Shell-Shock. How Irish veterans of the First World War experienced war trauma
In April 2020, Dr Michael Robinson published a monograph in Manchester University Press’ ‘Disability History’ series entitled: Shell-shocked British Army veterans in Ireland, 1918-39: A difficult homecoming. It now has been republished in paperback format on 15 February 2022.
Dr Robinson said: “With a focus on mental illness, my book provides the first in-depth investigation of disabled Great War veterans in Ireland. In particular, I was interested in understanding how inter-war Ireland's turbulent socio-political circumstances impacted upon these veterans. Existing works into shell-shock have remained focused on Britain with Irish analysis remaining overlooked in comparison.”
The Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921) and Irish Civil War (1922-1923) differentiated the Irish experience of post-war trauma from their former British comrades with veterans returning home to an Ireland experiencing significant social and political upheaval. This homecoming detrimentally impacted upon their recovery with medical infrastructure and welfare administration compromised by domestic turmoil. For the remainder of the 1920s and 1930s, psychoneurotic veterans in the newly-established Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State experienced two different trajectories. While the treatment of mentally ill veterans in Northern Ireland generally aligned with the British experience, veterans in the Irish Free State were largely overlooked and forgotten about by a state and society which placed little value on their war service and sacrifice. The monograph foregrounds how the British state then provided significant financial assistance for these veterans for the remainder of their lives.
Find out more about the book on the Manchester University Press website.