Book exploring reach of Irish independence published by Cork University Press

A new book exploring the international dimensions of the Irish struggle for independence has been published by Cork University Press.

The Irish Revolution: Diplomacy and Reactions, 1919–1923, is edited by Dermot Keogh (late emeritus professor of history at UCC), Owen McGee (author of several histories of Ireland in international relations and graduate of UCD and UCC) and Mervyn O’Driscoll (head of the School of History at UCC and specialist in international affairs).

The book covers key themes such as examining how Irish revolutionaries, unable to secure direct government support abroad, used “unconventional diplomatic strategies” to influence foreign public opinion and indirectly pressure world governments.

The activities of Irish envoys, as they lobbied for recognition of Dáil Éireann in European capitals, the United States, and within the British Commonwealth, are traced in the book.

The book highlights the global repercussions of Terence MacSwiney’s hunger strike, propaganda networks, and the mobilisation of the Irish diaspora. In, addition, the influence of Catholic networks, women volunteers, and commercial trade envoys in advancing the Irish cause is examined.

The 560-page book includes 14 specific essays which are organised into thematic sections.

By reconsidering its international dimension, this book locates the Irish revolution within a background of post war settlements which were not only contested, but also remained comparatively fluid.

Cultural repercussions of the Irish struggle are also examined in the book, at a time of growing international debate about small, emergent states and the existence of contested state boundaries arising from the upending of the old international order caused by the First World War.

• The book is available at tinyurl.com/4ma223rn