Nick Maxwell Some claims made about Michael Collins’s role in the events of 1918–22 are not supported by the facts. To ignore the important role of the general headquarters (GHQ) is to ignore the true history of the revolutionary period. The part played by GHQ has been clearly described by Maryann Valiulis in Portrait of a revolutionary: … Read more
It was the Stuarts who introduced the Irish to the slave trade. Charles II returned to the throne in 1660 at a time when it was becoming clear that sugar plantations were as valuable as gold-mines. The Royal Africa Company (RAC) was established to supply slaves to the British West Indies in order to extend … Read more
In March 1972 the British government abolished the unionist-dominated parliament at Stormont but subsequently found it extremely difficult to establish a new administration. The overall parameters of a political settlement (at least as far as the British government was concerned) were clear: a power-sharing administration for Northern Ireland with both unionist and nationalist political opinion … Read more
‘Let’s hear him deny it’ RTÉ is to be congratulated for its recent Hidden History series. In general these were a model of how to present sometimes complex (and controversial) subjects to a wider public. Thus William Martin Murphy, while not quite shaking off his well-deserved image as the ‘villain’ of the 1913 Dublin Lockout, … Read more
The History of the Irish Soldier by Brigadier Ted Bredin is dedicated to ‘all Irish soldiers who fought the good fight for the justice of their particular cause’. My great-great-great-uncle, Colonel Joseph Willcocks, who grew up in Dublin, does not appear in it. A Canadian magazine announced in 2008 that it was looking for Canadians … Read more