August 2016

Subject : The Yanks are Coming: The American Expeditionary Force in the Great War

Speaker : John Lee

Venue : The Branch meets from 6.30pm to 8.45pm at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), 2 Titanic Boulevard, BELFAST, BT3 9HQ

Donation: We ask for £4 to help support our activities as we have no other source of income

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Prof Richard Grayson Monday at St Mary’s University College,  8th August, 1pm

Prof Richard Grayson analyses The Battle of the Somme from the perspectives of the two volunteer divisions, the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) divisions (which drew heavily on Belfast recruits). He poses the intriguing question of alternative history – what would have happened if the 16th and 36th divisions had swapped places on the Somme? Prof Grayson specialises in British and Irish history in the twentieth century, with a particular focus on Ireland in the era of the First World War. He is the author of Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War.

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Free Lunchtime Lecture: Dr David Murphy, “War, Risings and Rebellions beyond Ireland: the strategic context of 1916”

Wednesday 3 August

Time 1pm – 2pm

Lecture Theatre, Ulster Museum

Free (Booking essential)

Ireland was not the only place to experience rebellion during the First World War. This talk will place the events of Easter Week 1916 in a wider, international context. From the Maritz Revolt in South Africa (1914), to the Arab Revolt in the Middle East (1916-1918) and the Russian Revolt (1917) internal conflict bubbled up in a number of combatant and non-combatant countries. This lecture will explore the means by which the State dealt with such challenges during wartime.

David Murphy lectures in military history and strategic studies at the National University Ireland, Maynooth. He has written on Ireland and the Crimean War, Franco-Irish Military connections and the Arab Revolt. His most recent publication is Breaking Point of the French Army: the Nivelle Offensive of 1917 (Pen and Sword, 2015).

Book tickets online at:www.nmni.com/1916.