Leiden University Student Repository

McMahon, Orson (2020)

Civil War Violence in Kerry: A Necessary First Principle

Research master thesis | History (research) (MA)

There exists a confusing and conflicting narrative at the core of the Irish Civil War's historiography. On one hand it has been portrayed as a bitter and savage conflict, while on the other, one in which the fighting was exaggerated and overstated. This paper uses a study of the Irish Civil War in the geographical unit of County Kerry to argue that this confusing dichotomy has existed because of the absence of any systematic analysis of that most elemental factor in any armed conflict, the actual violence. Using a micro-level analysis of the violent deaths of National Army soldiers and IRA men in Kerry during the conflict this paper argues that the IRA prosecuted the war using controversial and contentious tactics while a culture of indiscipline in the National Army saw it engage in reprisals and extra-judicial killings as its main means of asserting control.

Irish

Civil

War

Violence

Kerry

Author

McMahon, Orson

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Political Culture and National Identities

Supervisors

Augusteijn, Joost

ECTS Credits

40

Language

en