Manchester University Press Na Fianna ÉIreann and the Irish Revolution, 1909–23: Scouting for Rebels

In this book, Marnie Hay provides an authoritative and accessible account of the Irish nationalist youth organisation Na Fianna Éireann and its contribution to the Irish Revolution in the period 1909–23. Na Fianna Éireann, or the Irish National Boy Scouts, was established in 1909 in Dublin by Countess Constance Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson as an Irish nationalist antidote to Robert Baden-Powell’s Boy Scout movement. The Fianna soon spread beyond the Irish capital, offering a combination of military training, outdoor adventure and Irish cultural activities to a mainly male membership. Between their inception in 1909 and near decimation during the Irish Civil War of 1922–23, Na Fianna Éireann recruited, trained and nurtured a cadre of young nationalist activists who made an essential contribution to the struggle for Irish independence. The book situates the Fianna within the wider international context of uniformed youth groups which emerged in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as a response to societal anxieties associated with the coming war in Europe. It compares and contrasts the Fianna to other Irish youth groups of the period and demonstrates how the Fianna served as a conduit for future members of adult paramilitary organisations, most notably the Irish Volunteers, later known as the Irish Republican Army. Na Fianna Éireann and the Irish Revolution, 1909–23 will be of interest to historians and students specialising in the history of the Irish Revolution, youth culture, paramilitarism and twentieth-century Ireland. It will also appeal to the general reader with an interest in the history of the Irish Revolution.