Ireland's Great War

Kevin Myers pioneered the study of the Irish in the Great War. His first article on the subject appeared in November 1979, based on the only major interview with the Irish Victoria Cross winner, Sergeant Jack Moyney VC. His many subsequent articles and talks on the subject over subsequent decades have covered the entire historical and military spectrum, from the first Irish deaths in a naval engagement in the North Sea on 6 August 1914, with the sinking of HMS Amphion, to the very last shots, shortly before 11 am, at the Second Battle of Mons, on 11 November 1918, which fatally wounded an Irish cavalryman. This is a selection of his works, drawn from newspaper articles and talks, many of them never published before. It contains new and startling insights into the bravery, stoicism and unbearable tragedy of the Irish in the Great War.