied the ‘Belleek/Pettigo triangle’, an enclave ofFermanagh/Northern Ireland only accessible over-land through Free State territory. Less than two weeks later they had been ejected by regular British Army troops; the…
Read MoreSister against sister—women, the Treaty split and the Civil War
Sister against sister—women, the Treaty split and the Civil War (Recorded @ Phizzfest [Phibsborough Community Arts Festival], Sun 15 May 2022, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum) Given their activism in the revolutionary period, now widely acknowledged by historians, why were Irish women and their organizations on the margins of deliberations on the Treaty? Why were Irish women under…
Read MoreBurning the Big House—the story of the Irish country house in a time of war and revolution
Over the course of the Irish War of Independence and Civil War, nearly 300 ‘Big Houses’ (those belonging to aristocrats with in excess of 2,000 acres), 20% of a total of c. 1,500, were burned to the ground. Why? Author Terence Dooley, Professor of History at Maynooth University and Director of the Centre for the Study of…
Read MoreThe internal politics of the IRA before the Civil War
Coming on Friday 8th April The Anglo-Irish Treaty sparked turmoil within the IRA. Some accepted it and joined the ranks of theProvisional Government’s new ‘National Army’; some remained neutral; the majority opposed it, butwith the added twist that on the eve of the Civil War there were two anti-Treaty factions of the IRA,not one. Two…
Read MoreNorthern Ireland in 1922
Northern Ireland in 1922 While an uneasy peace prevailed in the South following the Truce of July 1921, in Northern Irelandcommunal violence continued to rage, exemplified most notoriously on 24 March 1922 by the killingsof a ‘respectable’ Catholic family, the McMahons, by an RIC ‘murder gang’. Was this a ‘one-off’ by a ‘rogue’ element or…
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