Ireland’s Troubles

8/2/2019 Irelands Troubles

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Irelands Troubles


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Before 1600

First invasion byNormans in C12th

English Pale of

Settlement aroundDublin

Reformation: Irelandremains Catholic

Elizabeth I: prolongedwar


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C17th Conflict

1607: Plantation of Ireland

1641: Irish Rebellion

1649: Cromwellian

reconquest & settlement.1685: Catholic James IIrestores lands to Irish

1690: Battle of the Boyne

Williamite conquest andsettlement


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C18th: Protestant Ascendancy

Ireland dominated byAnglo-Irish Protestantlandowners

Penal Laws vs Catholicsuntil late C18th

Catholics excluded frompolitics and public life

Irish parliament re-established in 1770s


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Late C18th : Rebellion & Union

Influence of French Revolutionplus existing grievances led toattempted rising in 1798.

This was to be supported byFrench troops: they arrived too

late! The British responded with

savage repression. Pitt attempted to solve the

problem by allowing Catholics

political rights, but linking thiswith Act of Union with GreatBritain

Only theAct of Unionwaspassed, in 1800.


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Emancipation and Famine

1800-29 saw a struggle togain Catholics fullpolitical rights.

This was followed by anunsuccessful campaignagainst the Act of Union

1846-8:the failure of thepotato crop due to diseaseled to famine: of 8 millionpeople, about 1 million

died, and 1 millionemigrated... A small-scale rebellion

followed in 1848


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The Irish Republican Brotherhood

The IRB was founded inAmerica, and dedicatedto the overthrow ofBritish rule.

It was republican anddemocratic in its aims.

From the 1860s theFenians carried out a

series of outrages bothin Ireland andEngland...


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Home Rule

The Home Rule League wascreated in the 1860s tocampaign for the repeal of theUnion.

From the 1870s it became thedominant political organisationin Ireland

From 1885 William Gladstone,the Liberal leader, broughtforward Home Rule Bills inParliament.

He was defeated in 1886 & 1893. The Tories remained utterly

opposed to Home Rule, as didthe mainly Protestantpopulation of Ulster.


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Sinn Fein

The defeat of HomeRule was a setback forIrish politics

Some took to non-

political action toencourage Irish identity:poetry readings, music,gaelic football etc.

They later formed Sinn

Fein, Ourselves Alone,and became involved inrepublican politicalactivity


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Home Rule Crisis

In 1910 a new Liberalgovernment re-introducedHome Rule, and the Bill passedin 1914.

The Ulster Protestants,encouraged by the Tories,refused to accept Home Rule.

They organised the UlsterVolunteers to resist by force ifneeds be.

In response Irish Nationalistsorganised the Irish Volunteers.

Civil War seemed likely. The crisis was cut short by the

outbreak of The Great War


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Easter Rising

The majority of all Irishsupported the war againstGermany. Large numbers

volunteered. Members of the IRB saw

Englands peril is Irelandsopportunity; they planned arising which took place onEaster Monday, 1916.

A force of about 400 men seizedthe Dublin Post Office, but therising provoked little support.

The British took a week to putdown the rebellion, usingartillery and 16,000 troops


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After Easter

The Easter Rising won littlesympathy at first. In thefollowing weeks the Britishexecuted all the main leaders this brutality turned the rebelsinto martyrs.

By the end of the War, theHome Rule League was losinginfluence and the Republicansdominated Irish politics.

In 1918 the Republicans won 75of 105 Irish seats. They refused

to sit at Westminster andinstead created the Dil irranin Dublin as the legitimategovernment of Ireland.


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Irish War of Independence

The Irish Republican governmentdeclared war on Britain, and theIRA began a guerrilla war againstthe British authorities.

The RIC was a major target; tosupplement them the British raised

the Auxiliaries - the Black andTans ex-soldiers who were heldresponsible for numerousatrocities, notably the burning ofCork.

All aspects of the British presencebecame targets, including all thosewith links to the old Protestantascendancy, even if sympathetic toIreland.

The war was ended by the Treaty of1922, which created the Irish FreeState, but left Ulster outside it...

Ireland’s Troubles

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Transcript of Ireland’s Troubles