Speaker: Gareth Prendergast, Ph.D.; Author, Clear, Hold, Build: How the Free State won the Irish Civil War
Researching a civil war is always fraught with danger. The re-opening of old wounds that can evoke family and historical biases, often lead to heated and ideological debates.
Writing a historical textbook 50 years after the end of hostilities, F.S.L. Lyons refers to the Irish Civil War as “burned so deep into the heart and mind of Ireland that it is not yet possible for the historian to approach it with the detailed knowledge or the objectivity which it deserves.”
Published 100 years after hostilities ended, Dr. Gareth Prendergast’s new book examines the conflict using the lens of modern counterinsurgency doctrine in order to connect tactical actions to strategic success. A connection not often achieved by major military powers in recent history but nonetheless achieved by the Irish Free State during this contentious period in Irish history.
Clear, Hold, Build: How the Free State won the Irish Civil War, explains how the newly established Irish National Army had to quickly generate manpower and war fighting capabilities in order to contest a violent insurgency from the anti-Treaty elements of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
As a serving Irish Army Officer, and graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Prendergast matchlessly describes the clearance and hold operations conducted by the leadership of the National Army, during this violent conflict. Interestingly for a military man, he credits the Build or Rebuild operations conducted by the Free State as the main contributory reasons why the National Army ultimately won the Irish Civil War.
Even the words "won the civil war" are still contentious to this day in Ireland.
Like most civil wars, the Irish conflict was violent, ruthless and a watershed in the history of the new fledgling state. It marked the end of an elongated period in which gunmen had controlled Irish politics and revolutionary thinking. As a direct consequence, governmental authority and civilian control were fully asserted over the new National Army. Constitutional opposition came to separate itself from the IRA, permitting a new political system to emerge free from the shadows of collusion and civil government to be rightfully re-established.
Admittance is on a first come–first served basis. Tea and Coffee Provided.
