Description

The devastating scale of the First World War reached deep into the communities of rural Ireland, forever altering families and local social dynamics. In Clare and the Great War, renowned historian Joe Power constructs a brilliant, data-driven investigation into the thousands of Clare men who enlisted in the British military and fought on global battlefields.

The text documents the complex motivations behind enlistment, tracing the journeys of soldiers from Ennis, Kilrush, and rural parishes into the trenches of the Somme, the beaches of Gallipoli, and the mud of Passchendaele. Power look deeply into the political friction back home, the experiences of families left behind, and the difficult, often silent return of veterans to a rapidly changing independent Ireland. Written with sharp narrative pacing and exceptional historical accuracy, this book stands as an absolute necessity for military history collectors and genealogists.

Key historical insights explored in this work:

• Comprehensive Enlistment Logs: Meticulously tracks individual soldier profiles, battalions, casualty rates, and field decorations across the county.

• Home Front Political Dynamics: Evaluates the intense shifts in public opinion from early wartime support to the post-1916 rise of republicanism.

• Unrivaled Primary Source Value: Built directly from contemporary local newspapers, private soldier letters, and official war diary registries.