Research Fellow in Modern History

Research Fellow in Modern History A Research Fellow is sought to join a team of researchers on the project ‘Witnessing war, making peace: testimonies of revolution and restraint in inter-war Ireland led by Dr Anne Dolan. The post will commence in June 2025. Despite a war of independence (1919-21) and civil war (1922-23), Irelands experience of violence was relatively restrained compared to much of inter-war Europe; it returned to stability remarkably quickly. ‘Witnessing war, making peace will ask why Ireland was so relatively restrained in its use of violence during and after its revolution, and in doing so, it will establish new paradigms for exploring the history of violence and pioneer the history of a much less considered phenomenon - restraint. Scholarship on conflict has traditionally privileged the experiences of victims and combatants, this project will instead draw on the testimony of those who have been largely overlooked: the ordinary men and women who lived through Irelands wars, and the project will explore how they negotiated their ways from conflict to peace.Key to this is considering a variety of essential factors that shaped peoples lives. The Research Fellow will undertake a significant strand of the project, exploring how economic actors and economic developments during and after the Irish revolution hastened a return to stability in the 1920s and into the 1930s. Whether through land legislation, compensation schemes, pensions for combatants, dependants allowances, or through existing economic alliances or developing and adapting economic policies, economic decisions shaped the reconciliation of a variety of groups and individuals to the state. This strand of the project will explore some of the different ways and means that money mattered during and after the Irish revolution. Informal inquiries to Dr Anne Dolan at adolan@tcd.ie