ftp.pasteur.org/FAQ//ftp-pasteur-org-FAQ.zip/FAQ/cultures/irish-faq/part05

Internet Message Format | 1999-11-08 | 22.0 KB

From: [e-mail] (Irish FAQ Maintainer)
Sender: [e-mail] (Christian Murphy)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.irish,soc.answers,news.answers
Subject: Irish FAQ: History [5/10]
Summary: of a summary of a summary
Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.tli.de!blackbush.xlink.net!news.csl-gmbh.net!news.space.net!news.muc.de!salmon.muc.de!irish-faq
Followup-To: soc.culture.irish
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 02:10:02 GMT
Expires: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 02:10:02 GMT
Message-ID: <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Approved: [e-mail]
References: <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]> <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]> <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]> <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]> <cultures/irish-faq/[e-mail]>
Lines: 544
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu soc.culture.irish:308251 soc.answers:12709 news.answers:170627

Archive-name: cultures/irish-faq/part05
Last-modified: 17 Jul 99
Posting-Frequency: monthly
URL: http://www.enteract.com/~cpm/irish-faq/

Part five of ten.


Frequently Asked Questions on soc.culture.irish with answers.
Send corrections, suggestions, additions, and other feedback
to <[e-mail]>

History

1) Why is Ireland divided?
2) How did the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland start?
3) What books are there on Irish history?
4) Chronological list of dates from Irish History


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: 1) Why is Ireland divided?

    Ireland (all or part of it, at various times) was a colony of
    the English (originally the Anglo-Normans) from the 12th
    century.  From the late middle ages it was a kingdom, under the
    same monarch as England, but a separate country.  In law and in
    practice, the Irish government was usually subordinate to the
    English government.

    Henry VIII rejected Rome and put the Church in England under his
    personal control.  This church was to became more protestant,
    particularly under Elizabeth I.  Ireland's population remained
    mainly Roman Catholic.    The conflict between Catholicism and
    Protestantism played a large part in 17th century several wars
    in England and Ireland:  civil wars, colonial wars, and at least
    one war (c.  1690) that was part of a wider European conflict.
    Following some of these disruptions, the winners forcibly
    transferred ownership of large amounts of land to new landlords,
    and sometimes new tenants: those who had supported the winning
    side or those who they felt would support them in the future.

    The majority of the Irish population were on the losing side.  A
    new elite was built of Anglo-Irish (people of English
    background, and also anglicised Irish) members of the Church of
    Ireland (Anglican/Episcopalian).  This "Protestant Ascendancy"
    lasted well into the 19th century, with traces still in evidence
    today.

    English Protestants were not the only ones to settle in
    Ireland.  Presbyterians (historically known as Dissenters) from
    Scotland colonised north-eastern Ireland in large numbers.
    Other nonconformist Christians (especially Friends, better known
    as Quakers) started arriving in the 16th century, and their
    numbers grew in the 17th.  During this period they and the
    Protestant Ascendancy were not close allies:  there were
    significant differences in background, social class and style of
    Protestantism.

    Both the Catholic majority and the Presbyterians were the
    victims of discriminatory laws favouring the Church of Ireland
    (that is, the Anglican church established by the state).
    Generally, though, the discrimination against Catholics (who were
    regarded as treacherous and potential allies of France and Spain)
    was worse than that against the nonconformists.

    In 1801, Ireland was technically made one with England, Scotland
    and Wales by the Act of Union which created the United Kingdom of
    Great Britain and Ireland.  In some ways, this was a Good Thing
    for Ireland, as it led to electoral reform, land reform, and the
    disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and its right to tax
    the whole population.  But the colonial relationship remained,
    and as freedoms grew without real equality with England and
    the English, so did Irish nationalism develop and flourish.
    (Nationalism became a force throughout Europe in the mid
    nineteenth century, leading for example to the creation of Italy
    and Germany as nation states for the first time.)

    But there was a complicating factor.  In the late 18th and early
    19th century, the Ascendancy and the Presbyterians had begun to
    become allies on political and nationalist issues.  As Irish
    nationalism developed (mainly among Catholics), so, in response,
    did unionism (the desire to preserve the United Kingdom) develop
    and strengthen among both kinds of Protestant.  Several times
    the unionists threatened insurrection against their own
    government in order to stay under that government.

