Show Notes
In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Frank Stagg’s 1976 hunger strike—a 60-day ordeal that ended in a "cloud of controversy" and left his family deeply divided. We examine the harrowing physiological toll of the strike and the Irish government's extraordinary tactical decision to intercept Stagg's remains via helicopter to prevent the IRA from achieving a "propaganda coup".
Additionally, we travel back 100 years to 1926 to analyze the "splenetic denunciation" of the Irish Free State by the Unionist press. We discuss how the Irish News exposed this as a "political trick" used by leaders to distract their own public from domestic grievances by focusing on the "business worries" of their neighbours.
To conclude, we address the international stage of the mid-1920s, specifically Benito Mussolini’s aggressive "Italianization" of South Tyrol. We examine his defiant stance against the "toothless" League of Nations, a bold assertion of power that signaled the darkening political climate of early 20th-century Europe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Irish History Boys
Welcome to this week's The Irish History Boys podcast with Tim and Cormac. On this episode, they discuss the 1976 Irish Presidential Crisis, where President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh referred new emergency powers legislation to the Supreme Court following heightened IRA violence in Dublin, creating severe friction with Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave’s coalition government.
Join Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore on The Irish History Boys as they explore what British policy looked like towards Ireland between 1912 and 1921, including home rule.
Join Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore on The Irish History Boys as they explore Ireland's diplomatic push for co-equality at the 1926 Imperial Conference and the Balfour Declaration.
In this episode of the Irish History Boys, hosts Cormac Moore and Tim McGarry are joined by Dr Gavin Hughes to examine the bloody, highly complex tragedy of the 1798 Irish Rebellion.
In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we reflect on Oliver Cromwell’s brutal 10-month invasion of Ireland in 1649, a devastating campaign marked by the massacres at Drogheda and Wexford that left a 400-year shadow over the island.