Irish History Podcast

During the Irish War of Independence, republicans in Ireland looked far beyond Britain and America for support. In Egypt and India, they found allies. Secret meetings took place between IRA representatives and Egyptian revolutionaries, while Irish republicans also made contact with Indian nationalists who were waging their own struggle against British rule. Across the Empire, activists began to see their causes as connected, bound together by a common enemy and a shared desire for freedom.
But this was never a simple story of solidarity. For generations, Irish people had also served the British Empire in India and the Middle East as soldiers, policemen and civil servants. This episode explores the forgotten links between Ireland, Egypt and India, revealing how the Irish Revolution was shaped not only by events at home, but by anti-colonial struggles unfolding across the wider world.

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The series is researched, written, and presented by Dr Brian Hanley. Brian is a historian at Trinity College Dublin and has written extensively on the Irish Revolution, republicanism, and radical politics in the twentieth century. You can find a list of his publications here: https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php
Written, Researched and Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley
Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea

Note from Brian:
In researching these episodes, I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars:
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, F. M. Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl, and James R. Barrett.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1939, Ireland declared itself neutral in the Second World War. But neutrality did not mean the island was safe. Indeed, both Germany and Britain developed plans to occupy the entire island.

This episode focuses on Operation Green, Hitler's secret invasion plan for Ireland, and Plan W, the Irish government's defensive strategy. Historian James Doherty joins me to explain this intriguing aspect of the Second World War in Ireland. We begin by exploring why Ireland was important to both sides in the war. Then James details the German invasion plan and the why the British were determined to stop them. He also explores the controversial Irish Army defence plans and whether they would have worked.

Sound by Kate Dunlea.

James Doherty is a historian based in Waterford with interests in Military History and the history of smuggling in Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries. He is currently researching Ireland during the Emergency.
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The Irish War of Independence & Revolution saw the IRA pitted against Crown forces across the island. However, on the ground in Ireland, allegiance was often more complicated than is sometimes remembered.
Ireland had a long tradition of service in the British Army, and during the conflict thousands of Irishmen served not only in British military ranks but also in the police forces sent to crush the revolution. Even the Black and Tans, remembered as outsiders and occupiers, included surprising numbers of Irish recruits.

This episode explores the uncomfortable and often forgotten story of the Irish who fought for Britain. Who were these men? Why did they serve the Crown, in Ireland and across the Empire? What drew them into the British Army, the Royal Irish Constabulary, and even the ranks of the Black and Tans? And what does their story reveal about Ireland’s deep and complicated relationship with the British Empire?
This is Episode 5 of Brothers in Pain, a global history of the Irish Revolution.

The series is researched, written, and presented by Dr Brian Hanley. Brian is a historian at Trinity College Dublin and has written extensively on the Irish Revolution, republicanism, and radical politics in the twentieth century. You can find a list of his publications here: https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php
Written, Researched and Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley
Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea
Note from Brian:
In researching these episodes, I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars:
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, F. M. Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl, and James R. Barrett.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did Ireland become an English-speaking country? Was it colonialism, the Great Hunger, the education system or emigration that drove the shift from Irish to English?
In this episode, I am joined by Dr Nicholas Wolf to explore one of the biggest questions in Irish history: how Irish, once the dominant language of the island, lost ground over the centuries.

Nicholas explains how this is a multifaceted story, beginning in the wars of the seventeenth century but continuing through the Great Famine of the 1840s and beyond.
While he explores the impact conquest, plantation and emigration, Nicholas also explains why English became so necessary in everyday life in Ireland.

About Nicholas Wolf
Nicholas Wolf is a historian and librarian at New York University, where he is co-head of NYU Library’s Data Services department and associate director of research and publishing initiatives at Glucksman Ireland House. He is the author of An Irish-Speaking Island (2014), a social and cultural history of Ireland’s Irish-language community in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that was awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture and the Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Books. His research into the social and cultural history of the Irish language, Irish Catholicism, and Ireland’s population history has received grants and fellowships from the Gardiner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Newberry Library, and Newman College at the University of Melbourne.
Get An Irish-Speaking Island (2014) https://uwpress.wisc.edu/Books/A/An-Irish-Speaking-Island
Nicholas’s website: https://nmwolf.net
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-wolf-204a24335
Check out this digitisation project Nicholas was involved in, focusing on the bilingual historical newspaper An Gaodhal: https://www.universityofgalway.ie/angaodhal
Sound by Kate Dunlea
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The Irish fight for liberty is the greatest epic of the modern age… those suffering together under British imperialism must learn to coordinate their effort before they can hope to be free.”

These words from the Black radical Cyril Briggs captured how many people of colour viewed the Irish War of Independence. Today, the Irish Revolution is usually remembered as a struggle shaped by empire, nationalism and religion. But race also haunted this history. As Ireland fought for freedom, racial tensions were erupting across the world. In 1919, the United States was convulsed by the Red Summer, when white mobs launched brutal attacks on African American communities. At the same time, many opponents of Irish independence portrayed the conflict in Ireland as a racial struggle.

Yet the relationship between Irish republicans and Black radicals was never straightforward. While Black activists looked to Ireland with hope, many Irish leaders were slow to support Black struggles and some even argued that Ireland deserved freedom precisely because the Irish were white.

This episode uncovers the forgotten story of solidarity, suspicion and betrayal between Irish and Black radicals and reveals how deeply the politics of race shaped the Irish War of Independence.

This is the fourth episode in Brothers in Pain a groundbreaking Global history of the Irish War of Independence by Dr Brian Hanley
Written, Researched & Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley. Check out Brian's publications here https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php

Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea
Note from Brian :

In researching these episodes I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars;
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, FM Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl and James R. Barrett.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.