This is the compelling story of West Belfast's involvement fighting on the Western Front throughout the First World War. This is the story of men from either side of West Belfast's sectarian divide during the Great War. This dramatic book tells the story of the volunteers of the 36th and 16th divisions who fought on the Somme and side-by-side at Messines. Grayson also brings in forgotten West Belfast men from throughout the armed forces, from the retreat at Mons to the defeat of Germany and life post-war. In so doing, he tells a new story which challenges popular perceptions of the war and explains why remembrance remains so controversial in Belfast today.

This work shows the importance of analysing the low politics of areas that have traditionally been dominated by high politics. The role of bodies such as the Liberal Summer School and the Women's Liberal Federation are examined, along with the work of thinkers such as JM Keynes and Ramsay Muir. The text should make two major contributions to our knowledge of the role of international relations in British politics in the inter-war years. First, by analyzing the Liberal Party's principles and policies on international relations, it offers a perspective on British Liberalism. Second, by exploring the Liberal Party's alternative to the Baldwin-Chamberlain policy of appeasement, it enters the historical debate on the options open to Britain in the 1930s, and shows that there was a Liberal alternative to appeasement.

This is a study of Austen Chamberlain's term of office as Stanley Baldwin's Foreign Secretary from 1924-29. It is argued that Chamberlain's priority was a two-stage policy in Western Europe, which aimed at pacifying both France and Germany, as well as encouraging the League of Nations. Other key chapters deal with British policy in the Middle East and China and policy towards America. Overall, Chamberlain is shown to have committed Britain to a European diplomatic role, whcih was opposed by Cabinet ministers who did not see a European interest to all aspects of British foreign policy. At the turn of the millennium, in the Conservative Party, this debate is still unresolved.

No one saw it coming. No pundit, no pollster and no political leader predicted David Cameron's Conservative Party would win a majority of seats in Parliament and his three main opponents would resign as party leaders. The consequences of the coalition also became clear as the Liberal Democrats fell dramatically from grace, and lost their spot as Britain's third party. And despite Scotland voting 'NO' to independence in 2014, the election result also threatens the Union, with the Scottish National Party winning all but three of the country's seats. In this timely edition, Richard S. Grayson analyses Britain's changing political landscape, and explores the role of the media, the European Union and the UK's 'special relationship' with the US. Thorough and incisive, British Politics: A Beginner's Guide is the perfect introduction to the structure, parties and personalities of British Government today.

The diary of an officer in the 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers covering 1914-19 and four theatres of war. Noel Drury (1884-1975) was from a middle-class Dublin Protestant family and served most of the First World War as an officer in the 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers in the 10th (Irish) Division. The division was the first of Ireland's wartime volunteer formations to be posted overseas, arriving at Gallipoli in August 1915 in the Suvla Bay landings. Drury and his battalion experienced several key phases of the Gallipoli campaign before being redeployed to Salonika in October 1915. Drury was away from his battalion for a year in 1916-17 suffering from malaria, but rejoined in Palestine towards the end of 1917. From there his battalion was sent to the Western Front in the summer of 1918 to take part in the Hundred Days Offensive. Drury's diaries describe training, daily life, contrasting theatres of the war, and show what it meant to be an Irish officer in the British army.

The year 1916 witnessed two events that would profoundly shape both politics and commemoration in Ireland over the course of the following century. Although the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme were important historical events in their own right, their significance also lay in how they came to be understood as iconic moments in the emergence of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing on history, politics, anthropology and cultural studies, this volume explores how the memory of these two foundational events has been constructed, mythologised and revised over the course of the past century. The aim is not merely to understand how the Rising and the Somme came to exert a central place in how the past is viewed in Ireland, but to explore wider questions about the relationship between history, commemoration and memory.

For the first time, Richard S. Grayson tells the story of the Dubliners who served in the British military and in republican forces during the First World War and the Irish Revolution as a series of interconnected 'Great Wars'. He charts the full scope of Dubliners' military service, far beyond the well-known Dublin 'Pals', with as many as 35,000 serving and over 6,500 dead, from the Irish Sea to the Middle East and beyond. Linking two conflicts usually narrated as separate stories, he shows how Irish nationalist support for Britain going to war in 1914 can only be understood in the context of the political fight for Home Rule and why so many Dubliners were hostile to the Easter Rising. He examines Dublin loyalism and how the War of Independence and the Civil War would be shaped by the militarisation of Irish society and the earlier experiences of veterans of the British army.

The year 1916 witnessed two events that would profoundly shape both politics and commemoration in Ireland over the course of the following century. Although the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme were important historical events in their own right, their significance also lay in how they came to be understood as iconic moments in the emergence of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing on history, politics, anthropology and cultural studies, this volume explores how the memory of these two foundational events has been constructed, mythologised and revised over the course of the past century. The aim is not merely to understand how the Rising and the Somme came to exert a central place in how the past is viewed in Ireland, but to explore wider questions about the relationship between history, commemoration and memory.

For the first time, Richard S. Grayson tells the story of the Dubliners who served in the British military and in republican forces during the First World War and the Irish Revolution as a series of interconnected 'Great Wars'. He charts the full scope of Dubliners' military service, far beyond the well-known Dublin 'Pals', with as many as 35,000 serving and over 6,500 dead, from the Irish Sea to the Middle East and beyond. Linking two conflicts usually narrated as separate stories, he shows how Irish nationalist support for Britain going to war in 1914 can only be understood in the context of the political fight for Home Rule and why so many Dubliners were hostile to the Easter Rising. He examines Dublin loyalism and how the War of Independence and the Civil War would be shaped by the militarisation of Irish society and the earlier experiences of veterans of the British army.

This is the compelling story of West Belfast's involvement fighting on the Western Front throughout the First World War. This is the story of men from either side of West Belfast's sectarian divide during the Great War. This dramatic book tells the story of the volunteers of the 36th and 16th divisions who fought on the Somme and side-by-side at Messines. Grayson also brings in forgotten West Belfast men from throughout the armed forces, from the retreat at Mons to the defeat of Germany and life post-war. In so doing, he tells a new story which challenges popular perceptions of the war and explains why remembrance remains so controversial in Belfast today.