Defying The Ira? (reappraisals In Irish History Lup)
by Brian Hughes /
2017 / English / PDF
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This book examines the grass-roots relationship between the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) and the civilian population during the Irish
Revolution. It is primarily concerned with the attempts of the
militant revolutionaries to discourage, stifle, and punish dissent
among the local populations in which they operated, and the actions
or inactions by which dissent was expressed or implied. Focusing on
the period of guerilla war against British rule from c. 1917 to
1922, it uncovers the acts of 'everyday' violence, threat, and harm
that characterized much of the revolutionary activity of this
period. Moving away from the ambushes and assassinations that have
dominated much of the discourse on the revolution, the book
explores low-level violent and non-violent agitation in the Irish
town or parish. The opening chapter treats the IRA's challenge to
the British state through the campaign against servants of the
Crown - policemen, magistrates, civil servants, and others - and
IRA participation in local government and the republican
counter-state. The book then explores the nature of civilian
defiance and IRA punishment in communities across the island before
turning its attention specifically to the year that followed the
'Truce' of July 1921. This study argues that civilians rarely
operated at either extreme of a spectrum of support but, rather, in
a large and fluid middle ground. Behaviour was rooted in local
circumstances, and influenced by local fears, suspicions, and
rivalries. IRA punishment was similarly dictated by community
conditions and usually suited to the nature of the perceived
defiance. Overall, violence and intimidation in Ireland was
persistent, but, by some contemporary standards, relatively
restrained.
This book examines the grass-roots relationship between the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) and the civilian population during the Irish
Revolution. It is primarily concerned with the attempts of the
militant revolutionaries to discourage, stifle, and punish dissent
among the local populations in which they operated, and the actions
or inactions by which dissent was expressed or implied. Focusing on
the period of guerilla war against British rule from c. 1917 to
1922, it uncovers the acts of 'everyday' violence, threat, and harm
that characterized much of the revolutionary activity of this
period. Moving away from the ambushes and assassinations that have
dominated much of the discourse on the revolution, the book
explores low-level violent and non-violent agitation in the Irish
town or parish. The opening chapter treats the IRA's challenge to
the British state through the campaign against servants of the
Crown - policemen, magistrates, civil servants, and others - and
IRA participation in local government and the republican
counter-state. The book then explores the nature of civilian
defiance and IRA punishment in communities across the island before
turning its attention specifically to the year that followed the
'Truce' of July 1921. This study argues that civilians rarely
operated at either extreme of a spectrum of support but, rather, in
a large and fluid middle ground. Behaviour was rooted in local
circumstances, and influenced by local fears, suspicions, and
rivalries. IRA punishment was similarly dictated by community
conditions and usually suited to the nature of the perceived
defiance. Overall, violence and intimidation in Ireland was
persistent, but, by some contemporary standards, relatively
restrained.