Description
Book SynopsisEveryday Violence in the Irish Civil War presents an innovative study of violence perpetrated by and against non-combatants during the Irish Civil War, 19223. Drawing from victim accounts of wartime injury as recorded in compensation claims, Dr Gemma Clark sheds new light on hundreds of previously neglected episodes of violence and intimidation - ranging from arson, boycott and animal maiming to assault, murder and sexual violence - that transpired amongst soldiers, civilians and revolutionaries throughout the period of conflict. The author shows us how these micro-level acts, particularly in the counties of Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, served as an attempt to persecute and purge religious and political minorities, and to force redistribution of land. Clark also assesses the international significance of the war, comparing the cruel yet arguably restrained violence that occurred in Ireland with the brutality unleashed in other European conflict zones.
Trade Review'This is an important and well-researched book that is a must-read for students of the Irish Revolution and of civil conflict more generally. Clark's innovative work on postwar compensation claims points to the central role that the toxic and intimate violence of the Irish Civil War played in the articulation of increasingly divergent British and Irish identities in the 1920s. The next decade doubtless will see continued growth in work on the history of violence in Ireland's revolutionary era. The scholars who pursue this research will be in debt to Gemma Clark for this thoughtful and provocative monograph.' Journal of British Studies
'[This book] contains a wealth of human interest … People who want to get below the surface of the revolution's final years will need books like this.' Charles Townshend, Irish Times
'Everyday Violence in the Irish Civil War will influence the historiography of the Irish Civil War. The author has given voice to embattled loyalists, whose trials and tribulations impress and inform the reader.' John Borgonovo, The Journal of Modern History
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. The price of loyalty: violence, compensation and the British in the Irish Free State; 3. The 'Campaign of Fire': arson during the Irish Civil War; 4. 'The right to live in my own country': intimidation, expulsion and local-community conflict; 5. Harming civilians: killing, wounding and sexual violence in Munster; 6. Conclusion; Bibliography.
