ABSTRACT
The Irish historical past is often described as 'traumatic'. The sixteenth-century plantations, the 1641 Rebellion, the Union with Britain, the Famine, the Great War, the War of Independence, the Civil War - and, of course, the Troubles of the past thirty years - have all been referred to as traumas. The interpretation of Ireland's past is less often recognized in England, nor is it common to see its account of a traumatic history as one that embraces Britain too. The possibility of recognizing a traumatic element in the imperial mission was largely precluded by British colonial discourse which construed the narrative of Empire as a heroic adventure to civilize the world. During the Irish War of Independence, anti-republican reprisals directed against Irish homesteads and communities by the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries provoked a broadly constituted and vociferous public campaign of protest in England.
