Sunday, May 19, 2013
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Our Editor's regular blog on history topics

Call For Submissions

An essential part of HistoryJournal.ie will be articles and pieces submitted and written by the readership.

Each article submitted will be read and approved by our Editorial Board and authors will be credited for their work in full.

We have updated our Submissions page with lots of information about how to submit and our Editorial Board.

Some of the upcoming topics (The Fenians in America, The destruction of Dublin) may interest you so don't hesitate to check them out and then jump over to the Submissions page and register. We welcome submissions on all Irish History topics however, so don't feel bound by the subjects we are planning in the near future.

Irish Historical Society meeting, 2011

With the history events year starting again, it's an extra-long blog. Hope you like it, I certainly found the meeting entertaining.

In Boston College on Stephen’s Green, in a constantly-filling room, Diarmaid Ferriter chaired the first meeting of the Irish Historical Society of 2011. The main topic of the meeting was the concept of contemporary history – what is it, firstly? What makes it different? Once that is defined, what are the pitfalls of research and the multiplicity of sources, how do we treat internet sources, oral history, the integration of social sciences? Ferriter referred to an article written by F.S.L. Lyons back in 1973 that still bears relevance; “The Dilemma of the Irish Contemporary Historian.” There are certain fundamental problems with the concept, firstly that can it be history in the pure sense?

 

WarofIndependence.net

I'll be talking with Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc, author Blood On The Banner, today for the podcast which is going live with the next topic focus on Thursday or Friday. I thought I'd draw your attemntion to his rather excellent website www.WarofIndependence.net.

He has posted some pretty challenging pieces on the site including this one on Spies and Informers:

It could be said that the most effective force that the British ever had in Ireland was “St. Georges Cavalry” ie - the gold sovereigns paid to spies and informers.

There are a number of reasons who someone could have become an informer during the war of independence, the most popular suggestion is that people became spies or informers for money or other rewards, but others gave information as the result of a personal grudge, to get revenge, and some gave information because they were loyalists and saw it as their duty to do so believing they were serving King and Country. on a member of the I.R.A.

It is also clear that different categories of suspected spies were treated differently by the I.R.A. in terms of the punishment inflicted. Women for example usually had their heads shaved by the IRA as an act of public humiliation – since the execution of a woman even if she was suspected of spying would have resulted in a lot of anti IRA propaganda. Likewise clergymen of any denomination were unlikely to be shot as spies because of the propaganda coup it would hand to the British in such a fervently religious society. Members or former members of the I.R.A. who were found guilty of spying were often exiled rather than shot, former British army soldiers and active Unionists were more likely to be shot once suspected. Whether a suspected spy was sentenced to death, and executed or punished in some other way often depended on the value of the information they had given and whether it resulted in the capture of I.R.A. arms and the deaths of I.R.A. Volunteers.

There'll be more from Padraig soon, he is writing reviews for HistoryJournal.ie.

Eoin

PS: if you have an interest in joining us on the review front please e-mail me at eoin.purcell[AT]historyjournal.ie

 

Christmas Traditions - Live Tomorrow

 

Barring incidents and accidents, our topic focus on Christmas Traditions will go live tomorrow. I just wanted to share this rather excellent image with you in advance, because I have no space for it in the articles!

 

Eoin

 

   

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