Quality of Leadership Flashcards
Robert Emmet 1803
-“Planned meticulously… even the prosecutor at Emmett’s trial would acknowledge he had done a good job.” (Cronin)
BUT
-Leadership quality faltered when it was most needed; he hesitated in the heat of battle and allowed his organized rebellion to descend into bloodied chaos.
O’Connell 1823-1829
O’Connell almost certainly made the campaign; his amazing oratory and charisma held together the CA.
- Geoghagan emphasizes that it was his ability to “capture the mood of the audience” that made audiences engaged in the subject matter, and really drew support in.
- His organizational abilities cannot be under-estimated either; it was his ideas to create the CA and Catholic Rent which were key in mobilising the Irish populus.
- O’Ferrall states that he “single-handedly” built Irish Nationalism in the early 19th Century.
O’Connell 1829-1845
- O’Connell’s rhetoric and charisma played a key role again in Repeal. His powerful and often violent rhetoric roused the masses from 1840 onwards.
- However he “seemed to have overlooked vital differences between 1829 and 1843” (Whyte).
- He planned the campaign in a way that didn’t maximize his resources’. Instead of mobilising the LNRA in the 1830s he attempted Repeal in parliament and only got meagre reforms.
- This being said, the factors that meant Peel could crush Repeal in 1843 still existed in 1833.
- Probably the least important factor in determining Repeal’s success.
Grattan
Grattan had been a good leader, even so far as having the Irish Parliament named “Grattan’s Parliament” before the Union. However with introducing bills as the only avenue explored no real leadership could be exhibited.
CGD
Gavan Duffy was a good leader, but the organisation became fractured as soon as it started so he could do little to successfully effect change.
Irish Confederation
- The rebellion was organized off the cusp by Meagher, O’Brien and Dillon, and no real plan was set in place.
- Thousands would rise up, but no one was quite sure against what or how or what they would do.
- After they were reduced to 100, there was even less direction. (Dillon suggested writing a Proclamation?)
- The leadership was terrible; O’Brien himself was a rather charismatic and brave man but had been reluctant to engage in the rebellion, and lacked any effort.
- “The indecision of the rebels’ leaders contrasted with the determination of the British state” (O’Cathaoir)
- John Mitchell, the most prominent leader of the Irish Confederation remarked that they were “good men but not sufficiently desperate”.
Young Ireland
- Thomas Davis was the principle leader of the Young Ireland movement, and was influential in his writings.
- Protestant but advocated a non-sectarian Republican style of thinking, and had many ideas that took hold later in the century such as establishing Gaelic as the language of Ireland.
- 1845: John Mitchel replaced him and advocated far more militant and anti-British ideas (shown in his 1845 “Threats of Coercion” article).
- It was primarily from here Young Ireland descended into the Irish Confederation advocating radical action.
The Fenian Uprising
- Leadership was split between FB (John O’Mahony) and IRB (James Stephens).
- They disagreed on several things, Mahony criticised the circulation of a newspaper, violent language against the Church, and discrepancy in organisation of IRB units.
- FB itself was split between “The Senate Faction” who wanted to attack Canada using their welll trained civil war Irish American units.
- In 1865 Stephens had to flee Ireland after it was discovered he haad been involved in plans for an uprising that had been captured by the Crown Forces; The Irish People had to close down too.
- This lack of coordination, postponement of a rebellion, and poor armament meant that the uprising in 1867 “was no more than a gesture” (Moody)
Parnell and Home Rule
- Parnell had become a titan in the world of Nationalist politics at the time.
- Leader of all the key organisations; the “Freeman’s Journal” called him “The Personal embodiment of the Irish Nation”, while Gladstone called him “The man that set Home Rule on 2 legs”.
- However it was also his hubris that was ultimately responsible for the ultimate failure of Home Rule in the late 19th Century; his embroilment in the O’Shea divorce case and the attitude with which he approached it meant the problem he thought that there was nothing to worry about grew into the killing blow. Victorian culture did not look kindly upon extra-marital affair, and so Parnell became discredited.
- He could no longer provide the unifying leadership he had done so for the New Departure; The Catholic Church did not support him any longer which meant the National League was no longer unanimous in support for the IPP (something the IPP relied on to function).
Parnell and the Land League
The leadership of the movement was good:
> John Devoy provided excellent grassroots activists and wealth; Marley gives Clan na Gael the primary credit for unifying the 2 wings as it was their idea to create the New Departure.
Davitt was a brilliant organiser which Moody gives the primary credit to unifying the 2 wings.
Charles Stewart Parnell who provided the superior leadership, a type not seen since O’Connell with Emancipation. He was “a matchless genius for leadership” (Moody), which lay in his understanding of power, opportunism and political awareness.
-Genius demonstrated when Parnell intentionally got himself imprisoned.
-Proven right when in 1882 the Kilmainham Treaty was proposed that granted sufficient reform to kill radicalism and allowed Parnell to leave prison and retake his leadership position.
