Crowdfunding the Revolution: The Dáil Loan and the Battle for Irish Independence

"Can you say whether your bank has an account in the name of a man called Michael Collins?" – Alan Bell, official bank inquiry.

In 1919, the revolutionary Irish government launches an audacious plan to crowdfund the equivalent of €30,000,000 to fund a counter—state in open defiance of British rule in Ireland. Half the funds are to be raised in Ireland and half in America. This start—up government is determined not only to replace the British administration in Ireland but also to implement it...