Tracing the history and development of gun-making in Birmingham, England-for many years a center of the world's firearms industry-this book covers innovations in design and manufacture of both military and sporting arms from 1660 through 1960. The city is perhaps best known for mass-producing some of the most battle-tested weapons in history, including the Brown Bess musket, the Webley revolver and the Lee-Enfield rifle. Yet Birmingham's gun-makers have carried on a centuries-long tradition of crafting high quality hand-made sporting guns.

Tracing the development of the Irish Republican Army following Ireland's Declaration of Independence, this book focuses on the recruitment, training, and arming of Ireland's military volunteers and the Army's subsequent guerrilla campaign against British rule. Beginning with a brief account of the failed Easter Rising, it continues through the resulting military and political re-organizations, the campaign's various battles, and the eventual truce agreements and signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Other topics include: the significance of Irish intelligence and the British counter-intelligence efforts; urban warfare and the fight for Dublin; and the role of female soldiers, suffragettes, and other women in waging the IRA's campaign.

This detailed account of the Irish Republican Army's bombing campaign against Britain during 1939-1940 describes how initial attacks on economic targets turned into a series of terror bombings causing the deaths of seven innocent people. Though two IRA members were hanged, the real men responsible, named here, escaped. The author covers the political situation in Ireland prior to the attacks, the recruiting and training of the bombers, the bombing campaign and the trial of two men for the murder of five people in Coventry.

Brereton's journal is a book made up of letters from the English Civil War (1642-1646). A Parliamentary general, Sir William was engaged in the siege of Dudley Castle, Bridgnorth Castle and the fortifield cathedral close at Lichfield. The Letter Book contains copies of letters sent and received by Brereton. There are details of his victory against the last Royalist army in the field, his various sieges, his constant need for money and more troops, and the movements of King Charles I prior to his surrender to the Scots. The Introduction details a history of the civil war, of the battles and skirmishes, up to the writing of the Letter Book. A conclusion relates what happened after: the end of the war, the trial and execution of Charles I, the Interregnum and finally the Restoration and Brereton's retirement from public life.

This work records a week in Dublin during April 1916 when in a forlorn hope 2,000 Irish Volunteers rose up in armed rebellion against the British Empire in a bid to establish an independent Irish state. The Rising is recalled in the words of those who took part. It traces the establishment of the various organizations that eventually came together that Easter week. The work then leads on to a day-to-day narrative of the men and women who took part. There are details of the highs and lows; of the triumphs and the little unexpected things that are sometimes lost in the noise of battle. In parts the narrative is intensely personal when participants record the deaths of those close to them. The work does not shy away from the atrocities and murders that took place on both sides; recorded in the Coroner`s reports. Then the work gives a personal account of the trial and, perhaps unnecessary, execution of the leaders, and the imprisonment of the surviving Volunteers.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Women have too often been written out of history. This is especially true in the fight for Irish independence. The women's struggle was three-fold, beginning with the suffragettes' fight to win the vote. Then came the push for fair pay and working conditions. Binding them together became part of the national struggle, first for home rule, then for the establishment of an Irish Republic. The Easter Rising of 1916 brought them together as soldiers of the Republic. Through the terrible years that followed they became the conscience of Republicanism. Following independence, they were betrayed by the men they had served alongside. DeValera and the Catholic Church restricted their roles in society-they were to be wives and mothers without a voice. It was not until Ireland's entry into the European community and the self destruction of a corrupt Church that Irish women were acknowledged for what they had achieved.

Perhaps more than all the campaigns of the Union armies, the Union naval blockade-covering all major Southern ports along 3,500 miles of coastline for the duration of the war-brought down the Confederacy. The daring exploits of Confederate blockade runners are well known-but many of them were British citizens operating out of neutral ports such as Nassau, Havana and Bermuda. Focusing on British involvement in the war, this history names the overseas bankers and manufacturers who, in critical need of cotton and other Confederate exports, financed and equipped the fast little ships that ran the blockade. The author attempts to disentangle the names and aliases of the captains-many of whom were Royal Navy officers on temporary leave-and tells their stories in their own words.

In Dublin, the War of Irish Independence (1919-1921) was an intense and dirty battle between military intelligence agents. While IRA flying columns fought the British Army and the Black and Tans in the countryside, the fighting in Ireland's capitol city pitted the wits of IRA Commander Michael Collins against the cloak-and-dagger innovations of British Intelligence Chief Colonel Ormonde de l'Epee Winter. This history chronicles the covert war of assassinations, arrests, torture and murder that culminated in the November 1920 mass assassination of British intelligence officers by IRA squads.

In the 1880s, Clan-na-Gael, an extremist Irish-American organization that succeeded the Fenian Brotherhood, initiated a dynamite campaign against Britain in a bid to bring about Irish independence. Throughout England, explosions rocked government, military and police targets, including the Tower of London, London Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. This detailed study chronicles the origins, operations and aftereffects of the campaign, especially its heavy infiltration by spies, informers and agents of a rogue British Secret Service. By exploring the overlooked areas of the operation's history, this volume reveals how, in a bid to discredit the Irish National Party in Parliament, those most entrusted with Britain`s security were themselves complicit in the bombings.