Twenty years ago, the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ entered the common lexicon. The terrible events that took place in the UN ‘safe haven’ at Bihac in North-west Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 represent the Bosnian conflict in microcosm. Muslim fought all factions of Serb, Muslim fought Muslim, and the Croats interfered. As an EC Monitoring Mission Observer, author Brendan O’Shea was not only an eye witness to the horrific war crimes committed by all sides but also had access to both EU and UN official documents. As such he was perfectly placed to unravel the deceit, the politicking and the struggle for power that led to tragedy and suffering for hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. The names Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic – both on trial at The Hague –Slobodan Milosevic, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman have become synonymous with the worst excesses perpetrated during the war in Bosnia. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of that conflict.

The political situation in Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century was characterised by crisis and change. Armed rebellion against the British Crown, the prosecution of the Anglo-Irish War, the emergence of the Irish Free State, and the eruption of the Civil War over the treaty with Great Britain ensured that the birth of the modern Irish nation was bloody and difficult. This book details the life of an average Volunteer, and includes the experiences of internment, the lack of established medical facilities for wounded, life on the run, discipline, and typical duties.

"Between 1913 and 1923, Ireland was the scene of a complex and bloody struggle, which in the space of a decade created martyrs, heroes, and a long legacy of bitterness. Against the backdrop of World War I, Irish nationalists fought the British for independence, before battling their former comrades for its future. From the failed Dublin insurrection launched on Easter Monday 1916, to the Irish Free State's battle against republican forces in early 1920s, the war for Ireland encompassed iconic revolts, guerrilla struggles and hard urban warfare. Fully illustrated with rare photography, contemporary paintings and digital maps, this engaging account details the conflict from the first rebellion to the final, uneasy peace"--Fly leaf.

In this book, the author has tried bridge the gap between the common perception of the Yugoslav conflict as portrayed in the media and the actual grim reality with which he was dealing as an EU monitor on the ground. Drawing on original material from both UN and ECMM sources, he has identified the true origin of Former Yugoslavia's wars of dissolution, and critically examines the programme of violence which erupted in 1991 and eventually culminated in 1995 in the vicious dismemberment of a sovereign federal republic with seat at the United Nations. In doing so, he highlights the duplicitous behaviour of all parties to the conflict; the double standards employed throughout by the United States in its foreign policy; the lengths to which the Sarajevo government manipulated the international media to promote a 'victim' status; the contempt in which UN peace-keepers were ultimately held by all sides; and the manner in which Radovan Karadzic was sacrificed at the altar of political expediency, when the real culprits were Slobodan Milosevic and his acolyte, General Ratko Mladic. This book, the first by an EU Monitor with actual experience of the conflict, tells the real story of the modern Yugoslav conflict, 1991-1995.

Based on the author's experiences as a BEC Monitoring Mission Observer, this revealing narrative account of the recent civil war in the former Yugoslavia combines material from a wide range of unused eyewitness and documentary sources.

On the night of 11 December 1920 Cork City was to experience an unprecedented night of terror and destruction at the hands of the British forces of law and order. The Irish War of Independence was raging out of control and Cork was in the eye of the storm. It was a guerrilla war fuelled by reprisal and counter reprisal - the city streets became the battleground of a bloody and personalised war of attrition. With over five acres of the city destroyed and an estimated 20 million pounds worth of damage, the burning of Cork is recognised as the most extensive single act of vandalism in the entire period of the nationalist struggle. The burning of Cork cannot be regarded as an isolated incident. In the nine months leading up to the night, Cork city witnessed an ever escalating cycle of violence as attacks by the Volunteers were answered by the predictable reprisal by the crown forces.

A self-help memoir that tells Brendan O'Shea's journey out of chronic depression and anxiety into a life more mindful and much better.