When the First World War was declared, a surge of euphoria swept across Great Britain and Ireland engulfing all in its path. In England, most men joined for ‘king and country’. However, in Ireland the reasons were many and varied. ‘Galway & The Great War’ explores these reasons and all aspects of the effects that the war had on Galway. It deals with the outbreak of the conflict and the effects that the war had on the Galway area, the mobilisation, recruitment, conscription, opposition, threat and suspicion, the war at sea, the industry of war, support for the troops at the front and the aftermath. Accounts of the main battles are given with contemporary letters and interviews from Galway men serving at the front. The book concludes with a role of honour, a list of Galway men who lost their lives in the war. Almost every family in Ireland was affected by the Great War. However, with dramatic changes in the political climate, these men returned to a very different Ireland. They went away as heroes, but returned almost as traitors, unable to tell anyone of the horrors and suffering they had been part of.