Cumman na mBan's Military Pensions and Service Medals Campaign: A Fight for Equality, 1924-1958

我的研究重点是爱尔兰妇女准军事组织库曼娜·姆班（Cumann na mBan），以及该组织在1924年至1958年间争取国家颁发的军人养老金和服役奖章的运动。探索自我认知和平等观念影响库曼纳班决定竞选的方式，我的论文将分析为什么其成员决心为他们在爱尔兰革命（1916-1923）中扮演的角色而竞选。使用最近发布的兵役养老金收集（MSPC），我的论文将使用养老金申请，随着政府辩论，文件和个人文件，了解为什么库曼纳姆班最初被排除在接受补偿和认可之外，为什么补偿和认可对库曼纳姆班如此重要，以及该组织决定争取纳入爱尔兰自由邦的养老金和服务奖章计划。我还将探讨库曼纳姆班的竞选活动如何挑战爱尔兰民族主义、军事传统和新自由邦本身的概念。库曼纳班最初被排除在外的原因是性别吗？还是说，1924年库曼·姆班被排除在立法之外是出于更实际的原因？性别、身份和平等在库曼娜·班的竞选决定中扮演了什么角色？对某些成员来说，金钱补偿是否比服务认可更重要？为什么在20世纪30年代早期，共和党Fáil政府将女性纳入养老金和服务奖章计划？库曼纳姆班是否对共和党Fáil政府构成威胁，因此需要安抚？库曼纳姆班的运动是如何扰乱政府关于妇女与民族主义、兵役和国家本身关系的观念的？关注女性退伍军人战后经历的文献很少。关于女性退伍军人在游击冲突后的经历的研究就更少了。缺乏关于游击女退伍军人冲突后生活的学术研究主要是由于缺乏原始材料。然而，MSPC提供了开展有关女性退伍军人冲突后经历的研究所需的资源。因此，尽管MSPC仅用于追踪库曼·纳姆班在1916年至1923年间的活动，但该收藏有可能揭示库曼·纳姆班在革命后的经历。因此，我的论文将成为第一个使用MSPC来关注库曼纳班革命后经验的主要研究之一。它将在爱尔兰革命、自由邦和爱尔兰妇女历史的史学中占据一个尚未填补的空间。此外，在爱尔兰百年纪念十年期间进行的一项特别相关的研究，我的研究不仅可以提高学术界对爱尔兰女性退伍军人冲突后经历的了解。而MSPC是一个非常独特的集合和无与伦比的国际上，通过检查爱尔兰革命后的女退伍军人的经验，我打算结构我的论文，所以它将借给国家的女退伍军人的待遇更广泛的了解，并作为一个案例研究在其他地方类似的研究。

My research focuses on the Irishwomen's paramilitary group, Cumann na mBan, and its campaign for state-awarded military pensions and service medals between 1924 and 1958. Exploring ways in which self-perception and notions of equality influenced Cumann na mBan's decision to campaign, my dissertation will analyse why its members resolved to campaign for the part they played in the Irish Revolution (1916-1923). Using the recently released Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC), my thesis will use pension applications, along with government debates, documents, and personal papers, to understand why Cumann na mBan was initially excluded from receiving compensation and recognition, why compensation and recognition was so important to Cumann na mBan, and the organization's decision to fight for inclusion in the Irish Free State's pensions and service medals scheme. I will also explore how Cumann na mBan's campaign challenged notions of Irish nationalism, military traditions, and the new Free State itself. Did gender play into Cumann na mBan's initial exclusion? Or was Cumann na mBan's exclusion from the legislation in 1924 for more practical reasons? What role did gender, identity, and equality play in Cumann na mBan's decision to campaign? Was monetary compensation more important for some members than service recognition? Why did the Fianna Fáil government include women in the pensions and service medals scheme in the early 1930s? Was Cumann na mBan a threat to the Fianna Fáil government and thus needed to be placated? How did Cumann na mBan's campaign disrupt the government's ideas regarding women's relationship to nationalism, military service, and to the state itself? Literature focused on the post-conflict experiences of female veterans is scarce. There are even less studies on the experiences of female veterans after a guerrilla conflict. Lack of scholarship on the post-conflict life of guerrilla female veterans has been primarily due to a lack of source material. However, the MSPC provides the resources needed to conduct research concerning female veterans' post-conflict experiences. Thus, although the MSPC has only been used to track Cumann na mBan's activities between the years of 1916 and 1923, the collection has the potential to shed light on Cumann na mBan's post-revolution experiences. My dissertation will therefore become one of the first major studies to use the MSPC to focus on the post-revolution experiences of Cumann na mBan. It will occupy a space in the historiography of the Irish Revolution, the Free State, and Irish women's history that has yet to be filled. Further, a particularly relevant study to be conducted during the decade of Irish centenaries, my research will not only enhance scholarship's knowledge concerning female veterans' post-conflict experiences in Ireland. While the MSPC is an extremely unique collection and unparalleled internationally, by examining the experiences of female veterans after the Irish Revolution, I intend to structure my thesis so it will lend to a wider understanding of state's treatment of female veterans and serve as a case study for similar studies in other locations.