The Irish War of Independence Part I - World War I
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2021
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is the first episode in a 24 part series on the War of Independence. Today's show focuses on the First World War and how it destablised Irish society, following the lives of several people in one Irish town - Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny (where I grew up). It includes never before published letters from soldiers at the Front and accounts from life back in Ireland at the time. The episode also reveals how the legacy of the Famine, the Land War and growing labour unrest were adding to growing tensions in the country.
Written, research & produced by Fin Dwyer
Additional Research by Sam McGrath
Sound by Jason Looney
Additional narrations by Aidan Crowe & Therese Murray
Artwork by Keith Hynes
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and this is the Irish history podcast. My name is Finn Duwara and this is the first of what will be a 24 part series on the Irish War of Independence between 1919 and 1921. |
| 0:21.0 | Today's episode starts our journey by focusing on the pivotal experience of World War I and the terrible |
| 0:28.3 | toll it took on both those who served in the British Army and Irish people back in Ireland. |
| 0:34.1 | The episode is based around previously unpublished letters from an Irish soldier at the front. |
| 0:39.9 | Over the coming episodes we'll follow the story as tensions rise in Ireland in the buildup |
| 0:44.8 | to the outbreak of the war. |
| 0:46.8 | So next week we'll look at the story of the 1916 rising. |
| 0:50.6 | Then by episode 3 or maybe 4, the war will start and all going well sometime around next August or September |
| 0:57.0 | will reach the truce and famous Anglo-Irish treaty which would bring the conflict to an end. |
| 1:05.5 | This series will be released on Mondays with a break every fourth week to allow me to stay on |
| 1:10.0 | top of research and production. |
| 1:12.0 | However, on that week off off I'll be hosting an exclusive |
| 1:15.2 | Q&A over on Patreon for listeners who support the show with Dr Brian Hanley from the History |
| 1:21.3 | Department in Trinity College Dublin. |
| 1:23.2 | Brian is one of Ireland's leading historians on the period so it would be a great |
| 1:27.7 | opportunity to ask him any questions you have. It's also a great way to support the show. You can find out more about that at |
| 1:35.2 | Patreon.com forward slash Irish podcast. For any of you who've listened to other |
| 1:40.9 | series I've made, I'm hoping that you'll notice a big improvement |
| 1:44.2 | on what's gone before in the coming episodes. |
| 1:47.1 | This is down to an amazing team of people working on the series. |
| 1:50.8 | Additional research was by the archivist and historian Sam McGrath. |
| 1:53.7 | Sound was by Jason Looney. |
... |
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