This thesis examines the impact of the Irish Revolution on County Kildare from 1912 to 1923. A noted garrison county, the concentration of British military personnel was the highest in Ireland and the Curragh was the most extensive military camp in the country. The military presence continued after the British withdrawal when military barracks passed to the National army. The economy in Kildare was heavily dependent on the military connection. A central theme of this dissertation is an analysis of the impact of Kildare’s garrison status on the county’s experience of the Irish Revolution. Based on rigorous research of British and Irish archives, which has unearthed hitherto little used material, this dissertation charts the fortunes of home rule in Kildare during which the county was at the centre of the Curragh incident in 1914 when the loyalty of the army to the government was called into question; it explains the slow development of the Irish Volunteers in the county and the position of the unionist community vis-à-vis home rule. Attention is drawn to the key role played by British army units from Kildare in suppressing the 1916 Rising, as well as the post-Rising development of Sinn Féin and concomitant decline of the Irish Parliamentary Party. This study challenges the depiction of Kildare as a ‘quiet county’ during the War of Independence by highlighting the pivotal role it played in the intelligence war and the county’s strategic communications importance for both Crown forces and republicans. During the civil war period Kildare was to the forefront of national events with the evacuation of the British army which had a major negative impact on the local economy. Politically, the Irish Revolution in Kildare did not see an ultimate triumph for republicanism in any form. While the emergence of Labour was notable, after 1923 Kildare returned to its Redmondite roots, though under a pro-Treaty label.