Table of Contents Foreword ..................................................................................................................... ii Editorial ...................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... v The ‘old Irish’ and American immigration legislation and reform Angela Balfe ................................................................................................................ 1 The Deasy business: an assessment of the IRA during the last phase of the Irish Civil War Judy Bolger ............................................................................................................... 16 Chapter and verse: biblical indexing and control in early modern England Jennifer Egloff ........................................................................................................... 29 From the plough to the stars: an analysis of the origins of the IRSP/INLA in Derry City, 1965-74 Dan Haverty .............................................................................................................. 41 The beginning of ‘Low Intensity Warfare’: the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan William O’Neill ........................................................................................................ 55 Sixteenth century travel literature in the Mediterranean world and its context Mateusz Orszulak ...................................................................................................... 67 Not so glorious: Irish desertion to the British during the War of the Spanish Succession William Runacre........................................................................................................ 81 The dragomans of the Habsburg embassy in Constantinople in the second half of the sixteenth century: the story of Matthias del Faro Aneliya Stoyanova ..................................................................................................... 95 Contributors ............................................................................................................ 109 Foreword About ten years ago Sir Keith Thomas published an article discussing how the study of History had evolved over recent decades. His conclusion was that ‘writing history is a much more difficult undertaking than it was in the 1960s’, because ‘the crippling accumulation of specialised knowledge means that one has to work very much harder to say anything new.’1 And yet, the rewards are potentially huge: by finding new evidence and applying different approaches, and by presenting one’s research in such a way as to engage the interest of academics and ordinary people alike, the writing of history may continue to enlighten and delight readers as it has done for thousands of years. Such is the achievement of this excellent collection of essays by young historians brought together under the auspices of the University of Limerick History Society. This latest volume of the History Studies journal offers many fresh insights that help us to understand the past better. The essays cover a refreshingly broad spectrum. As well as twentieth-century Irish history, there is an emphasis on US responses to its domestic and international problems, and on European experiences of the Ottoman Empire. Attention is also given to approaches to scriptural translation in the Reformation period, and to the mixed loyalties of soldiers in the Bourbon armies of the early eighteenth century. William O’Neill, and Daniel Haverty have presented novel interpretations of well-studied subjects. O’Neill shows how received understanding of the Carter administration’s supposed lack of direction in foreign policy is belied by its success in luring the USSR into a debilitating military commitment in Afghanistan. Haverty has provided a reassessment of the rise of the IRSP/INLA following Bloody Sunday, one in which the nationalist desire for independence is overshadowed by the appeal of this organisation for the deprived working classes in Derry. Aneliya Stoyanova, meanwhile, has examined the practice of training and employing dragomans by the diplomatic representatives of the Austrian Habsburgs in Istanbul during the later sixteenth century. Dragomans were officials who acted as interpreters, and played an important part in high-level negotiations between the Porte 1 The Times Literary Supplement, 13 Oct. 2006. ii and the government in Vienna. As such, they were responsible for the more universal business of conveying and directing meaning, which is also present in Jennifer Lynn Egloff’s analysis of numerical indexing techniques in early translations of the Bible. She shows how the practice allowed the authorities to maintain control over scriptural interpretations, whilst inadvertently creating a means for the faithful to take command of their own religious education. Negotiated connivance with the authorities is a common thread running through the other essays. Judy Bolger has analysed the motives behind, and responses towards, Liam Deasy’s appeal in 1923 for the IRA leaders to make terms with the government in Dublin. William Runacre has discovered numerous cases in which Catholic Jacobite officers defected to the British during the War of the Spanish Succession, whilst Mateusz Orszulak shows how Venetian prisoners and diplomats sought to understand the Ottoman political system. Finally, Angela Balfe has discussed how the Irish of early nineteenth-century America managed to shake off discrimination, and establish themselves as an ascendant political class with the power to obstruct immigration from rival national groups. It is particularly gratifying to see how younger historians are successfully coping with the challenges of writing history today, and it has been an honour to be asked to provide the foreword for such a stimulating collection of essays. They fulfil the central requirement of the Spanish Golden Age: that of educating and delighting the reader at the same time. My congratulations go to the authors, as well as to the editors in having brought together such a fine assemblage of scholarship. Dr Alistair Malcolm MA (St Andrews), D. Phil. (Oxon), Acting Head of Department iii Editorial It is with great pride and honour that the editors present the eighteenth volume of History Studies. Now nearing its twentieth year, our journal continues to be the only one in Ireland that is both edited and managed by postgraduate students. Continuing in this fine tradition, we are pleased to deliver eight essays, which we believe will be worthy additions to what is an already well-established record of excellence in historical scholarship. These essays take the reader on a journey across ages and continents. The variety of subjects dealt with in these pages reveals that historical research is alive and well, from undergraduates and postgraduates to postdoctoral and independent researchers. While we are pleased that History Studies (this present edition included) continues and will always continue to be an outlet for our own students in the University of Limerick, we must further express our satisfaction at publishing a set of essays compiled not only from amongst Irish universities but also from various corners of the world. Therefore, we take pride in the fact that in presenting the reader with this volume, we are also presenting them with what is both a reflection and a compilation of the exceptional standards with which research is being undertaken not only in Ireland but also in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. Stephen Griffin John Harrington Holly O’Farrell 20 November 2018 iv Acknowledgements The editors would like to thank Dr Alistair Malcolm, Acting Head of Department, Department of History, University of Limerick, for his generous sponsorship of and support for this volume of the journal and for the continued support of History Studies by the History Department. We are also grateful for the generous support of the President, Professor Desmond Fitzgerald, as well Dr Niamh NicGhabhann, Assistant Dean of Research and Dean Lillis, President of the Postgraduate Students’ Union. The editors also extend their gratitude to the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Helen Kelly-Holmes, for her support of this journal. To Dr David Fleming, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and co-founder of History Studies, we offer our thanks for his guidance and representations on our behalf. We also extend our gratitude to both Robert Collins and Gerald Maher, who as former editors, were able to offer much needed and valuable guidance. Finally, we offer our sincere thanks to our eight contributors, without whose hard work none of this would have been made possible. v History Studies Vol. 18 The ‘old Irish’ and American immigration legislation and reform Angela Balfe Immigration to the United States is a demographic phenomenon that has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. For the most part, the latter half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century saw immigration at its highest, and in turn, the implementation of much debated legislation. Although immigration to the United States had ebbed and flowed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it would be events in the latter half of the nineteenth century which were responsible for the dramatic