Catholics, War and Britain's Armed Forces

Snape, Michael

Abstract

The history of Catholics and war in the British Isles in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is an oddly side-lined area of research, yet it provides not only a broad and dramatic context to that history but reveals much about the underlying nature and trajectory of Catholic life, Catholic moral theology, Catholic identity, and Catholic involvement in public affairs. Often paradoxical, sometimes poignant, occasionally striking, but always significant, the experience and role of Catholics in Britain’s armed forces provides an illuminating insight into this neglected history and deserves far greater recognition and prominence in the historiography of British and Irish Catholicism.

Citation

Snape, M. (2023). Catholics, War and Britain's Armed Forces. In A. Harris (Ed.), The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Vol V (77-104). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844310.003.0005

• Online Publication Date: Sep 28, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 29, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 77-104
• Series Number: 5
• Book Title: The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Vol V
• Chapter Number: 4
• ISBN: 9780198844310
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844310.003.0005
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1647336
• Contract Date: Oct 12, 2021