The fifth volume in the Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series, this reference covers the development of Irish foreign policy from January 1, 1937, to September 1, 1939, and, also, it exemplifies terrific bookmaking (nice binding, quality paper, great colors). The documents are supplemented by an introductory essay; a list of archival sources; brief biographies of the main Irish ministerial, diplomatic, and administrative figures, and key foreign figures appearing in the text; a chronological list of the documents reproduced including the title, main subject addressed, document date, and page number in the text; and six appendices: a list of/files and documents dating from 1938 to 1940 destroyed by the Department of External Affairs, months of the year in Irish and English, a glossary of Irish words and phrases, the text of the December 6, 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, a list of Irish missions abroad 1937-1939, and calendars for the years 1937- 1939. Distributed in the U.S. by ISBS. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The Documents on Irish Foreign Policy series is the history of Irish foreign policy reproduced from the text of selected original documents from the files of the Department of Foreign Affairs now held in the National Archives of Ireland. Much of this material has never before been seen by historians. The series also includes important documents from papers of significant individuals, in particular from the private papers of Eamon de Valera. Volume V chronicles Irish foreign policy in the last years of peace leading up to the outbreak of World War Two. It shows how Ireland moved from supporting the League of Nations to a policy of wartime neutrality. The volume also explains in unrivaled details the important developments in Anglo-Irish relations leading to the 1938 Anglo-Irish Agreement over trade, finance, and defense, which allowed Ireland to remain neutral in World War Two and includes full texts of the negotiations leading to the Agreements. The volume is essential for anyone interested in Irish history and Irish foreign policy, and, in a wider context, the response of small states to the clash between democracy and fascism that led to the Second World War. The volume contains confidential reports and deciphered code telegrams from the Irish legations in Washington, London, Paris, Geneva, Berlin, and the Holy See to Dublin, including newly declassified material. It includes a comprehensive account of Ireland's policy towards Spain during the Spanish Civil War, including the question of whether to recognize Franco's government before the end of the civil war and how to safeguard the life of Irishman Frank Ryan, an IRA man fighting with the International Brigade, captured, jailed, and sentenced to death in Spain by the Nationalists.
