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The Emergency: Neutral Ireland 1939-45

by Brian Girvin

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Brian Girvin has written a fresh and original history of Ireland between 1939 and 1945. Drawing on new sources and recent scholarship, he tells the story of what is known as 'The Emergency' in Ireland, but elsewhere as the Second World War. Despite Ireland still being a member of the Commonwealth, Eamon de Valera refused to join the war against Nazi Germany and declared his country neutral. To the endless frustration and anger of Churchill - and later Roosevelt - de Valera pursued an isolationist policy that changed the course of Irish domestic and foreign politics. In this brilliantly argued account, Girvin shows how this policy went against the national interest, and far from being the only option for the Government, was simply the only one they would consider. This decision, Girvin concludes, cost de Valera his ultimate prize: a united Ireland. Woven into this political maelstrom are the stories of the people who lived through those difficult years. Bold, fearless and compelling, The Emergency is a unique and important addition to any understanding of Ireland and the Second World War.… (more)
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Though officially neutral during the Second World War, Ireland still faced the consequences of the conflict. The war was an everyday presence, as thousands of men left to enlist in Britain or work in the war industries, while those who remained behind coped with rationing and the stifling policies of a government studiously determined to avoid any sort of commitment whatsoever. In this book, Brian Girvin provides an overview of these years, one that demonstrates well the strains the Irish government and the Irish people faced during this time.

Girvin’s focus in these pages is on the political and diplomatic history of the period. Only one chapter looks at the broader social aspects of the conflict, and that one is a study of those Irish who enlisted in the British military. The rest offer a detailed and dry description of the Irish government’s determined effort to remain neutral despite the enormous political pressure brought to bear on it, particularly by Britain and the United States. While useful as an up-to-date description of Ireland’s sometimes tortuous efforts to navigate a safe path between the two sides, for a fuller picture of the Irish wartime experience it should be read in conjunction with Clair Wills’s excellent [b:That Neutral Island|965190|That Neutral Island A History of Ireland during the Second World War|Clair Wills|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347469595s/965190.jpg|876451], which describes the broader social and cultural impact of the war on the Emerald Isle. ( )
  MacDad | Mar 27, 2020 |
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Brian Girvin has written a fresh and original history of Ireland between 1939 and 1945. Drawing on new sources and recent scholarship, he tells the story of what is known as 'The Emergency' in Ireland, but elsewhere as the Second World War. Despite Ireland still being a member of the Commonwealth, Eamon de Valera refused to join the war against Nazi Germany and declared his country neutral. To the endless frustration and anger of Churchill - and later Roosevelt - de Valera pursued an isolationist policy that changed the course of Irish domestic and foreign politics. In this brilliantly argued account, Girvin shows how this policy went against the national interest, and far from being the only option for the Government, was simply the only one they would consider. This decision, Girvin concludes, cost de Valera his ultimate prize: a united Ireland. Woven into this political maelstrom are the stories of the people who lived through those difficult years. Bold, fearless and compelling, The Emergency is a unique and important addition to any understanding of Ireland and the Second World War.

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