The
origin of the Irish Nationalism and its evolution after the Irish War of Independence
In this essay, I am going to discuss about the origin
of Ireland as a nation and how the nationalism evolved
after the Irish War of Independence against Britain, dividing the essay in two
main parts. With this in mind, in this essay we will
always take into account three main aspects: socio-economic, religious,
political and historical, so that we can have the context and the reasons why
it happened. This essay will also be seen from two different perspectives: the
British because Britain was the nation which dominated Ireland until the Irish
nationalism emerged, and the other is the Irish, seeing how their thinking was
changing until they decided to become a nation.
When
did it begin?
There are many events in history that could have
determined the origin of the Irish nationalism, that is to say, the beginning
of Irish history as a nation. But when can one talk about Irish nationalism? In
1904, a man called Eoin MacNeill, an Irish scholar and also politician, asked
himself that question giving a lecture. He said it could be considered that its
beginning was in the Gaelic or pre-Normand period, in other words, a
traditional period of Ireland. Or even it could have
started in the 16th century, in a revolutionary period. (Boyce, 2003:15)
Other aspects that he also took into account were the religious
ones: on the one hand, during the 1640s when there was a big Catholic movement
and, on the other hand, with the Protestants of
the eighteenth century. And last but not least important, the author refers to
the modern aspect, as for instance, the socio-political change of the 19thcentury
of Ireland. It is for this reason that he says that a historian must decide
between searching in the more ancient past writing in a theological way or beginning
in a more modern period forgetting other historical events.(Boyce, 2003:15).
Therefore now Boyce, bearing in mind all these
aspects, first defines the term nationalism to come later to the Irish case. Nationalism,
according to him, is the feeling or belief of a community of people that share
the same origin (with the same history and literature), that usually have a
common language that differs from other nations (not always) and who might have the same religion. Consequently, he argues that
this feeling would take on more importance in Ireland in the last quarter of
the eighteenth century with the Acts of Union of 1801 with Britain. (Boyce, 2003:16)
The
Act of Union (1st January 1801)
According to the author Larking in A History of Ireland, and as a result of the French Revolution in 1789, Britain would
take advantage of this fact and would have the reason to unify the Kingdom of
Ireland to its territory. The most revolutionary Irish leaders of the 19th
century would see this union as a given and would work all
this century (within the strict possibilities that Britain allowed them)
against this union. The Union banned any possible representation of Irish
people in their parliament, which had achieved more autonomy since 1782, forcing the representatives of the Irish parliament
to go to the British one, in Westminster.(Larkin
H., 2014:9)
From the British point of view, this was an historic
and nonviolent act, and it would give Ireland a
period of stability, but the most important thing for them was that it was the last step of a process that began
with the annexation of Wales in 1535, Scotland in 1707 and finished with
Ireland in 1801. (Larkin H., 2014:10)
Nevertheless, for Ireland it wasn’t a “real pacific
period” and in time it divided both cultures and communities. England would try
to convince Ireland in all the possible aspects showing the benefits of the
Union, in the economic aspect they would explain the benefits of a more solid
economy that would promote Ireland’s economic growth. However, having such
unequal economies was very difficult to have parity in both of them, so it
wasn’t as good as they expected (and furthermore if we include that there was a
period of corruption).(Larkin H., 2014:15)
From the religious point of view, Larkin says that
Ireland was composed of a majority of Catholics (for each Protestant there were
three Catholics, proportion which would be just the opposite in the case of the
Union between Britain and Ireland, that is, three
against twelve, having British more options to control them. It is for this
reason that Britain didn’t like the idea of having a Catholic parliament in
Ireland. (Larkin H., 2014:15) Despite the
fact that there was a Protestant ascendancy with the two major Protestant
parties growing more and more (the Crown and the Tory party), the author
McCaffrey in The Irish Question : Two
Centuries of Conflict says that the Catholic majority refused to
accept this pact because they believed that they would be in a huge inferiority.
(McCaffrey, 2015:3)
However, it was more than an ideology which was
counting for this union according to Larkin’s opinion. On the one hand, there
were the Protestants that, even being a small group, monopolised land, politics
and society. On the other hand, the Catholics were landless, “politically underprivileged”,
poor etc. and controlled by the Protestant elite. This meant that if Protestants
were for the Union, the whole Ireland would be part of Britain, and in fact that
is what happened. Bearing in mind all these aspects, Catholic masses would have
a serious problem of identity, partly because of the dependence on Britain and
partly also because they couldn’t be taken into
account as a nation. (Larkin H., 2014:4)
In conclusion, this period will create an Irish
national sentiment, based mostly in a strong hatred against the British predominance
in their territory. This feeling wouldn’t end until after the Irish War of
Independence when Ireland was recognised as a country. This would, as well, affect
in a devastating way its poor economic situation, which would trigger the Great
Famine of Ireland, also known as The Irish potato
famine (1845-1852) and one of the biggest migrations of its history. And, last but not least,
from the religious point of view, the Catholics would have serious problems
(especially in the 19th century), because of the Anti-Catholic laws of
Britain that abolished their human rights like: voting, having a good education
or job etc. being even persecuted.
