The I.R.A. and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923

Peter Hart

Oxford University Press, 1998 - Political Science - 350 pages

What is it like to be in the I.R.A. - or at their mercy? This fascinating study explores the lives and deaths of the enemies and victims of the County Cork I.R.A. between 1916 and 1923 - the most powerful and deadly branch of the I.R.A. during one of the most turbulent periods in twentieth-century Ireland. These years saw the breakdown of the British legal system and police authority, the rise of republican violence, and the escalation of the conflict into a full-scale guerilla war, leading to a wave of riots, ambushes, lootings, and reprisal killings, with civilians forming the majority of victims in this unacknowledged civil war. Religion may have provided the starting point for the conflict, but class prejudice, patriotism, and personal grudges all fuelled the development and continuation of widespread violence. Using an unprecedented range of sources - many of them only recently made public - Peter Hart explores the motivation behind such activity. His conclusions not only reveal a hidden episode of Ireland's troubled past but provide valuable insights into the operation of similar terrorist groups today.

What people are saying

User Review -

Peter Hart has certainly unearthed much that is revealing about this period, and may be useful to future historians.
Unfortunately, his research appears to be somewhat subordinate to his central thesis, i.e to debunk the Republican mythology of Ireland.
At times this veers towards a rather unsettlingly overt and biased interpretation, which subsequent charges of historical selectivity have done little to assuage.
until recently In Ireland, senior academics in the Universities deliberately concealed the 'facts' of the Famine because of political considerations.
Peter Hart's version of history unfortunately provides continued proof of the ongoing politicisation of our history. 

User Review -

the lad must be in a very bad way God lov him.to disregard one of the best freedom fighting armyies that humanity has known is to disregard the value of humanity itself.he actually never lived with the Irish,we're the glad ones!we won the war of independance,your queen is in the gutter.dont dare ever to get out of station again or suffer the wrath of the finest freedom fighters.Tiochaigh ár lá:-)hart..Ha.Ha.Ha.slán 

Contents

• The Kilmichael Ambush: 21
• Rebel Cork: 39
• Dying for Ireland: 72
• The Cork Republic: 109
• The Boys of Kilmichael: 129
• Youth and Rebellion: 165
• The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary Family: 187
• Volunteering: 202
• Guerrillas: 226
• Taking it out on the Protestants: 273
• Spies and Informers: 293
• Sources and Definitions I R A Membership: 316
• Bibliography: 324

About the author

Peter Hart is at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The I.R.A. and Its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923
• Author: Peter Hart
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0198208065, 9780198208068
• Length: 350 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Great Britain; History / Europe / Ireland; History / Military / General; History / Modern / 20th Century; Political Science / History & Theory; Political Science / Political Freedom; Political Science / Terrorism