The Dark Side of Independence: Paramilitary Violence in Ireland and Poland after the First World War

Abstract

This article analyses excesses carried out against civilians in Ireland andIn the aftermath of the First World War, violence proliferated in many parts of Europe. The war ushered in a significant reshaping of the political landscape of Europe and the structure of its people and societies. Empires fell apart. New states emerged among the ruins. The experience of war altered the perception of the world and triggered changes regarding norms and values. Among the emerging states were Poland and the Irish Free State. The fundamental changes in the countries in question

“All the nightmare images of ethnic conflict in the twentieth century are here”: Erroneous statistical proofs and the search for ethnic violence in revolutionary Ireland, 1917–1923

“…Between 1918 and 1923, Tim Wilson compared southern Ireland's ethnic conflict with Prussian Poland (Wilson, 2002). Likewise, Julia Eichenberg later paralleled the experiences of Jewish and Ukrainian minorities, also in Poland, with the fate of native southern Irish Protestants (Eichenberg, 2010). Gemma Clark's (2014) Everyday Violence in the Irish Civil War examines Munster counties Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford and makes comparisons between the experiences of southern Irish Protestants and the expulsion of Palestinian‐Arabs from Palestine/Israel.…”

The co-operative movement and the War of Independence

“…111 Guerrilla warfare, raids on private property, martial law, industrial strike action and the spread of terror dominated news stories about Ireland from 1919 until the announcement of a truce in July 1921. 112 Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher, President of Templecrone Co-operative Society, recalled that 'the Black and Tans were worse than savages let loose. They were murdering, ravishing and burning.'…”

Exploiting Victory, Sinking into Defeat: Uniformed Violence in the Creation of the New Order in Czechoslovakia and Austria, 1918–1922

“…Securing the new borders in the context of ethnically and religiously heterogeneous societies generated significant tensions and violent excesses even in places where nationalist movements were connected rather to non-violent traditions, such as Ireland, Poland and Czechoslovakia. 21 Czechoslovakia and Austria are both very well suited for comparison. The Czech lands, as the core of the new Czechoslovak state, and Austria shared the very same state until 1918.…”