Pauric Travers's Donegal: the Irish Revolution 1912–23 is the latest in the excellent county series from Four Courts Press. The book follows the standard chronological template of other works in the series: chapters deal with the the home rule crisis, the First World War, the 1916 Rising, the growth of Sinn Féin, the War of Independence and the Civil War. Given Donegal's geographic location on the border, partition is an ever-present feature of the discussion. While such a structure may point to a narrow study of political violence, this is not the case.
From the outset, Travers resists the temptation to present a single streamlined master narrative applicable to the entire county. Indeed, he points to evidence of four distinct areas roughly coinciding with the county's parliamentary constituencies: east Donegal with its significant Protestant population and larger farm size; impoverished west Donegal which was home to a large concentration of Irish speakers; the marginally more industrialised north Donegal with its ties to Derry; and south Donegal, which again had a significant Protestant population and ties to Sligo and west Fermanagh. Layered upon these, Travers consistently addresses macro divisions associated with class, religion, gender, fraternal bodies and ideology. A complex picture is presented. This focus on disparity within the county certainly ‘presents a challenge for those who would seek to apply a simple model to explain the upsurge of radical nationalism’ (p. 15).
Early on, Travers observes that there was a lack of outstanding political leaders locally in the period. Given Irish political culture of the time and subsequently, this is surprising for a rural county of its size. Indeed, Donegal would in later decades be particularly associated with the type of clientelism that produces domineering political figures. Not least among these was Neil Blaney. As a related aside, it would no doubt have irked Blaney to discover that this volume does not mention the former government minister's father, Neal Blaney, who was a senior I.R.A. member in Fanad in the 1920s. This omission is a reflection of the nature of the work, which at times lacks micro level detail on violent episodes, but compensates by providing a broader perspective.
Particular prominence is given to the role of Roman Catholic bishop Patrick O'Donnell of Raphoe. He was the exception when it came to political talent, according to Travers. O'Donnell is presented as an ‘influential advisor’ (p. 16) to John Redmond on home rule but features in discussions of the entire period. Given the substantial unionist population, home rule had a particularly polarising effect. As illustration, in 1912, 17,985 signed the Ulster Covenant, amounting to 73 per cent of the eligible Protestant population of the county. This is a higher proportion than in Tyrone and Fermanagh. There are interesting questions raised with regard to the militancy of Donegal loyalists that leaves scope for further study. The Ulster Volunteer Force's initial activity locally is described as ‘haphazard’ but by July 1914 the organisation had over 3,000 members in the county. There was also a significant Orange Order presence. Raphoe, Pettigo and Ballintra are each identified as loyalist strongholds. Yet, when conflict came in 1919–21, armed loyalism seems to have played a peripheral role. This contrasts with neighbouring counties in the new Northern Ireland and Monaghan, another outpost county for Ulster loyalists. A broader issue is raised by this anomaly. The Military Service Pensions Collection, Bureau of Military History and other local sources, many of which are used in this study, detail the minutiae of the experience of rank-and-file republican volunteers, but there is no corollary for loyalists. There is certainly scope for further investigation of how loyalists experienced the violent years 1920–22, in particular. Whether enough archive sources exist to support such study is another matter.
It is worth noting that the chapter on the War of Independence itself is short, just thirteen pages. Nonetheless, the key message is clear — ‘the War of Independence in Donegal was on a smaller scale than much of the rest of the country’ (p. 113). However, the Civil War was more vicious. This is despite the fact that the bulk of the local I.R.A. took the pro-Treaty side. Travers speculates on the factors that might have contributed to the violence, the influx of I.R.A. members from Northern Ireland and the presence of seasoned republican veterans from Munster being significant elements. This latter group were sent north to fight an abortive border war and ended up back-boning the anti-Treaty forces, partition being central to both factors as it is to the study generally.
In the concluding pages, Travers observes that the Irish revolution was ‘not a single uniform phenomenon’. He further points out that a major theme of the volume is the ‘spatial, religious and political diversity’ within nationalism and unionism and is successful in conveying this. Like the best scholarship, the work also raises questions, some of which have been highlighted in this review. Overall, this is a fine study using a wide variety of sources. It is written in an accessible style that cleverly piques reader interest with thought-provoking references to local literature, such as the writings of Patrick MacGill and Peadar O'Donnell.
