Bertolani Azeredo, Luca (2025) «There are illegalities that are not crimes». An investigation into political violence and paramilitary forces in pre-WWI Ireland. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

This dissertation examines the origins of political violence and armed voluntarism in early-twentieth-century Ireland and Great Britain, with particular focus on the early years of the Third Home Rule Bill Crisis (1912–1916). It argues that this period marked the decisive transition through which Irish and British politics became militarised. Structured in four chapters and an introduction, the thesis first situates Irish political violence within a longue durée perspective. Chapter I traces its roots from the Early Modern era through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, highlighting the role of state institutions, policing, and the military in shaping Irish society’s relationship to force. This framework illustrates how traditions of collective violence and the militarisation of civil life created fertile ground for the emergence of new paramilitary formations in the early twentieth century. Chapters II and III present four case studies of underexplored voluntary and paramilitary organisations that predated the better-known Ulster Volunteer Force and Irish Volunteers: Na Fianna Eireann, the Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland, the Enniskillen Horse, and the Irish Citizen Army. By reconstructing their establishment, political identities, and practices, the analysis reveals how these groups pioneered models of armed associationism and civic militarisation that would profoundly influence subsequent mass movements. These chapters underscore the extent to which local initiatives and grassroots mobilisation anticipated and shaped the larger paramilitary confrontation that unfolded during the Home Rule Bill Crisis. Chapter IV broadens the scope through a comparative historiographical lens, situating the Irish experience alongside contemporary European developments. The chapter examines analogous paramilitary phenomena across the continent, identifying commonalities in the militarisation of politics, the negotiation between legality and illegality, and the appeal of armed voluntarism in an age of modernisation. Through this comparison, the study reassesses the conceptual categories of political violence and paramilitarism, emphasising their shared European roots while recognising Ireland’s distinctive trajectory. By recovering lesser-known organisations and integrating Ireland into a wider continental debate, this dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of how paramilitarism emerged as both a national and transnational response to the crises of early-twentieth-century modernity and develops the historiographical discourse on the brutalisation of society through political violence.

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