The Anglo-Irish War has often been referred to as the war 'the English have struggled to forget and the Irish cannot help but remember'. Before 1919, the issue of Irish Home Rule lurked beneath the surface of Anglo-Irish relations for many years, but after the Great War, tensions rose up and boiled over. Irish Nationalists in the shape of Sinn Fein and the IRA took political power in 1919 with a manifesto to claim Ireland back from an English 'foreign' government by whatever means necessary. This book explores the conflict and the years that preceded it, examining such historic events as the Easter Rising and the infamous Bloody Sunday.

Peter Cottrell is the author of the best-selling military history 'The Anglo-Irish War: The Troubles 1913-23' which challenges traditional nationalist interpretations of the Easter Rising; the role of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the popularity of the IRA campaign whilst supporting the view that the conflict was as much an Irish civil war as a struggle for independence from the UK.

He grew up in the village of Kenfig Hill, Mid-Glamorgan in South Wales. Between 1981 and 2008 he served in the ranks of the British Territorial Army and as an officer in the Royal Navy and British Army. He gained a BA(Hons) in Humanities from Wolverhampton Polytechnic, a PGCE from University College Swansea and an MA(Distinction) in History from the Open University. In 2008 he retired from active duty and was transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers in order to pursue a career as a writer, teaching English, History and Classics as well as lecturing on the Anglo-Irish Troubles in Ireland and the UK. He is a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association.