Ireland has a long, proud military tradition. The aim of this seminar is to look at all aspects of Irish military history, drawing chiefly on events and personnel from within our nation’s past. Great episodes in Ireland’s history are intermingled with escapades in far-off places like South Africa, Flanders and the U.S.A.

Hosted by Kildare County Council and the Kildare Decade of Commemorations Committee, in association with JuneFest, Prosperous Heritage Festival, Ireland’s Military Story, Merrion Press, Creative Ireland and Into Kildare.

Friday, 8 June: Opening of seminar with a lecture on The Glen of Imaal Disaster of 1941 by Terence O’Reilly and  Readings from the Leb with Martin Malone; a Civic Reception with the Mayor and the launch by Col. Desmond Travers (Retd) with Conor Graham, Merrion Press of Witness to War Crimes, by Colm Doyle. This will be followed by a panel discussion on the politics of commemoration with local journalists and historians – Who Fears to Speak of ’22?

Saturday, 9 June: Full day of presentations from noted historians:  Damian Shiels, Dan Harvey, Neil Richardson, Liz Gillis, Anne Chambers, Professor Micheál Ó Siochrú.

Topics: Granuaile – Grace O’Malley, pirate Queen; Oliver Cromwell in Ireland; The Battle of Rorke’s Drift (Anglo-Zulu War, South Africa 1879); Irishmen in the American Civil War; Women and the struggle for Irish freedom 1918-23; World War I.

Friday: Free

Saturday: €5 (includes Tea & coffee)

Further details: http://www.kildare.ie/ehistory/index.php/2nd-irish-military-seminar-8-9-june-2018/