At the beginning of the First World War, Irish separatists in the city of Cork were marginalised and without political power. By the war’s end, they had supplanted the local elite and launched a bloody war for independence. Using Cork as a case study, this book considers how the First World War brought about political revolution in Ireland, examining: wartime failures of constitutional nationalism; anxieties over food shortages; explosions in trade unionism; the effects of government repression; rising expectations for self-determination; the creation of a mass independence movement; and strident opposition to military conscription. For the first time, the Irish Revolution is viewed through a First World War prism, yielding results that will surprise students of both subjects. The book offers ground-breaking scholarship within an accessible narrative, and will be released shortly before the centenaries of the Irish Revolution and First World War, which will attract unprecedented scholarly and public attention to both subjects.The book: Argues that the Irish Revolution was directly caused by the First World War; explains why Irish public opinion swung so quickly towards the independence movement following the 1916 Easter Rising; and examines the rich political and social tapestry of one city during the turmoil of the First World War. The book offers the first local study of Ireland’s wartime political transformation that preceded the violent revolution of 1919-1923. It begins immediately after the Republican defeat in the 1916 Easter Rising, and concludes with the triumph of Sinn Fein in the 1918 General Election. A number of new findings will influence the scholarship of this period, especially chapters regarding rising social unrest, collapsing popular deference, and war-related food and morality anxiety exploited by Irish Republicans. As such, this manuscript will significantly impact the charged debates surrounding the Irish Revolution and Ireland’s First World War experience.
