Key groups

Question 1

Fenians/Irish Republican Brotherhood

Answer 1

revolutionary nationalist group that supported the violent overthrow of the British state. The Fenians were responsible for bomb attacks in London and Manchester in the 1860’s.

Question 2

Land League

Answer 2

set up by Michael Davitt and Parnell in 1879 to protect Irish tenant farmers against the English landlords. . They used a range of methods

1. Posters and campaign rallies with the implicit threat of violence
2. Rent strikes
3. Boycotts as in the case of Captain Boycott 1880
4. Sometimes murder e.g. Lord Mountmorre, a hated landlord, was murdered by Land League supporters in September 1880.

Question 3

Home Rule Movement

Answer 3

It operated both in and outside Parliament. Started by Isaac Butt, but turned into a major Political force under Parnell. At the height of its Power in the 1880s there were 78 MPs of the Home Rule Party

Question 4

Orange Order

Answer 4

The Orange Order was violently anti-Catholic and opposed any form of Home Rule for Ireland.

Question 5

Ulster Volunteer Force U.V.F

Answer 5

A parliamentary organisation that was formed in 1913 by the Ulster Unionist Council. . By 1914 the U.V.F had 100,000 members. They were prepared to fight for Ulster if the Liberal Government of Asquith brought in Home Rule.

Question 6

The Irish Volunteers

Answer 6

The Catholic response to the U.V.F founded in November 1913 to protect Ireland and Irish Catholics. They were formed without the consent of John Redmond. They were infiltrated by the Fenian I.R.B. In June 1914 Redmond took control of the Irish Volunteers.

Question 7

Sinn Fein

Answer 7

Meaning ‘Ourselves Alone’. It was established by Arthur Griffith in 1905. Moderate to begin with and opposed to the use of violence, it changed dramatically after the Easter rising in 1916 and became radicalised. In 1917 and 1918 Sinn Fein supported complete independence from Britain.

Question 8

The I.R.A- irish Republican Army

Answer 8

it was led by Michael Collins during the Anglo-Irish War of 1919-1921. The chosen targets of the I.R.A were members of the Royal Irish constabulary. The British regular Army and the Black and Tans.

Question 9

The Black and Tans

Answer 9

These hardened former soldiers were part of a force of auxiliaries which backed up the British Army and the Police during the Anglo-Irish war.