Anglo-Irish relations Flashcards
Hibernia/Britannia
Ancient names for Ireland and Britain.
Anglo-Irish Treaty
1921 agreement leading to the Partition and Irish independence.
Nationalists
Supporters of Irish independence, mainly Catholic.
Unionists
Supporters of maintaining the Union with the UK, mainly Protestant.
The Norman Conquest
1169 - Partial conquest
Mixed society. Anglo-Irish coexisting with Gaelic Irish.
Irish Parliament
Established in 1297.
The Pale
By the 15th century, formal English influence restricted to this area around Dublin under English control.
Poynings’ Law
1484 law subordinating Irish Parliament to Westminster. English approval was needed to pass laws.
Tudor Conquest
Complete conquest of Ireland under Henry VIII.
Henry VIII declared King of Ireland by the Irish Parliament
- Anglicisation of Irish society.
The schism and imposition of a new religion
1534 - Schism with Rome.
King is supreme head of the Church of England and head of the Anglican Church of Ireland (1536). Resistance from the Anglo-Irish and the Gaelic Irish.
Plantation policy
Anglo-Irish and Gaelic groups resisting English rule were dispossessed of their land in favor of English settlers.
1630: 90% of land owned by Catholics VS end of 17th century: 20% of land owned by Catholics; Targeted at Ulster.
The Flight of the Earls
1609 - Earls flee Ulster, the most rebellious province leading to land availability for settlers.
The Catholic Army
Alliances between Catholic native Irish and old English in Ireland.
Catholic rising in Portadown
1641 - Protestants massacred.
English civil wars
1642-49. Tensions between King Charles I and his Parliament. Cromwell takes power.
Massacre of Catholics in Drogheda
1649 - Oliver Cromwell (puritan) in Ireland from 1649 -> restore full control -> commonly remembered as a Catholic butcher.
Restoration of the monarchy
1660, Charles II retakes the throne.
Catholic James II became King of England
1685 - Considered a despot. There are fears in England for the security of Protestantism.
Glorious Revolution
1688.
1689: Protestant Prince William of Orange and James’ daughter Mary were crowned the first constitutional monarchs after accepting the Bill of Rights.
Williamite-Jacobite War
James II invades Ireland. March 1689. Siege of Derry, broken in July.
Battle of the Boyne
1690 - Capture of Dublin, marking Protestant victory in Ireland.
Treaty of Limerick
1690 - Ends the war after the Battle of the Boyne.
Penal Laws
1695-1728. Restrictions on Catholics’ rights in Ireland.
Excluded from representation in the Irish parliament and from participation in government office; barred from becoming lawyers or officers in the army or the navy; Catholic worship officially restricted; intermarriages between Catholics and Protestants banned; restrictions imposed on Catholics concerning the acquisition or the passing on of property.
Society of United Irishmen
1790s. Leader: Theobald Wolfe Tone, a Protestant lawyer.
Included both Protestant and Catholic Irishmen -> nonsectarian association; demands for the full repeal of the Penal Laws and more autonomy for the Irish Parliament.
Catholics granted right to vote
1793 (but not to sit in Parliament).
Irish rebellion crushed by the British
1798.
Orange Order
Protestant association formed for defense in 1795.
Protestant Ascendancy
Dominance of Protestants in Irish society and politics.
Act of Union
1800 legislation uniting GB and Ireland.
To reassure British politicians by bringing Ireland under closer control -> better control of Ireland. Voted by the Irish Parliament, which was then dissolved. Got large Catholic support.
Daniel O’Connell
One of the 1st Catholics allowed to become a lawyer after removal of that restriction was lifted in 1792. Renowned barrister.
Irish political leader, known as the ‘Liberator’. Moderate, against the revolutionary separatism of the United Irishmen, yet wanted parliamentary reform.
Catholic Association
1823 - Founded by O’Connell to mobilize Catholic support and gain the right for Catholics to sit in Parliament.
Catholic Rent
Monthly fee for membership in Catholic Association. Low enough, even for poor tenants.
Between 1824 and 1829: raised £52,000.
General election - 1826
MPs opposed to Emancipation defeated in several counties.
O’Connell stood for candidate in a by-election 1828
Even though he wasn’t allowed to be elected.
Roman Catholic Relief Act
1829 law granting full rights to Catholics.
Catholics allowed to: sit in Parliament; hold all military ranks; hold all but the highest government offices.
Repeal of the Act of Union
O’Connell’s campaign for an Irish parliament.
Young Ireland Movement
1840s group advocating for Irish nationalism.
