Culture Northern Ireland And The Second World War

Of the countries that remained neutral during the Second World War, none was more controversial than Ireland, with accusations of betrayal and hypocrisy poisoning the media. Whereas previous histories of Ireland in the war years have focused on high politics, That Neutral Island brings to life the atmosphere of a country forced to live under rationing, heavy censorship and the threat of invasion. It unearths the motivations of those thousands who left Ireland to fight in the British forces and shows how ordinary people tried to make sense of the Nazi threat through the lens of antagonism towards Britain.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Trinity College, Dublin, 2012).

This volume of essays on the social, political and military history of Ireland during the Second World War explores the Irish contribution to the Allied cause, in particular the role and experience of Irish men and women who served in the British armed forces during the war. Also covered is the history of Northern Ireland during the war period, as are apsects of the post-war historiography of Irish involvement in the Allied struggle.

What was the full impact of the Second World War on Northern Ireland and how important was its role in the allied cause? This book assesses Northern Ireland's contribution to the war effort—its industrial production, its use as a base and training center for British and American troops, its strategic importance in the Battle of the Atlantic and the contribution of its volunteers to the allied campaigns. Using recently released papers in Dublin, it looks anew at the Blitz, particularly on whether the lights in neutral Eire helped the German bombers in their devasting raids. It recreates much of the atmosphere of what it was like to live for over 5 years under the combined attentions of German bombers, shortages, bureancracy and American soldiers. It examines the sensitive issues of why there was no conscription, the initially lacklustre performance of the Unionist government, de Valera's persistence with neutrality, and the extent of the tensions between locals and GIs stationed here. The long-term significance of the War—on inter-community relations, on governmental relations north and south, and between Stormont and Westminster - is assessed. It contends that in many of these areas, and in the establishment of the post-war welfare state, the Second World War was a major turning point in the history of Northern Ireland.

This original and distinctive book surveys the political, economic and social history of Northern Ireland in the Second World War. Since its creation in 1920, Northern Ireland has been a deeply divided society and the book explores these divisions before and during the war. It examines rearmament, the relatively slow wartime mobilisation, the 1941 Blitz, labour and industrial relations, politics and social policy. Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK with a devolved government and no military conscription during the war. The absence of military conscription made the process of mobilisation, and the experience of men and women, very different from that in Britain. The book's conclusion considers how the government faced the domestic and international challenges of the postwar world. This study draws on a wide range of primary sources and will appeal to those interested in modern Irish and British history and in the Second World War.

Few historical events have resonated as much in modern British culture as the Second World War. It has left a rich legacy in a range of media that continue to attract a wide audience: film, TV and radio, photography and the visual arts, journalism and propaganda, architecture, museums, music and literature. The enduring presence of the war in the public world is echoed in its ongoing centrality in many personal and family memories, with stories of the Second World War being recounted through the generations. This collection brings together recent historical work on the cultural memory of the war, examining its presence in family stories, in popular and material culture and in acts of commemoration in Britain between 1945 and the present.

Existing at the intersection of military history, literary criticism, social history and film studies, The Irish Myth of the Second World War challenges the dominant conception of Ireland's actions during the Second World War. While other European neutrals fostered myths of unity and solidarity during the Second World War, Eire constructed a mixed narrative of pride at neutrality combined with an eagerness to claim an Irish contribution to Allied victory. An estimated 70,000 people from Eire joined the British armed forces during the Second World War; their presence allowed the de Valera government to claim that that Irish neutrality had been beneficial to the Allies. Thus the Irish war myth depicts Eire as simultaneously within and outside the war, maintaining neutrality while assisting the Allies to victory. Instead, Bernard Kelly argues that this is a false construction. This book demonstrates how the Irish conception of the war has largely assimilated the main aspects of the British war myth, which has been transmitted into Ireland through British films, television and publications, while also adding specifically Irish dimensions to it. He argues that once the Northern Ireland conflict moved towards a political solution, Irish participation in the Second World War was inevitably held up as an example of British-Irish and North-South cooperation, and in the process the veteran's story of the war has been almost completely adopted by the Irish public. This is an important contribution to the history of the Second World War.