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Defending the Republic: The Siege and Execution of Rory O'Connor
In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we reflect on the momentous and tragic final year of Rory O’Connor, culminating in the "completely illegal" reprisal executions of O’Connor, Liam Mellows, Joe McKelvey, and Dick Barrett in December 1922. We examine these state-sanctioned killings—described as an act of "literal revenge" for the assassination of TD Seán Hales—as a pivotal and controversial moment in the birth of the Irish state.
We examine O'Connor's role within the context of the Irish Civil War's escalating bitterness, tracing his journey from the IRA's head of engineering to the…
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