Today in 1919, the rebel parliament, the First Dail, met at Dublin's Mansion House. But pure but portentful coincidence, an ambush of police at Soloheadbeg, Tipperary on the same day claimed the lives of 2 RIC men. www.theirishstory.com/2016/01/21/t...

Over 700 Irishmen, under former Blueshirt leader Eoin O'Duffy, fought for Franco in the Spnaish Civil War 1936-39. www.theirishstory.com/2018/10/24/g...

#OTD 1918, Today in Irish History, December 14, 1918 – The General Election of 1918, the historica victory for SF, which was followed the delcaration of Irish independence in January 1919 www.theirishstory.com/2018/12/14/t...

#OTD 1920 The burning of Cork by Crown forces in retaliation for an IRA ambush at Dillon's Cross. Most of Cork's main street, Patrick St was destroyed as was City Hall and up to 200 other buildings. www.theirishstory.com/2017/12/13/t...

The Treaty debates have been variously depicted as the worthy ‘birth of nation’ or ‘fractious and bitter prelude to the Civil War. This article lays out the main arguments. (Pic shows crowdds waiting for news of the debates outside Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin) www.theirishstory.com/2022/01/08/t...

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS C iii 1, the Annals of Connacht. This unique manuscript records episodes in the history of Gaelic Ireland for over three hundred years from AD 1224 to AD 1544, with one later entry added (in different ink) for the year 1562.

See also our article about executions in the Irish Civil War www.theirishstory.com/2022/11/17/e...

#OTD 1922 the assassination of pro-Treaty TD Sean Hales followed by the reprisal execution of 4 leading anti-Treatyites in Mountjoy jail. www.theirishstory.com/2010/12/07/t...

Also some historical context: www.theirishstory.com/2021/12/06/t...

#OTD in 1921, the Anglo Irish Treaty was signed. Article on the negotiations and Treay here www.theirishstory.com/2011/12/06/t...

Delighted to have a very interesting new article on the site by Emma Ryan on 'the lanes of Ballinsloe'. Working class or slum housing constructed in the nineteenth century and only finally demolished in the 1930s. www.theirishstory.com/2025/12/05/p...

Tom Barry, pictured here as IRA commander, had previously served with the British Army in Mespotamia, now Iraq, in WWI. This article documents the tortuous road that brought him to ambush and kill two lorry loads of Auxiliaries, also WWI vets at Kilmichael www.theirishstory.com/2020/12/04/t...

Giving an online talk for Muckross House, Kerry on the Economic War 1932-38. This Wednesday, Nov 26 at 19:30. Do tune in! Email [email protected] to register.

Erskine Childers. Executed by the Irish Free State govt #otd 1922. A hugely complex figure. From an Anglo-Irish family very high up in British state & who served the Empire in two wars, he died at the hands of an Irish govt, an unreconstructed Irish republican. www.theirishstory.com/2022/11/26/h...

See also this article: Bloody Sunday Revisited And a longer form look the the day's events here www.theirishstory.com/2020/11/21/b...

#OTD in 1920, Nov 21, Bloody Sunday in Dublin. Morning: IRA killed 14 suspected British intel officers. Afternoon: Crown forces shot up football crowd at Croke Park, killing 14 civilians. Evening: Dublin Castle, 2 IRA leaders 1 civlian summarily executed. www.theirishstory.com/2011/11/21/t...

The Belfast News Letter and the Irish Civil War: The News Letter advocated an uncompromising Ulster Unionism, its editorials arguing that persecution of Protestants was rife across nationalist Ireland theirishstory.com/2024/08/02/t...

1832 Committee on Tithes: "The late Bishop of Cork said to me, 'We are in the habit of blaming the Roman-catholics for the resistance to tithes, but I believe, if the real truth was known, there is scarcely any country gentlemen in Ireland who is not in his heart a whiteboy.'"

Article on the 1867 rebellion here for those interested. www.theirishstory.com/2011/03/05/t...

#OTD the first executions in the Irish Civil War. Anti-Treaty vols, Peter Cassidy, James Fisher, John Gaffney and Richard Twohig were executed in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin on 17 November 1922. Full article on the Civil War executions here. www.theirishstory.com/2022/11/17/e...

I made @theirishstory.bsky.social watch The House of Guinness with me. I feel bad because this is how he is looking now.

Now, I shouldn't have expected anything from the House of Guinness, historically speaking, and honestly, I didn't, but my God it's awful. I don't even know where to start, but @nadiadobrianska.bsky.social wants me to write a thread so...

Latest review of our NORAID documentary by @brian-hanley.bsky.social on @theirishstory.bsky.social

This Underwood typewriter, likely the first with Irish characters, was used by the Gaelic League around 1905. Now on display in the newly opened Changing Ireland Galleries in Collins Barracks, it’s a powerful symbol of everyday tools shaping Irish identity. www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum...

New documentary review on the site by @brian-hanley.bsky.social on the RTE Documentary NORAID, Irish America and the Troubles. www.theirishstory.com/2025/11/10/d...

Over 200,000 Irishmen served in WWI and somewhere between 30 and 50,000 died in it. The was also helped to end British rule in most of Ireland though, as a result of the conscription crisis of 1918. An overview of Ireland's experience of war here www.theirishstory.com/2018/11/09/i...

