The Irish Rebellion

Easter 1916

Now with a new preface for the centenary of the Easter Rising, a compelling interpretation of the rebellion that launched Ireland into a new world. 
 
Before Easter 1916 Dublin had been a city much like any other British city, comparable to Bristol or Liverpool and part of a complex, deep-rooted British world. Many of Dublin's inhabitants wanted to weaken or terminate London's rule but there remained a vast and conflicting range of visions of that future: far more immediate was the unfolding disaster of the First World War that had put 'home rule' issues on ice for the duration. 
 
The devastating events of that Easter changed everything. Both the rising itself and-even more significantly-the ferocious British response ended any sense at all that Dublin could be anything other than the capital of an independent country, as an entire nation turned away in revulsion from the British artillery and executions. More than a century after these events, it is time for a new account of what really happened over those fateful few days. 
 
What did the rebels actually hope to achieve? What did the British think they were doing? And how were the events really interpreted by ordinary people across Ireland? Vivid, authoritative and gripping, Easter 1916 is a major work.

Charles Townshend's previous publications include Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction, Political Violence in Ireland and The British Campaign in Ireland, 1919 - 1921.

Before Easter 1916 Dublin had been a city much like any other British city, comparable to Bristol or Liverpool and part of a complex, deep-rooted British world. Many of Dublin's inhabitants wanted to weaken or terminate London's rule but there remained a vast and conflicting range of visions of that future: far more immediate was the unfolding disaster of the First World War that had put 'home rule' issues on ice for the duration. The devastating events of that Easter changed everything. Both the rising itself and - even more significantly - the ferocious British response ended any sense at all that Dublin could be anything other than the capital of an independent country, as an entire nation turned away in revulsion from the British artillery and executions. More than a century after these events, it is time for a new account of what really happened over those fateful few days. What did the rebels actually hope to achieve? What did the British think they were doing? And how were the events really interpreted by ordinary people across Ireland? Vivid, authoritative and gripping, Easter 1916 is a major work.

The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918-1923

The Republic

A gripping narrative of the most critical years in modern Ireland's history - from Charles Townshend, author of Easter 1916 
 
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014 
 
The protracted, terrible fight for independence pitted the Irish against the British and the Irish against other Irish. It was both a physical battle of shocking violence against a regime increasingly seen as alien and unacceptable and an intellectual battle for a new sort of country. The damage done, the betrayals and grim compromises put the new nation into a state of trauma for at least a generation, but at a nearly unacceptable cost the struggle ended: a new republic was born. 
 
Charles Townshend's Easter 1916 opened up the astonishing events around the Rising for a new generation and in The Republic he deals, with the same unflinchingly wish to get to the truth behind the legend, with the most critical years in Ireland's history. There has been a great temptation to view these years through the prisms of martyrology and good-and-evil. The picture painted by Townshend is far more nuanced and sceptical - but also never loses sight of the ordinary forms of heroism performed by Irish men and women trapped in extraordinary times. 
 
'The author has devoted his life to the study of Irish history and this huge work is the pinnacle of his labours' John Banville on Easter 1916

Electric ... [a] magisterial and essential book

[A] tour de force ... wonderful ... brilliantly written history ... Townshend's book can only inspire admiration

Highly detailed and rich ... [a] magisterial and judicious narrative ... this must surely be one of the definitive texts on this period of Anglo-Irish history

Charles Townshend's monumental work [is] bold in ambition, scope and execution ... a work of broad and confident understanding, characterised by a uniform care in its approach to complex and controversial material ... An intensely compelling and often discomfiting narrative, which candidly explores four years of personal and intimate violence

Magisterial ... intensely gruelling but hugely impressive ... for people who prefer to know the facts ... [a] fine achievement of breathing new life into a subject that some historians might assume had already been done to death

For those interested in a reliable and empathetic introduction to the topic, this is now the best place to start

A great read ... it has certainly set a very high standard for others to measure up to

A well-sourced, severely objective account of the origins and courses of the wars that followed the Easter Rising

Charles Townshend's The Republic . . . nails the Irish revolutionary events of 1918-23 with his inimitable kind of forensic panache

Times Literary Supplement BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Charles Townshend is the author of the highly praised Easter 1916:The Irish Rebellion. His other books include The British Campaigns in Ireland, 1919-21 and When God Made Hell: The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Making of Iraq, 1914-21.

Charles Townshend

A model of research and analysis ... Townshend's concise and intelligent book ... tells a painful story that is probably not yet over.

A layered and mostly fair assessment of the dynamics, deal, prejudices and delusions that created the Border in Ireland ... This is a timely and important book, not just because of the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland but because so much of its content remains relevant to understanding contemporary preoccupations and controversies.

The completion of the trilogy is delivered with Townshend's characteristic scholarly panache ... he brings into unforgiving focus the carelessness, double-dealing and myopia which has bedevilled Britain's government of Ireland ... laconic but conclusive.

Townshend, a leading scholar of modern Irish history, has written an authoritative study of the origins of Ireland's partition.

An important book that provides not only a background to events one hundred years ago but is highly relevant to events that are still unfolding today ... Well written, full of insights and impressively topical.

Ireland Divided, 1885-1925

In the aftermath of the horrors of the Irish Famine, the grim, distrustful relationship between Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom deteriorated into a generations-long argument about 'Home Rule'. The unprecedented nature of the Irish problem made it extraordinarily difficult for either side to reach a compromise. For many years actual independence seemed inconceivable. And then, as these bitter disputes continued, it became clear that under no circumstances would the Protestants be party to any of it. 
 
 The Partition is a remarkable, clear-sighted and thoughtful account of how two unthinkable events - full Irish independence and the creation of the state of Northern Ireland - came to pass. The Irish nationalist claim to leave ran into a loyalist demand to remain, threatening large-scale violent resistance. 
 
 Here Charles Townshend lays out what is ultimately a tragic story, as partition became the only answer to an otherwise insoluble problem. The settlement of the Irish question conjured up heroes and villains, led to civil war and finally to Ulster's catastrophic Troubles. The hard border has always been seen as a failure of both British and Irish statecraft, but has endured now for a century. The Partition brilliantly brings to life the contingency and uncertainty that created it.

Charles Townshend

Praise for The Partition

A model of research and analysis ... Townshend's concise and intelligent book ... tells a painful story that is probably not yet over.

A layered and mostly fair assessment of the dynamics, deal, prejudices and delusions that created the Border in Ireland ... This is a timely and important book, not just because of the centenary of the creati ...

The completion of the trilogy is delivered with Townshend's characteristic scholarly panache ... he brings into unforgiving focus the carelessness, double-dealing and myopia which has bedevilled Britain's gov ...

A model of research and analysis ... Townshend's concise and intelligent book ... tells a painful story that is probably not yet over.

A layered and mostly fair assessment of the dynamics, deal, prejudices and delusions that created the Border in Ireland ... This is a timely and important book, not just because of the centenary of the creati ...

The completion of the trilogy is delivered with Townshend's characteristic scholarly panache ... he brings into unforgiving focus the carelessness, double-dealing and myopia which has bedevilled Britain's gov ...

A model of research and analysis ... Townshend's concise and intelligent book ... tells a painful story that is probably not yet over.

A layered and mostly fair assessment of the dynamics, deal, prejudices and delusions that created the Border in Ireland ... This is a timely and important book, not just because of the centenary of the creati ...

The completion of the trilogy is delivered with Townshend's characteristic scholarly panache ... he brings into unforgiving focus the carelessness, double-dealing and myopia which has bedevilled Britain's gov ...

Books by Charles Townshend

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