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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2023
Histories of wars normally end in victory or defeat. For nearly two decades after 1998, peace settled on Northern Ireland, and only small-minded hairsplitters devoted much attention to proving who won. The British government only really aimed for victory, in the sense of totally defeating the IRA, for less than a year. In 1975 the government gave up trying for a resolution. This book is a history about how a country and its army became entangled in a war they could not bear to lose but were unwilling to pay the price to win. Ministers, their officials and soldiers fretted over what might happen if they stood aside. The debates in 1969 and 1975 were essentially about the same question: would there be a civil war if Britain left the Irish to their own devices? Writings on civil war often seek to comprehend the intensity of violence, and its variation from one time and place to another. Yet efforts to prevent civil war have also left a lingering mark on many societies.2
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