The Siege of Tralee, November 1 – 9, 1920. The RIC and ‘Black and Tans’ brought Tralee close to starvation in an effort to force the IRA to release two missing policemen – they were in fact already dead www.theirishstory.com/2012/11/06/t...

Today in 1641, a plan by Ulster Catholic gentry to seize Dublin Castle and various other strongpoints around the country misfires. Attacks on Protestant settlers break out, leading to large scale kilings. It is the begining of a fateful decade in Irish history. www.theirishstory.com/2010/10/23/t...

Article here, written, for the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 2021, about a litany of broken treaties in Irish history, from Windsor to Melifont, to Limerick to Kilmainham. www.theirishstory.com/2021/12/06/t...

Listen in to a discussion about Ireland and the American Revolution on @newstalkfm.bsky.social featuring Patrick Geoghegan, Finola O’Kane, Eliga Gould, and Patrick Griffin. The episode airs this Sunday at 7PM, ahead of our conference next week. It was a privilege to take part in the conversation.

Discussion here of the Desmond Rebellions in 1570s and 80 in Munster, that destroyed the Geraldine dynasty and paved way for the subsquent Munster plantation. theirishstory.com/2023/12/04/p...

#OTD in 1922 dark days in the Irish Civil War. The Dail passed a resolution giving the Army powers to execute prisoners after a summary miltiary trial. (Pic is of cabinet members at M.Collins funeral) www.theirishstory.com/2013/09/27/t...

Vikings ! At the @nmireland.bsky.social !

Brian Hanley tells the story of a man with a most unusual career: David Tormey: IRA Volunteer, Garda, Nazi. Irish rebel, policman, possible informer, pro Franco soldier in Spain and finally Nazi sympthiser @brian-hanley.bsky.social www.theirishstory.com/2024/11/16/d...

#OTD in 1920 the Black and Tans infamously burned the north Co Dublin town of Balbriggan. It was retaliation for the shooting of two RIC officers there by the IRA but became emblematic of the British policies of reprisals in Ireland www.theirishstory.com/2020/10/14/t...

The Civil War of 1922-23 played little part in the legend of IRA guerrilla leader Tom Barry. Partly because his role in it was fairly tortuous. As described in the artlce below. ‘A bad fight, a disgraceful fight’, Tom Barry in the Civil War www.theirishstory.com/2025/01/15/a...

The Fianna Fail govt of 1932 refused to pay the Land Annuities owed to Britain under the Anglo Irish Treaty. The British hoped to oust the de Valera government by economic pressure whichs sparked off a trade war only settled in 1938. Podcast here www.theirishstory.com/2025/05/21/p...

The siege of Drogheda was perhaps the most ferocious sacking of a town in Irish history. Up to 3000 Royalist and Catholic soldiers were killed by Cromwell's New Model Army and up to 700 civilians #OTD 1649 www.theirishstory.com/2011/09/11/t...

Podcast: The Desmond rebellions: The rebellions were the conflict of the House of Desmond, the Fitzgerald dynasty with the Elizabethan English state they ended with the destruction of the Earl of Desmond and the plantation of Munster. www.theirishstory.com/2023/12/04/p...

'It was in the northern province of Ulster that the final, most destructive and most decisive war between the Gaelic lords and the encroaching English state would be fought; the Nine Years War 1594-1603' www.theirishstory.com/2019/01/10/h...

‘An indelible imprint’ – Irish Penal Transportation to Australia www.theirishstory.com/2025/02/03/a...

Today in Irish History – August 31, 1913 – Labour’s Bloody Sunday Police baton charged a crowd on Dublin’s O’Connell Street after arresting union leader James Larkin www.theirishstory.com/2013/08/31/t...

Today in Irish History – August 22, 1922 – Béal na Bláth, The Shooting Of Michael Collins www.theirishstory.com/2018/08/22/t...

#OTD in 1922 The anti-Treaty IRA under Frank Aiken stormed Dundalk barracks, freeing 300 prisoners, capturing 200 pro-Treaty troops and large quantity of weapons. But Aiken was a reluctant participant in the Civil War and man who eventually ended it in 1923. www.theirishstory.com/2013/08/14/t...

On learning of his death sentence, Casement wrote to his barrister, George Gavan Duffy (30 June 1916): "...I shall bear your friendship with me as one of the precious gifts of God, given by Him to those whose hearts are faint and broken— cont'd below 1/2

The Hunger strike & General strike of 1920. Irish Republicans copied tactic of hunger strike from women’s suffragists. In April 1920 they used it to demand status of political prisoners. A general strike was called by labour demanding release of all prisoners www.theirishstory.com/2020/04/13/t...

#OTD , 9 August 1971, Internment is introduced in Northern Ireland. Unionist NI govt persuaded UK govt to use British Army to enforce internment in belief that it would crush burgeoning republican insurgency. It had the opposite effect. theirishstory.com/2012/08/10/t...

#OTD The decisive military stroke of the Irish Civil War, in which Free State troops were landed by sea at three points on the Cork coast, seizing Ireland's second city and collapsing the 'Munster republic' or territory held by the anti-Treaty IRA. www.theirishstory.com/2022/08/25/t...

Ok there've been a lot of technical problems with the website, but I'm happy to report that they are now fixed! Brand new hosting location and the site is now fast and sharp again! Lots of new content on the way shortly. Thanks for your patience. www.theirishstory.com