20th-century / Contemporary History

2007 Schools’ Prize in History Trinity College, Dublin, in association with Four Courts Press, History Ireland and The Irish Times

The annual Schools’ Prize in History is run by Trinity College, Dublin, in association with Four Courts Press, History Ireland and The Irish Times.  This all-Ireland project/essay competition is open to all full-time second-level students in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland, and has a junior category (up to Junior Certificate/1st–3rd form), a … Read more

The other women of 1916

In October 1914, two months after the outbreak of the Great War, the civilian voluntary effort to support Irish troops at home and at the front was coordinated for the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connacht by a joint executive committee of people from the British Red Cross Society (Co. Dublin branch) and the Irish … Read more

Another disaster at Aughrim?

The last conventional battle in Irish history was fought on Sunday 12 July 1691 at Aughrim, Co. Galway. A 20,000-strong Irish Jacobite army under the command of French Lt.-Gen. St Ruth occupied a defensive position stretching over one and a half miles along the ridge from Aughrim village. On the opposite, north-east or Ballinasloe, side … Read more

‘For her sole and separate use’

In 1914 approximately 57,000 Irishmen were serving in the British Army and its reserves. It is now generally accepted that over the following four years of the Great War another 144,000 enlisted, giving a total figure of approximately 200,000. Why did they enlist? Motivation varied from the personal—restlessness, a thirst for adventure or a wish … Read more