Reprisals, Concentration Camps or Indian Measures

(Part XXII)

Following on from the collapse of the Clune Peace talks in December 1920, the British Government adopted an even more aggressive attitude to the war. 

However as they prepared to escalate the conflict in 1921 some leading figures in the British military and political establishment suggested extreme measures. This episode reveals what were deeply alarming debates taking place about how the war should be escalated.

To this end we hear from men who would go on to become some of the most famous British generals of the 20th century – Bernard Montgomery and Arthur Percival both of whom served in Ireland in 1921. 

The episode also looks at the growing tensions between Eamon DeValera and Michael Collins and the problems this created for the republican movement in 1921. 

Additional Research – Sam McGrath

Sound – Jason Looney

Additional Narrations – Therese Murray & Aidan Crowe