Collective trauma: War inherited an awkward place in history

Given its fraught legacy, the Irish Civil War and its memory will not be easily moulded to fit official centenary agendas

The Four Courts bombarded in Dublin, July 1922. Picture: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

The centenary of the Irish Civil War belatedly throws a spotlight on the occluded history and legacy of the traumatic conflict that terminated its national revolution as it inaugurated its statehood. 

As with earlier milestones in the decade of centenaries, scholarly and public energies will be devoted to recovering, revisiting, and reflecting on the events and contexts of the period.