From Public Defiance to Guerilla Warfare: The Experience of Ordinary Volunteers in the Irish War of Independence

by Joost Augusteijn

Overview

Political events in the period between the 1916 rising and the truce of 1921 are well documented, but the experience of volunteers at local level has not been extensively analysed before now. This book compares how ordinary people in various parts of the country became increasingly willing to use violence, and provides an insight into the way young men became involved in the IRA and what they did once they had joined. It examines the interaction on a personal level between the IRA, the crown forces, and the population. It concludes that the different forms of interaction between these groups in various parts of Ireland played a crucial role in the extent to which violence was used. This offers the basis of a novel explanation for the dominance of southwestern units in the war of independence and reappraises the impact of less well-known units in the North, East and West based on their actual experiences rather than on theoretical models.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780716526070
Publisher:	Irish Academic Press
Publication date:	03/02/1996
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	381
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)