    In 1912, a third Irish Home Rule Bill was introduced to the
    British House of Commons, where it would pass its third and
    final reading in January, 1913.  This was blocked by the House
    of Lords, but they could only delay bills since the Parliament
    Act in 1911.  Unionists in Ulster reacted with alarm; an Ulster
    Volunteer Force was formed in 1913.  This force landed 25,000
    guns from Germany at Larne in April 1914, with the declared
    intention of using them if Home Rule were imposed on the
    northern counties.  Their slogan was "Home Rule is Rome Rule",
    referring to the fears they had of a Catholic dominated Ireland.
    In the event, Home Rule was put in the statute books but was
    never implemented because of the Great War which started in
    August, 1914.

    Two nationalist militias, the Irish Citizen's Army and
    the Irish Volunteers were formed, dedicated to Home Rule.
    They were far less efficiently organised than the UVF and they
    quickly split in 1914.    However a small part of the force, led
    by Republicans staged an armed rebellion (the Easter Rising) in
    April 1916, briefly taking over a small part of central Dublin.
    Their attempt at gun running had failed with the capture and
    scuttling of the Aud, carrying thousands of German weapons.
    The general uprising the Republicans hoped they would inspire
    throughout the country never happened.    The rebellion was
    crushed; its leaders were judged guilty of treason and shot.
    Many hundreds were interned in Britain.

    Before the war, a majority of people had supported Home Rule
    which would grant Ireland autonomy in domestic affairs.  After the
    war, Sinn FΘin (previously a minor party with tenuous connections
    to the actual Rising) got overwhelming support for their platform,
    complete independence (but not in the north-eastern counties, where
    Unionists were in the clear majority).

    The failed rising was an inspiration to many join the newly
    created Irish Republican Army (IRA) and fight.    The conflict
    escalated into a brutal war of attrition between the IRA and
    the British.

    But the unionists still held the north, and they would in turn
    rebel if Britain cast them loose.  Partition was made official
    by the Government of Ireland Act of 1920.  This was based on the
    old Home Rule Bill and formed the basis for the negotiations
    that were inevitable once the two sides had reached stalemate
    in the south.

    The Treaty of 1921 that ended the war with the British was a
    messy compromise.  The Irish negotiators, who included Michael
    Collins, but not ╔ammon De Valera, accepted it under the threat
    of "war within three days" from the British Prime Minister,
    Lloyd George.  There was also a vague promise that a Boundary
    Commission would adjust the borders, possibly gaining Fermanagh
    and Tyrone for the new Free State.

    Opponents of the treaty were outraged not so much by partition
    as by the Oath of Allegiance (to the King) that members of the
    Dßil would have to swear.  The negotiators in London had managed
    to water it down considerably, but any oath was unacceptable
    in principle to hard-line Republicans.  The Dßil, reflecting the
    feeling in the country, voted (reluctantly) to accept the treaty.
    The new Irish Free State had a dominion status similar to that
    enjoyed by Canada.

    The IRA split on the treaty issue and there was civil war.
    This became more brutal than the war of independence before it,
    with massacres and atrocities committed by both sides.

    (The South altered its constitution in 1937 severing most of its
    links with the UK. It declared itself a Republic in 1947.)

    The Boundary Commission that was set up as part of the Treaty to
    realign of the border between Northern Ireland and the Free State
    did not meet until 1924.  Both nationalists and unionists were
    reluctant to participate in it (the unionist delegate had to be
    nominated by the British government, and the Irish representative
    understood participation meant the end of his political career).
    The Commission's terms of reference were vague and included a
    proviso that boundaries be drawn "in accordance with the wishes
    of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic
    and geographic conditions".

