Eoin O'Duffy was one of the most controversial figures of modern
Irish history. A guerrilla leader and protege of Michael Collins,
he rose rapidly through the ranks of the republican movement. By
1922 he was chief of staff of the IRA, a member of the Irish
Republican Brotherhood's Supreme Council, and a Sinn Fein deputy in
Dail Eireann. As chief of police, O'Duffy was the strongest
defender of the Irish Free State only to become, after his
emergence as leader of the Blueshirt movement in 1933, the greatest
threat to its survival. Increasingly drawn to international
fascism, he founded Ireland's first fascist party, and led an Irish
Brigade to fight under General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. He
died in wartime Dublin, a Nazi collaborator, and a broken man. This
study, the first ever biography of Eoin O'Duffy, draws on
unpublished archival and personal papers to trace his journey from
revolutionary republicanism to fascism. It examines the importance
of cultural forces, including the legacy of the Irish-Ireland
movement, Catholicism, anti-communism, and O'Duffy's ideas on
sports, morality, and masculinity to explain his descent into
extremism. McGarry peels away the public persona to reveal a
complex picture of the motives which drove this extraordinary
career. A crusading moralist and advocate of teetotalism, obsessed
with the need to counter public immorality, who was at the same
time a closet homosexual and alcoholic, O'Duffy's remarkable life
was characterised by self-aggrandisement, fantasy, and
contradiction. This fascinating biography explores themes as
diverse as cultural nationalism, violence, sectarianism,
militarism, and masculinity to shed new light on Irish
republicanism and the politics of interwar European fascist
movements. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand
the complexities of culture, politics, and society in interwar
Ireland.
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