Peter Cottrell
Peter James Cottrell (born 1964 ) is an Anglo-Welsh soldier, sailor, writer, educator and revisionist military historian of the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War. Career. Cottrell is the author of the best-selling military history 'The Anglo-Irish War: The Troubles 1913–23' which challenges traditional nationalist interpretations of the Easter Rising; the role of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the popularity of the IRA campaign whilst supporting the view that the conflict was as much an Irish civil war as a struggle for independence from the UK. He grew up in the village of Kenfig  Hill, Mid-Glamorgan in South Wales and between 1981 and 2008 served in the ranks of the British Territorial Army and as an officer in both the Royal Navy and British Army and saw operational service in the Middle East, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. After qualifying as a teacher he was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1988 and transferred to the British Army in 1995, ending his military career as a Major. He is a great-great nephew of the English rugby player George Cottrell, and a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association.