    The Chairman of the Commission, Feetham, was not inclined to
    make any big changes.  In any case, (Southern and Northern)
    nationalist feelings about the border were muddled and
    ambivalent.  The Unionist position, "not an inch", had the
    advantage of being clear and simple.  The Free State drew up
    a minimum negotiating position that would gain Fermanagh,
    most of Tyrone and parts of Down and Armagh for the South.
    Even this minimum position could not be held, and so the
    Commission was quietly abandoned in favour of the status quo
    (the border created by the Government of Ireland Act) in 1925.
    This left substantial unionist minorities in Donegal and
    Monaghan and nationalist majorities in Fermanagh and Tyrone
    all on the wrong side of the border.  The Irish Free State was
    overwhelmingly Catholic and nationalist, and unionists formed
    a clear (but not as overwhelming) majority in Northern Ireland.


    Irish history is one of the topics that comes up again and again
    on soc.culture.irish.  Some regulars have devoted much of their
    own web pages to the subject.

    Jerry Desmond has written a more extensive summary of Irish history
    which can be found at

    http://members.tripod.com/~JerryDesmond/index-2.html

    Gareth G Davis maintains a "Irish historical and religious
    statistics" page at

    http://members.tripod.com/~gdavis2/


------------------------------

Subject: 2) How did the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland start?

    The northern unionists effectively created a single-party state.
    Proportional representation was eliminated for local council
    elections in 1922 and for the Northern Ireland Parliament in
    Stormont in 1929.  One vote per person did not hold in local
    elections until 1969.  Gerrymandering was used to secure unionist
    seats in nationalist areas throughout the thirties.  Nationalists
    and catholics were viewed as potential traitors and alienated by
    the government policies, which favoured protestants and unionists.
    In turn the nationalists never fully accepted the legitimacy
    of the new constitutional arrangements.  Some republicans in
    the North continued a violent campaign against the London and
    Belfast governments.

    By the 1960s, northern republicans had mostly given up violence
    and turned either to politics or to retirement.  But a new civil
    rights movement arose in the North, to protest and correct the
    discrimination against Catholics.  The Prime Minister of
    Northern Ireland, Captain Terence O'Neill (a moderate Unionist)
    pushed through reforms in electoral law and public housing.  He
    met with increasing opposition from hard-line Unionists including
    William Craig and Brian Faulkner, important members of his
    cabinet.  After a general election (in which he retained a
    narrow majority) he was forced out of office in April 1969,
    following a bombing which was blamed on the IRA but later turned
    out to be the work of loyalists.

    Civil rights turned into civil disorder.  The Belfast government
    could not cope when fighting broke out in the streets of Belfast.
    At times, the riots verged on pogroms, such as when loyalists
    invaded the nationalist Falls Road.  Thousands of families
    were forced to leave their homes.  The London government sent
    British troops into Northern Ireland to keep the factions apart
    in August 1969.

    1970 was a turning point in Northern Ireland.  The British Army,
    having been welcomed initially by Catholics turned that welcome
    into suspicion and hatred by conducting mass house searches in
    nationalist areas.  The IRA split in two, the Officials and
    the Provisionals (who were better organised and more willing
    to use violence).  Ian Paisley was elected to Westminster on a
    fundamentalist ticket, opposing the "soft" approach by official
    Unionists like O'Neill. The Socialist Democratic and Labour Party
    (SDLP) was formed out of the civil rights movement.

    In 1971, Brian Faulkner became Prime Minister after his
    predecessor, Chichester-Clark, resigned.  Faulkner made the
    colossal blunder of staging Operation Internment in an attempt to
    quell the IRA.    The Army sealed off whole areas during the night
    raided homes, taking hundreds men for detention without trial.
    Many of the internees were subjected to brutal treatment.
    The injustice was compounded by incompetence: many if not most
    of the internees were innocent, and many senior IRA men escaped
    the net.  The IRA drew valuable sympathy and support from
    internment.

    The last Sunday in January 1972 was Bloody Sunday.  British
    paratroopers shot dead thirteen unarmed men, six of them under
    eighteen.  A fourteenth died later of injuries sustained on the
    same day.  Thirteen others, including a widow, were wounded.
    All of them had been participating in an illegal but largely
    peaceful march against internment.  The a public inquiry
    that followed, conducted by by the British Chief Justice,
    Lord Widgery, was a whitewash, clearing the soldiers of blame
    and lending credence to their claims that the men they shot
    were armed.