1848 Rebellion
Failed uprising by Young Irelanders against British rule.
Irish Republican Brotherhood
Founded in 1858, promoting Irish republicanism.
The Great Irish Famine
A period of mass starvation from 1845 to 1852.
Excessive dependence on potatoes as a staple food. At least 1M people died and 1M emigrated.
Ulster exception
Ulster was relatively spared, as it was more industrialised than the rest of Ireland.
Dysfunctional Land Tenure System
Pressure for land -> multiple subdivision of small holdings into smaller plots.
Political response to the famine
Sir Robert Peel: Conservative PM who initiated famine relief efforts.
Corn Laws Repeal
Removal of tariffs to lower food prices in 1846. Robert Peel.
Lord John Russell
Whig PM who ended public food aid in 1846.
Nationalist Accounts of the Famine
Historical view blaming British government for famine.
Revisionist View of the Famine
Claims no intent of genocide by British government.
Post-Revisionist Interpretations of the Famine
Condemnation of inadequate British relief efforts.
Irish people in Britain and the US faced discrimination
Poor employment prospects: working-class occupations, often at the lower end of
the social ladder
Still employed in unskilled or semi-skilled in early 20th century => limited
improvement in employment prospects before the second half of the 20th c
Anti-Irish Sentiment
Discrimination based on anti-Catholic and racial biases.
Sterotypes conveyed in the press.
Anglo-Saxonism
Belief in British racial superiority over other races.
‘Anglo-Saxon’ qualities: manliness, pragmatism, valour and good government.
-> Other ‘races’ (Celts, Africans, Indians…) perceived as intrinsically lacking these values,
therefore deemed unfit for self-government
Tenant League Association
Group advocating for tenant farmers’ rights (1850-1858).
Demanded the “Three Fs” :
* Fair rent: rent to be fixed by an independent body
* Fixity of tenure: a tenant who paid his rent should not be evicted
* Free sale: when a tenant left, the value of the improvements made should be
his (could sell it freely to the incoming tenant)
1868 General Election
Victory for the Liberals. Gladstone PM.
1869: Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland
1870: Land Act => reforms but far from granting the three Fs
Late 1870s - ‘New Departure’
Fenians and parliamentary nationalists agreed to collaborate on the
land issue
Agricultural depression, causing hunger, deprivation => Many tenants were unable to
pay rent and faced evictions
Land League Foundation
Established in 1879 to support tenant farmers.
Moderate and radical/Fenian nationalists joined
▪ Support from the church
▪ Funding from Republicans based in the US
The Land War
1879-1882 - Rural protest movement for land rights.
Demanded rent reductions, land redistribution.
General campaign against landlords, organised by the Land League
-> Resisting evictions: public demonstrations, physical assaults on landlords or
their agents, ‘boycotts’, financial support for families evicted, legal defence for activists accused of agrarian agitation, mass meetings.
Coercion Act
1881- Legislation allowing arrests without charges in Ireland.
Outlawed the Land League
Land Act 1881
Introduced three Fs: fair rent, fixity of tenure, free sale.
➔ By 1914, two thirds of Irish farmers owned their land
Home Rule
Limited self-government within the British Union.
Home Rule League / Party (1873-1882)
First led by Butt, considered too moderate by some in the party
▪ General election, 1874: won half of Irish seats
▪ General election, 1880: won two thirds of Irish seats
-> Led by Charles Stewart Parnell from 1880 (formerly active in the Land League, more radical)
o New name: Irish Parliamentary Party (1882-1922)
Irish Parliamentary Party
Dominant Irish party in Westminster which was able to put Gladstone’s party under pressure.
First Home Rule Bill
Presented in 1886, failed due to opposition.
Second Home Rule Bill
Passed Commons in 1893, rejected by House of Lords.
Opposition to Home Rule in Ireland
Irish Protestants and Home Rule:
➔ Revival of the Orange Order (Protestant defense society) -
Opposition strongest the north-east
-> Cross-class Protestant opposition to Home Rule
Ulster: only area following the expansion of the franchise where an electoral majority
opposed Home Rule
Ulster Unionist Council
Formed in 1905 to oppose Home Rule in Ulster.
Third Home Rule Bill
Introduced in 1912, passed in the Commons but defeated in Lords in 1913, even though they’d lost their veto power.
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Militia formed to oppose Home Rule, over 100,000 members.
Irish Volunteers
Nationalist military organization formed in 1913.
Growing fears of a civil war.
