Good Evening/Afternoon or Morning
I'm preparing for a seminar at university on "Terror in Ireland 1919-1923" While doing my readings I've been presented with the argument of Peter Hart who claims that Cork's Protestant population fell by around 40% during the period of 1911-1926 with a disproportionate percentage of that drop in the years of 1920-1922.
Hart calls this "ethnic cleansing" and lists nine counties throughout Ireland he claims this takes place, including County Cork. He also positions the IRA as acting as the vanguard of some sort of imagined community, and places their actions against spies and informers as part of a wider campaign of intimidation and terrorising against the Protestant population of Cork.
My question then is this; Did the IRA regularly employ sectarian rhetoric in it's propaganda and literature ect. And if so was this ever followed through upon with specific events targeting Protestants based on their sect?
Thank you
I am by no means an expert, but from what I understand Peter Hart's work is mired in controversy, and his research methods were widely criticised. Do you have other more accepted sources to refer to?