    Bloody Sunday is a potent propaganda weapon used by the IRA and
    Sinn FΘin.  It was not the first atrocity, nor did it claim the
    most lives (more than fifty civilians were killed by IRA bombs
    in 1972 alone).  On that day and in the cover up that followed,
    the state used the same methods as terrorist organisations like
    the IRA.

    Stormont, as the Northern Irish government and parliament were
    known, was suspended (later to be abolished) and direct rule from
    London was introduced by the British Prime Minister, Ted Heath.

    Attempts during the seventies to devolve government back to
    Northern Ireland with power sharing failed because of Unionist
    and Nationalist opposition.  However, direct rule from London
    meant that the Northern Ireland Secretary could push through
    the types of reforms that cost men like O'Neill and Faulkner
    their careers.

    The level of violence has been much than it was in the early
    1970s and Northern Ireland is actually a safer place
    than the news sometimes made it seem.  The civil rights that people
    marched for in the streets in the 60s are protected by bodies
    such as the Housing Executive and Fair Employment Commission.
    But Northern Ireland still has not achieved "normal" political
    and social stability.  The RUC still has a credibility problem
    in nationalist eyes.

    In 1997 a peace process got started, based in part on compromises
    on marching routes by the Orange Order and a renewed IRA
    ceasefire.  For the firt time in many years there is some hope
    that political reforms may make Northern Ireland a better
    place to live in for all its inhabitants.  Most importantly,
    there is hope that the terrorists may find they no longer have
    support for shootings, bombings and other activities.


------------------------------

Subject: 3) What books are there on Irish history?

These are some general works.

Title:        Modern Ireland 1600-1972
Author:        R.F. Foster
Publisher:    Penguin
ISBN:        0-14-013250-3

Title:        Ireland Since the Famine
Author:        F.S.L. Lyons
Publisher:    Fontana
ISBN        0-00-686005-2

Title:        Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society
Author:        J.J. Lee
Publisher:    Cambridge University Press
ISBN:        0-521-37741-2

Title:        Oxford History of Ireland
Author:        R.F. Foster (Ed.)
Publisher:    Oxford University Press
ISBN:        0-19-822970-4 (hardback)

Title:        The Making of Modern Ireland 1603-1923
Author:        J.C. Beckett
Publisher:    Faber & Faber
ISBN:        0-571-18036-1 (0-571-18035-3)

Title:        A History of Ulster
Author:        Jonathan Bardon
Publisher:    Blackstaff Press
ISBN:        0-85460-476-4 ( 0-85640-466-7 hardback )

Title:        Early Medieval Ireland: 400 - 1200
Author:        Dßibhφ O'Cr≤inφn
Publisher:    Longman
ISBN:        0-582-015650 ( 0-582-015669 cloth )

One book that people mention a lot in connection with early Ireland is

Title:        How the Irish Saved Civilization
Author:        Thomas Cahill
Publisher:    Doubleday Books
ISBN:        0-385-41849-3 (hardback or paperback?)


[ The publishing information given is for the paperback editions unless
  otherwise specified. ]

    One online resource worth mentioning is the CELT Irish Electronic
    Text archive at UCC, which has a variety of texts available for
    reading on the web or download.
    See http://www.ucc.ie/celt/


------------------------------

Subject: 4) Chronological list of dates from Irish History

    c.3000BC    Megalithic tombs first constructed.

    c.700BC        Celts arrive from parts of Gaul and Britain.
            Ireland divided into provinces. (This according
            to a contributor is reconstructed folk history
            and not based on the archaeology.)

    c.AD350        Christianity reaches Ireland.

    400-800        Kingdom of Dalriada extends from Northeastern
            Ireland to Scotland.  Christianity brought to
            Scotland by St. Columcille and others.

    432        Trad. date for the arrival of St. Patrick in
            Ireland.

    700-800        Irish monasticism reaches its zenith.

