On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at the Plantation of Ulster. The Plantation was the colonisation of Ireland’s northern province of Ulster by people from Britain during the reign of James VI and I. The official plantation began in 1609 in six of Ulster’s nine counties, Donegal, Coleraine, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Cavan. Lands in counties Antrim, Down and Monaghan were privately planted with Crown support. We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. h ..read more

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies, against the threat of the extension of the English government over the province. The rebellions were motivated primarily by the desire to maintain the independence of feudal lords from their monarch but also had an element of religious antagonism between Catholic Geraldines and the Protestan ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the 1923 General Election in the Irish Free State. The election for the fourth Dáil was held on the 27th of August 1923. It was the first general election held since the establishment of the Irish Free State on the 6th of December 1922. The election was held in aftermath of the Irish Civil War, which had only ended a few short months before. UCD Press has recently published a new book on the 1923 election called Vying for Victory. The book is edited by Mel Farrell, Elaine Callinan and Thomas Tormey and we were very pleased to be joined by ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Irish Army Mutiny of 1924. In March 1924 about 50 officers of the Free State’s National Army, who were set to be demobilised in the post- Civil War reduction of the Army, seized weapons and abandoned their posts. Led by erstwhile Army Director of Intelligence Liam Tobin and Charles Dalton, they delivered an ultimatum to the government, demanding that the Army Council, headed by Richard Mulcahy, resign and that they and their associates be given prominent commands. They also demanded that the Army be purged of former British Army ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Civil War in Kerry. We discussed Kerry during the War of Independence and the situation in the county at the time of the Truce, the reaction to the Anglo – Irish Treaty by the Republican movement and how the Civil War progressed in the county. We covered the atrocities that were carried out in Kerry during the Civil War and the personalities involved. Here is a link to a recent article by John Dorney about reprisals during the Civil War. Apologies as there are some issues with the audio during the podcast. We have recently started a P ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Gerard Shannon to discuss his new biography of Liam Lynch. During the War of Independence, Liam Lynch was the officer in command of the Cork No. 2 Brigade of the IRA and later commander of the First Southern Division. He opposed the Anglo – Irish Treaty and during the Civil War he was Chief of Staff of the Anti – Treaty IRA. Gerard Shannon is a historian from Skerries in Co. Dublin. In 2019 he wrote his MA thesis, for the School of History and Geography in Dublin City University, on Liam Lynch. Gerard has also written numerous articl ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John Dorney was joined by Dr. Terry Dunne to discuss the land question and agrarian radicalism during the revolutionary period. Dr. Terry Dunne is a sociologist and historian and was Laois County Historian in Residence in 2021 and 2022. He is the host of the Peelers and Sheep podcast which is available here. We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818 Intro / Outro music “Sliabh” from Aislinn ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at executions carried out by the Free State government during the Irish Civil War. The executions were made possible by legislation known as the Public Safety Bill, which was passed in the Dail on September 27, 1922. The emergency legislation gave to the National Army powers of punishment for anyone ‘taking part in or aiding and abetting attacks on the National Forces’, having possession of arms or explosives ‘without the proper authority’ or disobeying an Army General Order. Military Courts could impose the sentence of death, imprisonm ..read more

In the wake of the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, much attention has focused on the history of Ukraine. Nadia Dobrianska is a Ukrainian lawyer  and human rights activist as well as a scholar of modern Irish history. She is also currently (August 2022) a refugee in Ireland, fleeing war in Ukraine. Here we talk about the history of Ukraine and the parallels (and many differences) with Irish history. Both countries have an important Viking medieval past. Both were largely peasant nations, in which religion and language intertwined in traditional identity. Both experienced Wa ..read more

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John Dorney was joined by Dr. Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh to discuss the Civil War Memory Project, an oral history project in association with the National Folklore Collection (UCD), RTÉ and Scratch Films. For many years the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 was a taboo topic in Ireland, rarely raised in public, except in a partisan manner. Now 100 years on a project is underway to collect family and local memories of the conflict to recover how it was remembered at the local and family level. The National Folklore collection is mounting a major ..read more