This book provides an original assessment of the First World War in Ireland and its consequences, the key to understanding the complexities of the Irish nation today. Thomas Hennessey explores how the War transformed the nature of the Irish and Ulster questions from devolved self-government within the UK to a free Irish republic outside the British Empire, considering such influential figures as de Valera and Michael Collins, and issues such as conscription. He examines both this process of re-evaluation, and the vital question of the consequences for Northern Ireland today.

Thomas Hennessey is Lecturer in History at Canterbury Christ Church College.

Introduction: The Crown and national identity in the United Kingdom and British Empire 1 National identity, Home Rule and the Ulster question 2 Ireland in 1914 41 3 The Great War and national identity, 1914-16 4 The Easter Rising and aftermath 5 Loyalty and the Crown: Nationalist divisions and Unionist-Nationalist rapprochement, 1916-18 6 The Irish Convention and the conscription crisis, 1917-18