Forgotten Allies: How Egypt and India Supported the Irish Revolution
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
During the Irish War of Independence, republicans in Ireland looked far beyond Britain and America for support. In Egypt and India, they found allies. Secret meetings took place between IRA representatives and Egyptian revolutionaries, while Irish republicans also made contact with Indian nationalists who were waging their own struggle against British rule. Across the Empire, activists began to see their causes as connected, bound together by a common enemy and a shared desire for freedom.
But this was never a simple story of solidarity. For generations, Irish people had also served the British Empire in India and the Middle East as soldiers, policemen and civil servants. This episode explores the forgotten links between Ireland, Egypt and India, revealing how the Irish Revolution was shaped not only by events at home, but by anti-colonial struggles unfolding across the wider world.
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The series is researched, written, and presented by Dr Brian Hanley. Brian is a historian at Trinity College Dublin and has written extensively on the Irish Revolution, republicanism, and radical politics in the twentieth century. You can find a list of his publications here: 
https://www.tcd.ie/history/staff/brian-hanley.php
Written, Researched and Narrated by Dr Brian Hanley
Producer: Fin Dwyer
Sound: Kate Dunlea
Note from Brian:
In researching these episodes, I have been indebted to the work of the following scholars:
Anna Lively, Sam McGrath, Bruce Nelson, Terry Dunne, David Brundage, Niamh Coffey, Gerard Shannon, Maurice Casey, Kelly Anne Reynolds, Chris McNickle, Joe Doyle, Liz Gillis, F. M. Carroll, Patrick Mannion, Jimmy Yann, Niall Cullen, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, Keith Jeffrey, Arthur Mitchell, John Borgonovo, Kate O’Malley, Michael Doorley, Robin Adams, Kevin Kenny, Fearghal McGarry, Catherine M. Burns, Síobhra Aiken, Patrick J. Mahony, Darragh Gannon, Matthew Pratt Guterl, and James R. Barrett.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the early 1920s, while the Irish War of Independence was raging, long forgotten secret meetings took place between the IRA and Egyptian and Indian revolutionary movements to discuss how they could all help each other because they had much in common. |
| 0:20.0 | They were not all only struggling for independence, |
| 0:22.7 | but they shared a common enemy, the British Empire. |
| 0:26.1 | Indeed, one Irish Republican would describe their Indian and Egyptian allies |
| 0:29.9 | as their brothers in pain, |
| 0:32.2 | people who, like themselves, were fighting for independence from British rule. |
| 0:36.3 | Now, this episode explores these forgotten |
| 0:39.0 | links between Ireland, Egypt and India during the revolutionary period and how activists in all |
| 0:45.1 | three countries saw their struggles as deeply interconnected. Hello and welcome to the Irish |
| 0:53.9 | History podcast. My name is Finn DeWar and this is episode six in the series Brothers in Pain, presented by Dr Brian Hanley, which explores the global dimensions of the Irish Revolution. |
| 1:05.8 | This episode brings to the fore an often overlooked dimension to the struggle for Irish independence, |
| 1:11.3 | which is that it unfolded against the backdrop of other anti-colonial movements across the British Empire. |
| 1:17.3 | And Brian unpacked the complex links between what were three very distant parts of the Empire, |
| 1:22.8 | Ireland, India and Egypt, by revealing the extensive contacts revolutionaries in each country shared. |
| 1:29.1 | But this is simply not a story of solidarity and support because Brian also teases out the |
| 1:34.6 | complicated relationship Irish people had with the British Empire, given that huge numbers |
| 1:39.7 | of Irish soldiers and officials helped govern India in particular. Now if this is your first time tuning in |
| 1:46.0 | to Brothers in Pain, Brian is a historian in Trinity College Dublin and is a leading scholar in modern |
| 1:51.1 | Irish history. He's written extensively on the Irish Revolution, Irish republicanism and radical |
| 1:56.5 | politics in the 20th century. I have a full list of his publications below. Finally, just a flag, |
| 2:02.6 | there'll be no episode next week, but I'll be back the week after. Sound on the show is by Kate Dunley. |
| 2:12.1 | There was a widespread realisation by Irish Republicans that what happened in the rest of the British Empire |
... |
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