Although most of the prominent figures from Ireland’s revolutionary generation have been endlessly profiled and commemorated, the controversial General Eoin O’Duffy remains a pariah. Despite reaching the towering heights of leadership in the republican movement during the Irish revolutionary period and subsequently becoming a key state-builder in early independent Ireland as head of the national police force, O’Duffy’s legacy retains a whiff of sulphur. It has been undoubtedly tarnished by his controversial political career in the 1930s, including his leadership of the fascistic Blueshirts and his pro-Franco involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
Using a blend of well-charted and previously overlooked or unavailable material, this study examines the tumultuous periods of Ireland’s struggle for independence and the early Irish Free State by utilising a biographical lens. It foregrounds O’Duffy’s place within pro-Treaty Irish nationalism, as a militarist and supporter of Michael Collins who became a safe pair of hands relied upon to rescue the pro-Treaty regime during crises. It offers new interpretations on his involvement within international fascism and provides much needed nuance on the prevalence of crypto-fascist outlooks in the 1930s. It seeks to blow away the cobwebs of mythology and recalibrate our understanding of this most controversial Irishman.

Jack Traynor is an Irish Research Council-funded PhD candidate at the Department of History in Trinity College Dublin.

Jack Traynor

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 5 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9326-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5133-0
Imprint: McFarland