Ireland and the Great War - by Niamh Gallagher (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

On 4 August 1914 following the outbreak of European hostilities, large sections of Irish Protestants and Catholics rallied to support the British and Allied war efforts. Yet less than two years later, the Easter Rising of 1916 allegedly put a stop to the Catholic commitment in exchange for a re-emphasis on the national question.

In Ireland and the Great War Niamh Gallagher draws upon a formidable array of original research to offer a radical new reading of Irish involvement in the world's first total war. Exploring the 'home front' and Irish diasporic communities in Canada, Australia, and Britain, Gallagher reveals that substantial support for the Allied war effort continued largely unabated not only until November 1918, but afterwards as well.

Rich in social texture and with fascinating new case studies of Irish participation in the conflict, this book has the makings of a major rethinking of Ireland's twentieth century.

Review Quotes

An important addition to the discourse covering the role of Irish society during the First World War.
Journal of British Studies

This is a bold and indeed audacious intervention in the historiography of Irish Catholic involvement in British and Allied action during the Great War. Niamh Gallagher's sophisticated interpretation of the Home Front in towns across Ireland enables us to appreciate the ways in which individuals, families, businesses, civic and political leaders, and their supporters, understood Allied war aims and the reasons for contributing and remembering. Richly detailed and illustrated throughout, this is an unusually substantial contribution to the social and political history of Ireland and Irish communities abroad.
Royal Historical Society, 2020 Whitfield Prize winner

This substantive book contributes to a deeper understanding of Irish involvement in the Great War. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.
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About the Author

Niamh Gallagher is a lecturer in modern British and Irish history and a fellow of St Catharine's College at the University of Cambridge, UK.