With the IRA in the Fight for Freedom offers eyewitness and first hand accounts of Ireland's struggle for independence in various parts of the country. It presents a representative picture of the fight by the IRA for independence and of the reign of terror endured by the civilian population. Only idealism and courage on the part of the freedom fighters and the steadfast support of the Irish people could have carried such an unequal struggle through to the end.With barracks attacks, ambushes and shootings, it brings to life a conflict that is fading from the collective memory of county and country and offers a fascinating perspective on the struggle for independence, directly from the men who took part in the actions themselves.

This is the story of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, the most notorious police forces in the history of the British Isles. During the Irish War of Independence (1920-1), the British government recruited thousands of ex-soldiers to serve as constables in the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Black and Tans, while also raising a paramilitary raiding force of ex-officers - the Auxiliary Division. From the summer of 1920 to the summer of 1921, these forces became the focus of bitter controversy. As the struggle for Irish independence intensified, the police responded to ambushes and assassinations by the guerrillas with reprisals and extrajudicial killings. Prisoners and suspects were abused and shot, the homes and shops of their families and supporters were burned, and the British government was accused of imposing a reign of terror on Ireland. Based on extensive archival research, this is the first serious study of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries and the part they played in the Irish War of Independence. Dr Leeson examines the organization and recruitment of the British police, the social origins of police recruits, and the conditions in which they lived and worked, along with their conduct and misconduct once they joined the force, and their experiences and states of mind. For the first time, it tells the story of the Irish conflict from the police perspective, while casting new light on the British government's responsibility for reprisals, the problems of using police to combat insurgents, and the causes of atrocities in revolutionary wars.

One of Ireland's most abidingly controversial political figures, Seán MacBride (1904-88) was a youthful participant in the Irish Revolution and an active member of the Irish Republican Army, rising through the ranks to occupy a leadership position for fifteen years. Seán MacBride is the first book to focus exclusively on MacBride's republican activities, on which his controversial reputation in Irish and British political circles rests. With extensive use of recently released archival material, including Department of Justice records and Bureau of Military History witness statements, this book combines a biographical focus with wider assessments of the important themes, including the persistence of republican opposition to the state after the Civil War and Ireland's ambiguous experience of World War II.

Liam Lynch, Chief-of-Staff of the IRA, was known as 'The Chief' among Republicans, particularly in the First Southern Division. Many of his comrades have wondered why he did not get the recognition he deserved, even though he had been offered the position of Commander-in-Chief of the army in December 1921. Some felt that in the documentation of history, de Valera overshadowed him, while others thought that because of the firm stand he took in holding out for a republic, his deeds of bravery, especially before the Civil War, were downgraded. This is his story.

On 8 July 1921 a Truce between the IRA and British forces in Ireland was announced, to begin three days later. However, in those three days at least sixty people from both sides of the conflict were killed. In 'Truce', Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc goes back to the facts to reveal what actually happened in those three bloody days, and why. •What sparked Belfast's 'Bloody Sunday' in 1921, the worst bout of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland's troubled history? • Why were four unarmed British soldiers kidnapped and killed by the IRA in Cork just hours before the ceasefire began? •Who murdered Margaret Keogh, a young Dublin rebel, in cold blood on her own doorstep? •Were the last spies shot by the IRA really working for British intelligence or just the victims of anti-Protestant bigotry? This book answers these questions for the first time and separates fact from fiction to find out what really happened in the final battles between the IRA and the British forces.

What is it like to be in the IRA - or at their mercy? This study explores the lives and deaths of the enemies and victims of the County Cork IRA between 1916 and 1923.

The Irish Republican movement was one of the most significant revolutionary movements of the twentieth century. This book focuses on the issue of republican splits, which created the Provisional and Official republican movements, and the subsequent develo

This is the most wide-ranging study ever published of political violence and the punishment of Irish political offenders from 1848 to the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922. Those who chose violence to advance their Irish nationalist beliefs ranged from gentlemen revolutionaries to those who openly embraced terrorism or even full-scale guerilla war. Seán McConville provides a comprehensive survey of Irish revolutionary struggle, matching chapters on punishment of offenders with descriptions and analysis of their campaigns. Government's response to political violence was determined by a number of factors, including not only the nature of the offences but also interest and support from the United States and Australia, as well as current objectives of Irish policy.

Hot on the heels of Killing at its Very Extreme, Dublin: October 1917 – November 1920, Someone Has to Die for This, Dublin: November 1920 – July 1921 wrenches the reader into the final frenetic months of Dublin's War of Independence, in uncompromising, unflinching, and unprecedented detail. The reader will follow in the footsteps of IRA assassination units on Bloody Sunday, witness the hellish conditions in Croke Park, taste the gripping tension that stalked the city as intelligence services battled it out over the winter, while equally clandestine peace feelers were set in play. The pressure ratchets up in 1921 as surging IRA Active Service Units take the fight to the Auxiliaries, police and military in Dublin. Swathes of the country erupt into violent attacks and barbarous reprisals. Killings escalate in daily ambushes. Prison escapes are vividly detailed, as are the Mountjoy hangings. Shuttle diplomacy intensifies as a settlement is desperately sought, but fault lines develop among the Republican leadership. Street-battles paralyse the city with civilians bearing a brutal burden; the IRA relentlessly presses on. The devastating Custom House attack precedes the war's ferocious final weeks, culminating in a near bloodbath that almost scuppered the truce. Experience these breathtaking events through the eyes of their participants. This is an unforgettable story, its style providing long-overdue justice.