Theresa May to honour Irish republican Countess Markievicz

elperello wrote: »

I bet May secretly wishes she had the small arms skills of the Countess.

What?????

She set up a position in Stephens Green surrounded on all sides by high buildings......in that regard she is exactly like May......she established a poor position, pushed it, got isolated, then had to engage in a fighting retreat to more defensible but strategically unimportant ground!

......oh, and the copper she is reputed to have shot was unarmed.

And admirable person in many regards, but when it came to military nouse any admiration one might have for her would be better directed elsewhere.

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stimpson wrote: »

Regretible, but I'm sure it was a tactical necessity.

Eh?

The officer reputed to have been shot by Markievicz was Clare-man Michael Lahiff. He was unarmed. And, according to one witness account, was shot as he walked down from Harcourt Street......

.....given you are so sure it was necessary, what in your opinion made it so?

....what possible threat did a single, unarmed Clare-man offer to an armed group?

steddyeddy wrote: »

Called some armed men? Do you think he would have ignored it?

In 1916?

How do you think he'd have managed that and just how long would they have taken to arrive.....and if there was such a cadre of armed men available how come it took the authorities and the Brits so long to organise a response to any of the occupied sites around the city?

.....never mind that Malin's command numbered over 100 and was well on its way to digging in - you really think a single unarmed police officer could have whistled up 300 armed men (assuming the usual ratio of 3:1 was required to dislodge an entrenched adversary?)

Also the nature of his injuries - one bullet passed through both lungs and his left arm - suggests more a bushwhacking than a confrontation (as some accounts suggest there was).....sounds like she had the jump on him but was unwilling to take him prisoner.....since she ran back to the rest of the garrison shouting trimuphantly (in the words of one witness) "I got him" before accpeting the congratualtions of others.

Although at that point its unclear if she knew whether she left Lahiff for dead, or thought she had just wounded him.

Zebra3 wrote: »

Do you think those coppers gave a toss about anyone else while serving the British occupation?

Do you really think the daily life of the DMP was about 'serving the British occupation' - whatever that means :rolleyes:

For example, the DMP statisitcal tables and the prisoner books in the UCD archive show that in any given year, most of the arrests they made were for being drunk and disorderly......

steddyeddy wrote: »

I'm not saying it's his death was a noble thing or a fantastic thing, but as armed conflict goes it's a lot less bloody than most wars.

It was also infinitesimally less brutal than the history of British conflict in Ireland. The republican armed rebellions got a lot more vicious in their approach, but against that enemy who could blame them?

So, to summarise - if an Irish person 'serving the British occupation' shot an unarmed Clare-man going about his lawful way they deserve castigation.....

.......but if an aristocratic Brit in service of the nascent Irish Republic shoots an unarmed Clare-man going about his lawful way they deserve a triumph?

Don't get me wrong, I think Countess Markievicz's political achievements should be commemorated, but I'm with JFK on this one - lets have the truth so her contribution to the country's poltical life can be properly assessed and due credit given.....not the myth.