2023
First Published
4.00
Average Rating
382
Number of Pages
Part of Series
When Operation Banner was launched in 1969 civil war threatened to break out in Northern Ireland and spread over the Irish Sea. Uncivil War reveals the full story of how the British army acted to save Great Britain from disaster during the most violent phase of the Troubles but, in so doing, condemned the people of Northern Ireland to protracted, grinding conflict. Huw Bennett shows how the army's ambivalent response to loyalist violence undermined the prospects for peace and heightened Catholic distrust in the state. British strategy consistently underestimated community defence as a reason for people joining or supporting the IRA whilst senior commanders allowed the army to turn in on itself, hardening soldiers to the suffering of ordinary people. By 1975 military strategists considered the conflict the army could not convince Catholics or Protestants that it was there to protect them and settled instead for an unending war.
Avg Rating
4.00
Number of Ratings
18
5 STARS
28%
4 STARS
56%
3 STARS
11%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
6%
goodreads
Author
Huw Bennett
Author · 1 book
Huw Bennett is a Lecturer in Defence Studies at King's College London, teaching at the British Joint Services Command and Staff College.
