Defying the IRA : intimidation, coercion and communities in Ireland, 1917-1922

Abstract

The primary aim of this thesis is to explore the interaction between the IRA and its communities in Ireland between 1917 and the beginning of the Irish Civil War in June 1922. To do so, it will focus on civilian defiance and the IRA intimidation and coercion such defiance engendered. Through a combination of IRA and Dail Eireann papers, British government, police and military records, witness statements, memoirs and compensation claims, the research describes low-level, everyday acts of defiance and terror and is rooted firmly in the town or parish.