Peter Cottrell

There are many aspects to the history of Ireland in the period 1913 to 1923; social, political, economic, for example. The focus of this book is quite narrowly on the military aspect of the struggle between the Crown forces and the Irish Volunteers (later the Irish Republican Army) in 1916 and again in 1919 to 1921 and the IRA and the army of the newly establish Irish Free State in 1922 to 1923. Some of it might be dry for a reader with little interest in military matters, but this is an aspect of the period that needs to be understood if the events are to be fully comprehended. This is probably the best short introduction to the military side of the birth of the modern Irish state.… (mais)