February 2016 Lecture - The North Galway Flying Column and the Evolution of Guerrilla Warfare in Galway, 1920-21

Our lecture series continues this Thursday, 18th of February in Tuam Library at 8 pm. The Society is delighted to welcome Dr. Conor McNamara for his talk "The North Galway Flying Column and the Evolution of Guerrilla Warfare in Galway, 1920-21"

This lecture examines the emergence of IRA flying columns composed of young rural fighters in north Galway in the late winter of 1920. The Republican campaign went through several evolutions during the War of Independence and as the brutality of the Crown Forces campaign escalated, the Volunteers were forced on the defensive with key officers seeking refuge in the isolated countryside while making sporadic attacks on the military. This talk places the north Galway flying column in a national perspective and examines the main characters and dynamics involved in the campaign.

Dr. McNamara is the NUI Galway, 1916 Scholar in Residence and has written extensively on the history of the Irish Revolution including his latest book 'The Easter Rebllion 1916: A New Illustrated History'