Chapter One

This will be a short series on the War in Ireland from 1919 to 1921.

I have taken extracts from records thata are housed in various bodies in the UK and I am using photographs recently to show the scenes of some of the scenes of battles and assassinations as they are today.

I have also used documented evidence as was recorded around the time of this era, which has, with the exception of the 1916 Easter rising been largely neglected by British historians owing to lack of information, orperhaps lack of interest owing to the proximity of the First World War; maybe also a reluctance to dip their toes into an era that produced the Auxiliaries, the Black and Tans, and a variety of atrocities, a murky history after the arguable triumph of the Great War.

The Anglo Irish War gave borth to modern guerilla warfare that was perfected in the mountains and streets, and taught sometimes by Irishmen who had served in the trenches, espousing new military tactics involving the conservation of arms that were difficult to obtain, resourcefulness, in the face of the 'best army in the world' the birth of a constitution and a new nation (it is quite amazing that Britain has 'given birth' to so many constitutions yet singularly fails to build one for itsalf) making this a most important history.

To picture the battle as being simply between the Black and Tans and the IRA is a simplistic and fatallly wrong approach; into the melting pot go regular soldiers, sailors and airmen, loyalists who were settled in Southern Ireland, some of whom joined the IRA, a variety of political parties, lawyers, hunger strikers, the regular Irish Constabulary, Dublin Metropoliitan Police, secret societies and a secret service, striking unions, all of which played their part, and a largely hostile and terrified in turn, population.

Most of the combatants believed they were in the right and most that they were winning what has been described as the Anglo Irish War right until it's general termination in 1922. Of course this war gave way to the Irish civil war, which had as the future events would show far reaching consequences.

Some of the books that have been published have been somewhat innaccurate or partial in their findings; with Irish books there has been a tendency to tell only one side of the story, this owing to the fact that there is a huge source of information in the Irish archives, relating to the testimony of rebels, many transcribed when the men were in the autumn of their lives.

WIth passing years the memory can obviously become selective, but regardless, cross examination proves these memoirs to be largely accurate.

There are glaring omissions such as the killing of Kitty O'Kiernan an actress, and a number of other women who were killed or took part in actions, and whose part in the Anglo Irish War has largely been omitted. At the time, British army intelligence paid very close attention to the women one of whom was described as having 'an excellent pistol shot.'

Each new book brings criticism from somewhere. Some authors have come under heavy fire such as Peter Hart-that as they say is the nature of the beast. The first British book for a number of years was 'The Black and Tans' by Richard Bennett in 1959. Not many have followed though there was a small vein of writing in the aftermath from officers and men who served under the flag in the War torn country.

Unforntuately it is not known what was made of the publications of books on the subject at the time, though one feels they would be hardly welcome. The memory of the War lasted in Ireland and Britain for a very long time, but maybe now thankfully the hands of freindship are reaching across the Irish Sea.