Whose Mission, Whose Orders?
British Civil-Military Command and Control in Northern Ireland, 1968-1974
Revealing the secret struggles between British politicians and generals to control the army in Northern Ireland.
Description
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland left intriguing questions unanswered: who made the crucial decisions about the use of the British Army during the Troubles - the politicians or the generals? And how did these decisions shape the army’s operations on the ground? In Whose Mission, Whose Orders?, David Charters pulls back the curtain on secret debates between British politicians and generals, as each struggled to assert their control over army operations. Consulting original sources, Charters examines the roles played by politicians, generals, and senior civil servants in the initial deployment of troops in 1969, the internment operation, the removal of the “no-go” areas, and the Ulster Workers' Council general strike. The case studies highlight the army’s dualistic character as both a professional force and a skilled political player. Despite its political function, Charters argues, politicians did not always listen to the army’s military advice, leading to unsound decisions that aggravated and prolonged the unrest. Illustrating the complex and dynamic balance of civil and military objectives that informed security policy and operations during the conflict in Northern Ireland, Whose Mission, Whose Orders? offers new perspectives on command and control in unconventional warfare.
Reviews
"Charters examines in rigorous and painstaking detail the evolution and daily working of the civil-military relationship under both Labour and Conservative governments as they grappled with the unravelling of civil order in Northern Ireland. The chronolog
“Whose Mission, Whose Orders? provides great insight into the decision-making process during a key time in Northern Ireland history.” Tony Novosel, University of Pittsburgh
"Charters challenges the previous historiography, championed by Peter Neumann in Britain's Long War (2003), which argues that politics and the military were less intertwined. Sir Frank Cooper, a former deputy undersecretary at the MOD and later permanent
“Whose Mission, Whose Orders? is well-written and researched, and addresses important questions about state-military responsibility in the early years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The author is clear in his explanation and the book is coherent and