Among historians of this period, peacemakers have not proved to be blessed. As Europe edged towards war, those voicing concern about the dangerous consequences of the arms race or the perils of secret diplomacy were sidelined. The assassination of an archduke in Sarajevo may have heralded the diplomatic countdown to Armageddon, but well in advance … Read more
Sir,—I enjoyed Conor Nelson’s article on Erskine Childers and the Howth gunrunning and Joe Connell’s ‘Countdown to 2016’ piece on the same topic (HI 22.3, May/June 2014). However, I feel the need to clarify a couple of points in the latter. Firstly, Joe is obviously conflating the Asgard arms landing of 1914 with the failed … Read more
Sir,—I wish to add to Joseph E.A. Connell’s excellent column on ‘The founding of the Irish Citizen Army’ (HI 21.5, Sept./Oct. 2013, ‘Countdown to 2020’). Most histories of the ICA, including D.R. O’Connor Lysaght’s superb ‘The Irish Citizen Army, 1913–1916: White, Larkin, and Connolly’ (HI 14.2, March/April 2006), overlook the role that Dublin-born dramatist and … Read more
As a twenty-something enrolled at the Middle Temple, where he came to know as much about the law as ‘of necromancy’, and making not the slightest attempt to resist the temptations of an ‘idle and luxurious capital’, the future icon of Irish republican nationalism Theobald Wolfe Tone had, of a morning after the night before, … Read more
Sir,—Re your editorial, ‘Counting down to 2016’ (HI 19.1, Jan./Feb. 2011). Forget about merely jumping the gun, you have obviously opted to leap completely over the entire arsenal in your enthusiastic haste to arrive at 2016, as your countdown gathers pace and the Dictionary of Irish Biography column heads for the hills! I do, however, … Read more