Nick Maxwell The Anglo-Irish Treaty sparked turmoil within the IRA. Some accepted it and joined the ranks of the Provisional Government’s new ‘National Army’; some remained neutral; the majority opposed it, but with the added twist that on the eve of the Civil War there were two anti-Treaty factions of the IRA, not one. Two Army Conventions, … Read more
While an uneasy peace prevailed in the South following the Truce of July 1921, in Northern Ireland communal violence continued to rage, exemplified most notoriously on 24 March 1922 by the killings of a ‘respectable’ Catholic family, the McMahons, by an RIC ‘murder gang’. Was this a ‘one-off’ by a ‘rogue’ element or part of … Read more
So said the long white apron of suffragette and socialist Margaret Buckmaster at a protest in July 1921 organised by the Peace with Ireland Council (PIC). How significant were such anti-colonial solidarity movements in Britain in the revolutionary period? How effective were they? To address these and related questions, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Darragh Gannon, Angus … Read more
By Joseph E.A. Connell Jr Following the Treaty debates, the most ‘republican’ members of the IRA, the Dáil and the public still refused to accept the Treaty or the authority of the newly established Provisional Government. Typical of the former was Rory O’Connor, IRA GHQ’s director of engineering during the War of Independence, when his … Read more
JOHN WILSON FOSTER and WILLIAM BEATTIE SMITH (eds) Belcouver Press £12.99 ISBN 9780993560729 Reviewed by Martin Mansergh Martin Mansergh is a former government adviser and peace negotiator. One pervasive myth about Northern Ireland across the divide is that the nationalist case is persuasively presented while the unionist case goes by default. While this flatters nationalists, … Read more