
The Irish War of Independence
Michael Hopkinson(Author)
Gill & Macmillan Ltd (Publisher)
Published in May 2002
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-7171-3010-8 (ISBN)
Description
The Irish War of Independence was a sporadic guerrilla campaign which lasted from January 1919 until July 1921. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked the forces of the British crown with the intention of breaking Britain's will to rule Ireland. This campaign paralleled the political efforts of Sinn Fein to create an independent Irish republic. The war was prosecuted ruthlessly by the IRA. The British retaliated in kind, introducing two new irregular forces into Ireland, the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries. In general, the fighting was conducted on a low-level, sporadic but none the less vicious basis. Fewer than 2,000 IRA volunteers were faced by over 50,000 crown forces. It was not a nationwide contest: the IRA depended upon energetic local leaders. Where there were none, there was little fighting. The principal areas of conflict were counties Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, Kerry and Longford. Michael Hopkinson brings the same methods to this new book that distinguished his Green Against Green. It is a meticulous piecing together of many disparate local actions into a coherent narrative.
The book has separate sections on developments in Britain and the United States. It stresses local and contingent issues, rather than proposing a central master plan operated by the Dublin-based republican leadership. Other books by Michael Hopkinson Green Against Green.
The book has separate sections on developments in Britain and the United States. It stresses local and contingent issues, rather than proposing a central master plan operated by the Dublin-based republican leadership. Other books by Michael Hopkinson Green Against Green.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Dublin
Ireland
Publishing group
Gill
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
16pp b&w photographs, chronology, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7171-3010-8 (9780717130108)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Dr Michael Hopkinson teaches history at the University of Stirling in Scotland. He is the author of Green Against Green, the standard history of the Irish civil war, which has been in print continuously since 1988.
Content
Part I Gathering storm: British Rule in Ireland; background to the Irish Revolution. Part II Beginning: outline of the war January 1919 - June 1920; British administration 1919 - April 1920; the Dail and the Dail government; British security forces; British policy at the crossroads, April - August 1920. Part III Apogee: The Irish intelligence system and the development of guerrilla warfare up to the truce; the war, July - December 1920; from the imposition of martial law to the truce - the British perspective; guerrilla warfare in Dublin; the war in Cork; the war in Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny14 the war in Kerry and Clare; the war in the West and North-West counties; the Irish Midlands, some surrounding counties and IRA activity in Britain. Part IV Consequences; the North-East and the war of independence; the American dimension; the peace process; the path to the truce; conclusion