From Civil Rights to Armalites traces and analyses the escalation of conflict in Northern Ireland from the first civil rights marches to the verge of full-scale civil war in 1972, focusing on the city of Derry. It explains how a peaceful civil rights campaign gave way to increasing violence, how the IRA became a major political force and how the British army became a major party to the conflict. It provides the essential context for understanding the events of Bloody Sunday and a new chapter brings significant new material to the public debate around the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.
A portrayal of the Irish Republican Army includes coverage of its associations with Qaddafi's regime, Margaret Thatcher's secret diplomacy with Gerry Adams, and the Catholic Church's negotiations with Republican leadership.
This book examines the Northern Ireland civil rights movement and the Reverend Ian Paisley’s opposition. Although street demonstrations began in the summer of 1968 and lasted a year, activism to advance Ulster’s catholic community originated in the late 1950s. During this period, Paisley crusaded against Protestant apostasy and the liberalization of the Unionist government, and asserted a Calvinist response for protestants. Paisley formed a political and theological association with North Americans who professed militant fundamentalism and fought the integration of American society. Between 1965 and 1968, Paisley made three visits to the United States and Canada. During these extensive speaking tours, he witnessed the consequence to a successful campaign. The relationship, religiosity and first-hand knowledge of current events helped to shape Paisley’s counter-demonstrations in Northern Ireland, and create an atmosphere for sectarian strife and the “Troubles.”
A history of “the Troubles”: the radical politics of Republicanism The conflict in Northern Ireland was one of the most devastating in post-war Europe, claiming the lives of 3,500 people and injuring many more. This book is a riveting new history of the radical politics that drove a unique insurgency that emerged from the crucible of 1968. Based on extensive archival research, One Man’s Terrorist explores the relationship between the IRA, a clandestine army described as ‘one of the most ruthless and capable insurgent forces in modern history’, and the political movement that developed alongside it to challenge British rule. From Wilson and Heath to Thatcher and Blair, a generation of British politicians had to face an unprecedented subversive threat whose reach extended from West Belfast to Westminster. Finn shows how Republicans fought a war on several fronts, making use of every weapon available to achieve their goal of a united Ireland, from car bombs to election campaigns, street marches to hunger strikes. Though driven by an uncompromising revolutionary politics that blended militant nationalism with left-wing ideology, their movement was never monolithic, its history punctuated by splits and internal conflicts. The IRA’s war ultimately ended in stalemate, with the peace process of the 1990s and the Good Friday Agreement that has maintained an uneasy balance ever since.
A biography and analysis of the influential Irish political and military leader. At his death in 2013, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh remained a divisive and influential figure in Irish politics and the Irish Republican movement. He was the first person to serve as chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, as president of the political party Sinn Féin, and to have been elected, as an abstentionist, to the Dublin parliament. He was a prominent, uncompromising, and articulate spokesperson of those Irish Republicans who questioned the peace process in Northern Ireland. His concern was rooted in his analysis of Irish history and his belief that the peace process would not achieve peace. He believed that it would support the continued partition of Ireland and result in continued, inevitable, conflict. The child of Irish Republican veterans, Ó Brádaigh led IRA raids, was arrested and interned, escaped and lived “on the run,” and even spent a period on a hunger strike. Because he was an effective spokesman for the Irish Republican cause, he was at different times excluded from Northern Ireland, Britain, the United States, and Canada. He was also a key figure in the secret negotiation of a bilateral IRA-British truce in the mid-1970s. In a brief afterword for this new edition, author Robert W. White addresses Ó Brádaigh’s continuing influence on the Irish Republican Movement, including the ongoing “dissident” campaign. Whether for good or bad, this ongoing dissident activity is a part of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s enduring legacy. “A tour de force. Indispensable for all Irish studies collections. . . . Essential.” —Choice
This book investigates the ways in which the particular nature and character of the state can impact upon the effectiveness of counter-terrorism efforts, and on the trajectory of violent conflicts. Here, McConaghy not only analyses historical campaigns of terrorism and the response of states to them, but also highlights how factors such as emotion, intra-state cooperation, communication and competition have all served to shape conflicts in the past. This volume explains what the ramifications of these factors are for academics studying political violence, for state elites with counter-terrorism responsibility, and for individuals or organizations who use violence to achieve their political goals.
'An active pleasure to read' Mail on Sunday Harold Wilson's famous reference to 'white heat' captured the optimistic spirit of a society in the midst of breathtaking change. From the gaudy pleasures of Swinging London to the tragic bloodshed in Northern Ireland, from the intrigues of Westminster to the drama of the World Cup, British life seemed to have taken on a dramatic new momentum. The memories, images and colourful personalities of those heady times still resonate today: mop-tops and mini-skirts, strikes and demonstrations, Carnaby Street and Kings Road, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, Mary Quant and Jean Shrimpton, Enoch Powell and Mary Whitehouse, Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger. In this wonderfully rich and readable historical narrative, Dominic Sandbrook looks behind the myths of the Swinging Sixties to unearth the contradictions of a society caught between optimism and decline.
'Baghdad Bulletin takes us where mainstream news accounts do not go. Disrupting the easy cliches that dominate US journalism, Enders blows away the media fog of war.' Norman Soloman
A history of the Official Irish Republican movement, from the IRA's 1962 ceasefire to the Official IRA's permanent ceasefire in 1972. The civil rights movement, the outbreak of violence in August 1969, the links with the communist party, the Official IRA's campaign, the ceasefire, and later developments towards 'Sinn Fein the Workers' Party', are explored. "This book is the first in-depth study of this crucial period in the history of Irish republicanism. Using his unprecedented access to the internal documents of the movement and interviews with key participants Swan's work will transform our understanding of this transformative period in the history of the movement.", Henry Patterson, Author of 'The Politics of Illusion: A Political History of the IRA' and 'Ireland Since 1939'. "There is much fascinating material ... and also much good sense.", Richard English, Author of 'Armed Struggle, A History of the IRA' and 'Radicals and the Republic: Socialist Republicanism in the Irish Free State'.
