Galway: Politics and Society, 1910-23

The period 1910-23 in Ireland was one of dramatic change; change of governments, of states, of political attitudes and in day-to-day life. It is unmatched as a turbulent period in national history, and at a local level in Co. Galway. Despite this there is no local survey of the period. The historiography of Galway is poor, but it is nonetheless surprising that no major survey of the years 1910-23 has been attempted. Galway from 1910 to 1923 often seems paradoxical. A highly disruptive county with many of the island’s poorest inhabitants, it appeared ready to erupt once politics were radicalized in the absence of emigration during the years of the Great War, 1914-18. Yet revolution as seen in Tipperary, Cork and elsewhere was never to materialize. By any standards of assessment, Galway saw only low intensity fighting throughout the revolutionary years. However, there were a series of events throughout the period in which Galway was catapulted into the national and international limelight. Given that public opinion in Britain and internationally was important in securing British support for a cessation of hostilities, the contribution of Galway, small in many respects, cannot be dismissed from the annals of the War of Independence. The same is true of the Civil War, where isolated events cannot disguise an otherwise quiet conflict, but can inform contemporary popular opinion.