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The Irish question

The document outlines the historical context of the Irish Question, which refers to the debate over Irish nationalism and independence from British rule from the early 19th century until the 1920s. Key events include the Acts of Union 1800, the Great Famine, the Easter Rising of 1916, and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921, leading to the partition of Ireland. The ongoing conflict between Irish nationalists and British unionists culminated in the Troubles, which lasted until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

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44 views3 pages

The Irish question

The document outlines the historical context of the Irish Question, which refers to the debate over Irish nationalism and independence from British rule from the early 19th century until the 1920s. Key events include the Acts of Union 1800, the Great Famine, the Easter Rising of 1916, and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921, leading to the partition of Ireland. The ongoing conflict between Irish nationalists and British unionists culminated in the Troubles, which lasted until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Uploaded by

dani05.lorenzi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Irish question

In 1844 Disraeli defined the Irish Question. Gaelic Ireland was finally defeated at the
battle of Kinsale in 1601 which marked the collapse of the Gaelic system and the
beginning of Ireland's history as fully part of the English and later British empire. During
the 17th century, this division between a Protestant landholding minority and a
dispossessed Catholic majority was intensified and conflict between them was to
become a recurrent them in Irish history.

On January 1801, in the wake of the republican United Irishmen Rebellion, the Irish
Parliament was abolished and Ireland became part of a new United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland Formed by the Acts of Union 1800. Catholics were not granted full
rights until 1829.
There were 2 main religions: Anglican and mainly Catholic
In 1791 a group of Catholics created the Society of United Irishmen who aimed at
forming their own republic. In 1798 they organised an uprising that was crushed by the
British troops.
To prevent other rebellions, Pitt allowed Irish representatives to sit at Westminster. In
1801 the Act of Union Joined Ireland and Britain to form the new United Kingdom. The
Irish flag was added to create the Union Jack that is still used today.

The great famine of 1845 - 1851 killed upward of 1 million Irish people and forced
another million to migrate, especially to the United States. Poor Handling by the British
government left distrust and hatred in its wake. The view in Ireland was that the
combination of laissez faire policies, which permitted food exports from Ireland, and
protectionist Corn Laws, which prevented import of low cost wheat, had been a major
factor in the famine, and that an independent government would have mitigated it.

Thanks to the Irish representatives in the parliament they obtained the "Home Rule Act"
in 1914: This Act was suspended at the outbreak of WWI.

In 1916 - Easter Rising: On Easter Monday the Irish volunteers organised a rebellion
proclaimed an Irish Republic which lasted for six days util, with vastly superior numbers
and artillery, the British army quickly suppressed the rising and executed the leaders to
the movement.

The Sinn Fein party in Ireland won the elections. Instead of going to Westminster they
declared the Irish republic in Dublin. In 1919 Irish volunteers joined the IRA (Irish
Republican Army) and prepared for a later civil was. In 1921 the Irish Free State was
established under the leadership of Eamon de Valera: a self-governing dominion within
the "Community of nations known as the British empire".
Under the Anglo-Irish Treaty the six north-eastern counties, know as Northern Ireland,
remained within the United Kingdom, creating the partition of Ireland. The treaty was
opposed by many; their opposition led to the outbreak of the IRISH CIVIL WAR, in which
Irish Free Stat, or "pro-treaty", forces proved victorious.

In 1987 a new Constitution re-established the state as Ireland (Or Eire in Irish). The state
remained neutral throughout WWII, although tens of thousands volunteered to serve in
the British forces.

The official Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland took place just in 1949.

The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by the division of society and
conflict between (mainly Catholic) Irish nationalists and (mainly Protestants) British
unionists. These divisions erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s, after civil rights
marches were met with opposition by authorities. The violence escalated after the
deployment of the British Army to maintain authority led to clashed with nationalist
communities. The violence continued for twenty-eight years until an uneasy, but largely
successful peace was finally achieved with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The Irish question was the issue debated primarily among the British government from
the early 19th century until the 1920s of how to respond to Irish nationalism and the
calls for Irish independence.
The phrase came to prominence as a result of the Acts of Union 1800 which merged the
kingdoms of Ireland with Great Britain to create the United Kingdom, and merged
the Parliament of Ireland into a single governing body with the Parliament of Great
Britain; the Parliament of the United Kingdom based in Westminster.
Doing so forced the British government to pay closer attention to the state of Ireland
and its people.
In 1844, a future British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, defined the Irish question:
That dense population in extreme distress inhabited an island where there was an
established church which was not their church; and a territorial aristocracy, the richest
of whom lived in distant capitals. Thus they had a starving population, an absentee
aristocracy, and an alien Church, and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world.
That was the Irish question.[1]
In the United Kingdom general election of 1868, a coalition of Liberals and Irish
Nationalists formed based on the fact that a wrong was done to Ireland and that it must
be corrected.[2] From the general election of 1868 to 1929, and most likely past the
latter year, the Liberal Party's primary platform of reform was based on Irish
reform.[2] During the first ministry of William Ewart Gladstone, a total of three
"grievances" were made to him by the Irish: "religious, agrarian, and
nationalist".[2] These were, but not limited to, the Roman Catholic faith being persecuted
since the 16th century, the poverty wrought upon by legislation, such as Ireland's
woollen industry, and English landlords, and "Poyning's Law", which held the Irish
government's action subject to the acceptation of the government of England
under King Henry VII.[3]
In 1886, with the introduction of the first Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons, the
term the Anglo-Irish quarrel[4] gained favour and became more acceptable than the
implied condescension of the Irish question.
The Irish question affected British politics in much the same way that the nationalities
problem affected Austria-Hungary. Normal British domestic issues could not be
adequately addressed because of the political divisions created by the oppression of
Ireland. The Liberal Party split over Home Rule, with the unionist faction leaving to
create the Liberal Unionist Party, ceding control to the Conservatives, thus hurting the
cause of further social and political reform.

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