I’ve been loving the new Mercier Press series on the Military History of the civil war. For too long the period wasn’t given the academic attention deserved, but Mercier’s series has been a very welcome addition to the historiography of the civil war. The first two works both looked at the conflict in Munster, with Tom Doyle looking at Kerry and Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc taking on the battle for Limerick. Now, it’s a Dublin historians turn and Liz Gillis takes on the fall of the capital.
I was impressed by a presentation Liz was involved with at the Military History Society of Ireland conference on the War of Independence in late 2009 which looked at the burning of the Custom House, and knew of her work as a historian based at Kilmainham Gaol. She’s made good use of some unusual archives and sources here, and at 128 pages, the main body of research is incredibly readable.
The work is written chronologically, with the crucial days of fighting receiving chapters to themselves. Great praise is due to the folks at Mercier Press for turning the focus onto this great, complex and often still heatedly debated chapter of our history.
Those interested in the civil war may enjoy this brief piece here recently on the unusual plaque to Cathal Brugha above a Burger King on O’Connell Street!
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
John Borgonovo also has one on the fall of Cork coming out as part of the same series.
Mercier also brought one out a few months ago called “Donegal & The Civil War”, which is quite detailed and very good overall. It’s well worth a read as there were particular circumstances that applied to the Civil War in Donegal which were very unique to it in terms of who was involved – a lot of Republicans had been drafted up from Cork for the specific purpose of attacking the North (with the full connivance of Michael Collins).
I did have one major problem with it though.
It described an incident in Newtowncunningham which I personally think was very significant in that it was the first large scale shootout that involved multiple casualties (all on the Free State side) and which happened in early May 1922 – in other words, about six weeks BEFORE the shelling of the Four Courts. It’s tended to be overlooked in nearly all general accounts of the Civil War that I’ve read, most of which mention a standoff in Kilkenny which happened around the same time but which, in comparison with NewtownC, was mere handbags as no-one was actually killed.
As ever with armed conflict in this country, both sides were keen to say “They started it.” The author gives prominence to the Republican versions, one of which (recounted to Ernie O’Malley almost thirty years later and recorded in his famous “Notebooks”) names my granda as the man who started it the whole shooting match – having previously been in the Belfast IRA, he’d then joined the Free State army. The book describes him as an over-zealous hothead (I’m paraphrasing).
In the interests of balance, the book does quote the Free State general in command of Donegal, who naturally blames the Republicans for ambushing his men – but he wasn’t actualy involved and would’ve depended on others’ reports.
However, there was also a first-hand description of the incident given by a Free State soldier who was an actual participant – my granda. Before any of the Republican versions were even aired, he gave testimony at the inquest into the dead soldiers, which was reported at the time in the Indo and the Derry Journal, both of which the author uses as source material for his book.
Curiously, the book omits my granda’s testimony altogether…
Our review is here http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/07/28/book-review-the-fall-of-dublin-by-liz-gillis/