Royal Assent
18 Sept 1914. Formal approval for legislation.
But WW1 -> Home Rule delayed until after the war.
World War One
Most Unionists joined Britain.
Nationalists too.
- IPP : joined Britain
- Sinn Fein, The Irish Republicain Brotherhood and the Citizen’s Army refused to join the war.
Sinn Fein
1904 - Political party advocating for Irish independence whilst keeping a joint monarch.
36th (Ulster) Division
Military unit formed from UVF members during WW1.
Easter Rising - beginning
24 April 1916 rebellion aiming for Irish independence.
1600 Irish Volunteers started the rebellion.
General Post Office
captured. Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic -> unilateral
declaration of Independence
Easter Rising - British counter-offensive
25-29 April 1916
General Post Office shelled
3-12 May 1916:
▪ rebels tried by British military court in Dublin including Patrick Pearse
▪ many executed; others arrested and jailed
-> This made them martyrs and prompted the events that followed.
Eamon De Valera
Leader of Sinn Fein post-Easter Rising.
in favor of the establishment of an independent Irish Republic (cf. SF’s
manifesto for the 1918 election) by means of an uprising if necessary
1918 General Election
Abstentionist pledge: elected deputies would not take their seat in Westminster (not recognize the legitimacy of British parliament and its authority over Ireland)
Sinn Fein won 73 out of 105 Irish seats.
Yet Unionists won the majority of seats in Ulster.
Dáil Éireann
Irish Parliament established in 1919 when Irish MPs refused to take their seat in Wesminster.
Irish War of Independence
1919-1921 - Guerilla war led by Michael Collins and the Irish Republicans.
British troops were sent to Ireland, known for their brutality.
Paradoxical: the British were gaining military ground yet losing political support.
Black and Tans
British paramilitary forces known for brutality.
Irish Republican Army
Military organization fighting for Irish independence.
Universal Suffrage
Voting rights for all adults, established in 1918.
Truce of July 1921
Ceasefire leading to negotiations for peace.
Propositions to exclude Northern Ireland from Home Rule
Several made around 1911-13 but all were rejected.
Government of Ireland Act, 1920
Legislation establishing separate governments for Ireland and Britain, yet with the same monarch.
Two Parliaments : Dublin and Belfast.
Scant Support
Limited public backing for the Easter Rising initially.
Anglo-Irish Treaty
6 Dec 1921 - Established the Irish Free State, but with no independence -> dominion status..
-> Partition and allegiance to the British Crown were polémiques.
Ratification of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Dáil ratified the treaty in 1922.
Irish General Elections - 1922
Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein: 38.5% of popular vote => 58 seats
Anti-Treaty Sinn Fein: 21.8% of popular vote => 36 seats
Irish Civil War
- Opposed the Provisional Government of Ireland and the Anti-Treaty IRA (especially in the south)
The Free State Army won the war:
-> Superior equipment (partly supplied by the UK), electoral majority, support from the Roman Catholic hierarchy, divisions among anti-treaty forces
Michael Collins’ death
1922 - Ambushed by the IRA.
IRA surrender
May 1923.
Around 2000 deaths.
Implementing a Nationalist cultural policy
Support to the defense of the Irish language among both supporters and opponents of the Treaty
-> Re-gaelicization policy, mainly through education policy.
De Valera formed Fianna Fáil
- Continued to refuse to take the oath to the British crown
▪ Practise made illegal by the Cosgrave government
-> Aug. 1927: De Valera and his party took the oath and entered the Dáil
Irish General Elections - 1932
Fianna Fáil obtained a majority of seats in the Dáil and formed a government which moved to remove remaining ties with the UK.
Economic War
Tariffs imposed on British goods, 1932-1938.
Non-payment of land annuities.
Constitution Act
1933 - Removal of Oath
External Relations Act
1936 - Irish Free State to remain part of the Commonwealth
o Foreign policy to be exercised by the Irish Free State directly
New Constitution
1937 - Éire -> Name changed from Irish Free State.
Laid claim to ‘the whole island of Ireland, its islands, and territorial seas’ -> NI meant
to be part of Ireland
- Irish language: official language (English as second official language)
- President of the executive council replaced by a taoiseach (similar to PM)
- President to perform the ceremonial functions of head of state
- Recognized the ‘special position’ of the Catholic Church (removed in 1973)
Republic of Ireland Act
Declared Ireland a republic on 21 Dec 1948.
The country became ‘The Republic of ireland’
Ireland Act
1949 - passed in Britain. Ireland is no longer a dominion.
