By Fergal Browne This year marks the 220th anniversary of the 1798 United Irishmen’s Rebellion and the Battles of Monasterevin and Prosperous. On the weekend of 19–20 May 2018, re-enactments of the Battle of Monasterevin will be held in that town. On Sunday 27 May the community of Prosperous, Co. Kildare, will come together to … Read more
It is deeply ironic that in this ‘decade of commemorations’ the marking of a more recent one—the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement—has been relatively muted. This is in marked contrast to the self-congratulation and back-slapping of the same anniversary ten years ago. Of course, that was before the banking collapse of 2008 and … Read more
Sir,—The last few months of 2017 witnessed the passing of two giants of Irish historiography. Donnchadh Ó Corráin—interviewed in the last issue (HI 26.1, Jan./Feb. 2018)—died in Cork on 25 October, and then on New Year’s Eve came news that Francis John Byrne, another colossus of early Irish history, had died on the previous day. … Read more
Another look at the 23 April 1918 general strike against conscription. By Padraig Yeates As the Voice of Labour, the organ of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union, put it at the time, ‘In numbers, in spirit, in determination, in resolve, in decision, Labour in Ireland has done nothing in its history to equal … Read more
By Lar Joye Early in 1918 the British government announced that it would introduce conscription to Ireland, forcing young men to join the army or face a jail sentence. This action united Irish nationalists, who circulated anti-conscription cartoons and buttons, and signed pledges promising to assist young men to avoid service. The British Army was … Read more