    795        Full-scale Viking invasion.

    1014        Brian Bor· defeats Vikings at Clontarf but is
            murdered.

    1169         Dermot MacMurrough, exiled king of Leinster,
            invites help from 'Strongbow'.

    1172         Pope decrees that Henry II of England is feudal
            lord of Ireland.

    1366        Statutes of Kilkenny belatedly forbid
            intermarriage of English and Irish.  Gaelic
            culture unsuccessfully suppressed.

    1534-40        Unsuccessful Kildare rebellion

    1541         Henry VIII proclaimed king (rather than feudal
            lord) of Ireland

    1558-1603    Reign of Elizabeth I.  System of counties adopted.

    1595-1603    Nine years war, a failed uprising led by Hugh
            O'Neill.

    1607        Flight of the Earls; leading Ulster families go
            into exile.

    1610        Policy of plantation by colonisation begins
            in Ulster.

    1641        Charles I's policies cause insurrection in
            Ulster and Civil War in England.

    1649        Cromwell invades Ireland.

    1653        Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's
            opponents stripped of land.

    1689-90        Deposed James II flees to Ireland; defeated at
            the Battle of the Boyne.

    1704        Penal Code enacted; Catholics barred from voting,
            education and the military.

    1775        American War of Independence foments Irish unrest.

    1782        Grattan's Parliament persuades British to declare
            Irish independence, but in name only.

    1795        Foundation of the Orange Order.

    1798        Wolfe Tone's uprising crushed.

    1801        Ireland becomes part of United Kingdom under
            the Act of Union.

    1829        Catholic Emancipation Act passed after
            Daniel O'Connell elected as MP.

    1845-49        The Great Famine.

    1879-82        The Land War; Parnell encourages boycott of
            repressive landlords.

    1914        Implementation of Home Rule postponed because of
            outbreak of World War I.

    1916        Easter Rising.  After the leaders are executed
            public opinion backs independence.

    1920-21        War between Britain and Ireland; Irish Free State
            and Northern Ireland created.

    1922        Civil war breaks out.

    1932        De Valera elected.

    1939-45        "The Emergency"; Free State remains neutral

    1958        "Programme for economic expansion" published;
            establishes a five year plan of public investment
            with a target of 2% economic growth per annum.

    1969        Rioting between Catholics and Protestants.
            British troops called in.

    1971        Provisional IRA begins campaign to oust
            British troops from Ireland.
            Faulkner becomes N.I. Prime Minister;
            introduces internment without trial

    1972        'Bloody Sunday' in Derry.
            N.I. Government and parliament suspended;
            direct rule from London.

    1973        UK and Republic of Ireland join
            European Economic Community.

    1974        Power sharing Executive collapses in face
            of Unionist general strike called to protest
            Sunningdale agreement on "Council of Ireland".

    1980-81        H-Block hunger strikes in NI.  Republican
            prisoners starve themselves to death for political
            status.  Inept handling by government results
            in increased support for republicans.

    1983        The first abortion referendum.  An amendment
            to the Constitution (article 40) says that
            the State "acknowledges the right to life of
            the unborn".


    1984        Southern nationalist parties and SDLP publish
            New Ireland Forum report.

    1985        Anglo-Irish Agreement signed at Hillsborough.
            Intergovernmental Conference established.

    1986        The first divorce referendum.  An attempt
            to amend the Constitution to allow the
            dissolution of marriages fails to get
            majority support.


    1988        The Single European Act is approved by
            referendum (effected by a chance to
            article 29 of the Constitution).

    1992        The Treaty on European Union (also known
            as the Maastricht Treaty) passes the
            referendum hurdle (voters approved another
            change to article 29 of the Constitution).

            The "X" abortion case and referendum.


    1994        Peace Declaration and IRA ceasefire.

    1995        Second divorce referendum.  Provisions
            allowing for civil divorce are added to
            article 41 of the Constitution.

    1996        End of IRA ceasefire; elections for Peace Forum;
            Sinn FΘin is excluded from peace talks because
            of continuing IRA violence; SF decides not to
            attend the Forum

    1997        Renewal of IRA ceasefire.  Sinn FΘin joins
            establish peace talks.


------------------------------

End of Irish FAQ part 5
***********************