HistoryExtra podcast Culture and conflict: a historical tour of Dublin
Mar 17, 2026
Gillian O'Brien, historian of Irish history and Dublin's past, guides a lively tour of the city's turbulent and cultural history. She traces Viking roots, Norman power shifts, and the Pale's legacy. She sketches Georgian grandeur beside tenement poverty, famine effects, nationalist struggles, civil war scars, and modern Celtic Tiger reinvention. She ends with top sites and seaside tips.
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1916 Rising's Executions Turned Public Opinion
- The Easter Rising of 1916 destroyed much of central Dublin in a week of fighting focused on the General Post Office; leaders were executed, which transformed public opinion.
- O'Brien recounts initial ridicule, executions at Kilmainham and W.B. Yeats' poem 'Easter 1916' capturing shifting sentiment.
Civil War Destroyed Dublin's Historical Records
- The Civil War following the treaty saw Irish forces shell the Four Courts in Dublin and destroyed the Public Records Office, erasing archives and complicating the city's historical record.
- O'Brien notes the first Civil War act was in Dublin and the consequent loss of documents still affects research.
Dublin Destroyed Then Reclaimed Its Past
- Mid‑20th century Dublin alternately demolished Viking and Georgian heritage then later embraced those identities, showing shifting attitudes toward the past.
- O'Brien describes 1960s demolition of long Georgian terraces and 1970s student occupations to save houses.