Britain, Ireland and the Second World War

by Ian S. Wood

Overview

For Britain the Second World War exists in popular memory as a time of heroic sacrifice, survival and ultimate victory over Fascism. In the Irish state the years 1939-1945 are still remembered simply as 'the Emergency'. Eire was one of many small states which in 1939 chose not to stay out of the war but one of the few able to maintain its non-belligerency as a policy.How much this owed to Britain's military resolve or to the political skills of Éamon de Valera is a key question which this new book will explore. It will also examine the tensions Eire's policy created in its relations with Winston Churchill and with the United States. The author also explores propaganda, censorship and Irish state security and the degree to which it involves secret co-operation with Britain. Disturbing issues are also raised like the IRA's relationship to Nazi Germany and ambivalent Irish attitudes to the Holocaust.Drawing upon both published and unpublished sources, this book illustrates the war's impact on people on both sides of the border and shows how it failed to resolve sectarian problems on Northern Ireland while raising higher the barriers of misunderstanding between it and the Irish state across its border.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748623273
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2010
Series:	Societies at War
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ian S. Wood is a distinguished Military historian, lecturer and journalist. He is the author of Gods, Guns and Ulster (Caxton 2003); Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA (Edinburgh 2006); Britain, Ireland and the Second World War (Edinburgh 2010) and is a contributing author to A Military History of Scotland (Edinburgh 2012).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

1 The Origins of Éire's Neutrality 1

2 Éire's Emergency, Britain's War 22

3 Éire: Crisis and Survival 48

4 Security, Censorship and Propaganda 67

5 Fanatic Hearts: the IRA, 1939-45 101

6 Éire in the Emergency and the Irish in Britain 141

7 Northern Ireland at War 171

8 Emergency, War and their Aftermath 196

Bibliography 219

Index 231

Editorial Reviews

Britain, Ireland and the Second World War is an admirable introduction to the history of the topic.

Wood makes no claim to have written a definitive history and his book has value for a general reader or for students in a course on Irish history.

H-Albion (August, 2011) - Daniel C. Williamson

Britain, Ireland, and the Second World War provides a valuable survey of the impact that the war had on Ireland and how it affected relations among the governments of Eire, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain.

H-Albion - Daniel C. Williamson

Britain, Ireland, and the Second World War provides a valuable survey of the impact that the war had on Ireland and how it affected relations among the governments of Eire, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain.

— Daniel C. Williamson

H-Albion