Fighting Irish: The Irish Regiments in the First World War; Gavin Hughes

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Fighting Irish is a chronological account of the First World War from the perspective of the men of the Irish Regiments of the British Army, revealing the extent of the Irish military commitment from 1914-1918. It tackles the most pressing aspects of the war, from campaign strategy to the soldier’s intimate war experiences, using engaging documentary evidence and poignant eyewitness accounts. It chronicles their humour and trials, their fighting reputation and the mundane drudgery of routine military life, balanced by an insatiable waste of life itself.

Every campaign theatre where Irish regiments served is examined – the Western Front, the Dardanelles, Mesopotamia, Salonica and Palestine – as is the increasing political instability in Ireland at the time; the story of these regiments is at all times compelling, with the reasons for enlistment as varied as the men themselves. Fighting Irish is a sympathetic assessment of all those who served with the Irish regiments from 1914-1918, from broadly diverse cultural and political backgrounds, and recounts their deeds through sound historical research within a gripping and poignant narrative.