Irish Neutrality in World War II: A Review Essay

Abstract

Irish Neutrality in WorldWar II: aReview Essay Timothy J. White and Andrew J.Riley Department of Political Science, Xavier University, Cincinnati, USA Brian Girvin, The Emergency: neutral Ireland 1939-45. London: Macmillan, 2006. Eunan O'Halpin, Spying on Ireland: British intelligence and Irish neutrality during the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Michael Kennedy, Guarding neutral Ireland: the coast watching service and military intelligence, 1939-1945. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008. Clair Wills, That neutral island: a cultural history of Ireland during the Second World War. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2007. World War II was one of the defining events of the twentieth century. In this conflict, theAllies are typically seen as the heroic champions of freedom against the evil tyranny of theAxis powers. This narrative has brought into question Irish neutrality during the Emergency. How is one tomake sense of neutrality during a war that seemed to hold such high moral claims and seemed to compel everyone to take a stand? What could have motivated the Irish tomaintain their neutrality throughout thewar in the face of constant pressure to abandon it? In the 1970s and 1980s there were a number of books thateither defended or attacked Ireland's neutrality in World War II, primarily in the context of the Cold War.1 More recently, there have been several books and articles that assessed Ireland's neutrality policy, but few have provided in-depth cultural or political analysis of the Emergency.2 Roberts has ^arolle J. Carter, The shamrock and the swastika (Palo Alto, 1977); John P. Duggan, Neutral Irelandand theThirdReich (Dublin, 1985);T. Ryle Dwyer, ?rush neutrality and theUSA, 1939-47 (Dublin, 1977); T. Ryle Dwyer, Strained relations: Ireland at peace and the USA at war (Totawa, NJ, 1988); Joseph T. O'Carroll, Ireland in the war years (New York, 1975); Trevor C. Salmon, Unneutral Ireland: an ambivalent and unique security policy (Oxford, 1989); Bernard Share, The Emergency: neutral Ireland, 1939-45 (Dublin, 1978). 2R?isin Doherty, Ireland, neutrality, and European security integration (Aldershot, 2002), 32-42; Thomas E. Hachey,The rhetoric and reality of Irishneutrality'. New Hibernian Review 6 (2) (2002), 26-43: 31-5; Neil G. Jesse, 'Contemporary Irish neutrality: still a singular stance'. New Hibernian Review 11(1) (2007), 74-95: 75-8; DermotKeogh andMervynO'Driscoll, Ireland in WorldWar Two: Diplomacy and survival (Cork, 2004); John A. Murphy, Trish neutrality in historical perspective', in Brian Girvin and Geoffrey Roberts (eds), Ireland and the Second World War: politics, society and remembrance(Dublin,2000), 9-23; MartinQuigley,A spy inIreland (Dublin, 1999);EunanO'Halpin, Defending Ireland: the Irish Tree State and its enemies since 1922 (Oxford. 1999); Eunan O'Halpin, 4Irish neutrality in the Second World War', in Neville Wylie (ed.), European neutrals and non belligerants during the Second World War (Cambridge, 2002), 283-303: Ben Tonra, Global citizen and European republic (Manchester, 2006), 153-5. Authors' e-mail: white@xavier.edu Irish Studies in international Affairs, Vol. 19 (2008). 143-150. 144 Irish Studies in International Affairs suggested thatwhile Fisk provided the best account of Irish neutrality during World War II, what was needed was a new narrative to explain the 'complexities, contradictions, and ambivalences' of this policy.3 A new set of books has been published regarding various aspects of the Emergency. Brian Girvin, Eunan O'Halpin, Michael Kennedy, and Clair Wills have taken advantage of recently released archives to re-evaluate Irish wartime neutrality. These authors have approached this task from markedly divergent paths?Wills focusing on culture, Girvin on the political context, O'Halpin on British intelligence and Kennedy on coastal security. They provide well-written, thoroughly researched and nuanced accounts of Irish neutrality during the war. One can ascertain themost complete understanding of neutrality during the Emergency by combining the cultural, political, military and diplomatic insights these books offer. Wills and Girvin agree on the political context that gave rise to the policy of neutrality, but theydiverge in their views toward de Valera and the Irish government. Wills portrays de Valera as realistic and pragmatic in his approach to neutrality, noting thathe recognised that Ireland was a small nation thathad no business in the game of power politics and that Ireland had...