Introduction

This introduction provides a brief précis of the historiography on the Irish revolutionary movement, noting that the National Army has been largely understudied compared to its more illustrious (and cinematic) predecessor, the Irish Republican Army. By highlighting the chaotic origins of the National Army and the often-patchy record-keeping practices of the early state, the introduction illustrates the complexities involved in attempting to chart the development of an organisation which has been typically described as opposed to being studied. The primary focus of this introduction is upon the originality of the research, newly available primary material and the methodological approaches undertaken throughout the monograph. Each chapter is described in detail and the numerous transcripts, datasets and maps created for this monograph are briefly highlighted alongside links to retrieve these records via the open-access repository Zenodo.