After the Irish War of Independence: The
Anglo-Irish Treaty
After the war, in December 1921 England and Ireland
would sign The Anglo-Irish Treaty, despite the fact that they did not have much
interest in having peace in both territories. This could be explained because
in the last stages of the war many violent acts took place, according to what the
author Michael Hopkinson says in The
Irish War of Independence. The terms discussed in this treaty were: the
safeguard of the defence of Ireland, the future of Ulster (an Irish Protestant
region formed by six counties that was in favour of the union with Britain),
the granting of fiscal autonomy and the self-domain in their twenty-six
counties. (Hopkinson, 2002: 177) This treaty, signed
by the provisional Irish government and by the British Prime Minister Lloyd
George and his asembly of negotiators, had an acceptable degree of independence
for his supporters. Nonetheless, for others there would be something missing
and that was the partition of Ireland (despite the fact that there was little
to discuss because they had already done it that same year). As well, this
treaty was not accepted by those who voted against (the anti-Treaties or
republicans) as it was inconceivable for them and, therefore, they refused to
recognize the Irish Free State. Nevertheless, for the big majority it
represented one more step for the Irish freedom, even if with this agreement
they would continue to be subordinated to Britain in some economical aspects (Curtis,
2010: 106-107)
Northern and Southern Ireland
Meanwhile in Ireland, as I have
mentioned before, the division of the territory affected the region of Ulster (situated
in Northern Ireland) and the rest of Ireland. The conflict of Northern Ireland
or The Troubles is believed to have a religious origin between Catholics and
Protestants, but according to the author Joanne McEvoy the origin lays
somewhere else: the national identity. Whilst Nationalists regard the Republic
of Ireland as their ‘motherland’, the Unionists consider Britain their country,
as they have very different objectives: Unionists want to be part of the United
Kingdom and Nationalists want a united Ireland.Of
course, in Ireland the religion divisions have always been explicit. It is
known that during this period there were many cases of sectarianism because of
this issue, but these discrepancies also coincide with other economical
differences, historical facts and national political identity.(McEvoy, 2008: 8)
IRA
According to Andrew Sanders, the IRA
or Irish Republic Army was considered heir of the Irish Volunteers, a small
group of Irish volunteers that took part in the First World War. The Irish
Volunteers split from the National Volunteers in 1914 and, encouraged by the
Irish Parliamentary Party leader (John Redmond), would give their support to
the Allies at the beginning of the war. The remainder was supposed to be a home
guard in the Irish territory, but Britain refused to train a disorganised
movement which couldn’t provide front-line soldiers, apart from the concern
that they could provoke as they could have been used against them in
nationalistic terms. As the war progressed worse,
news about its divisions in their army arrived in Ireland and the threat of
having to go to war increased, whilst support given to the National Volunteers
was dicreasing. At the same time, the Irish Volunteers were becoming more and
more numerous. That was specially influenced by Britain that created a
Republican division in which the most important thing was the pragmatic
significance of the war, in other words, what they will achieve at the end of
the war. (Sanders, 2011: 1-2)
This movement would continue after
the war until the decade of 1970s, when Nothern Ireland would suffer one of the
most violent periods in its history. As a result of The ‘Troubles’, over two
thousand people would be murdered and half of them in the hands of the Provisional
IRA. In August 1969, the Official IRA would be created and it would split with
the Provisional one. This movement was established because of the impotence experienced
during that decade and with the purpose of being able to change it into a
deadly insurgency fast. Nevertheless, they also began to have political
activity, as for instance, claiming the recognitions of the parliaments of
Stormont or Westminster, but having an extreme socialism orientation. (Sanders,
2011: 45)
The tendency towards politics of the
IRA would start as a peace process, according to Sanders, that will be established
during the following decades and continued until the 1990s when the IRA would
make its final movement with two ceasefires. All this, added with the internal
factionism of the movement and the transition of the Irish-American military
support to political intervention, would finally end with the most abrupt
period in the history of Nothern Ireland. (Sanders, 2011: 191) The beginning of
the 21st century was in an uneasy calm, even if the final year of
the previous century had only eight deaths, there was a straight relation
between violence and politics that wouldn’t end till the last paramilitary
group in Nothern Ireland, the LVF (Loyalist Volunteer Force) was disolved,
arresting in October 2005 its leader. (Sanders, 2011: 226-227)
To sum up with this second part of
the essay, it could be said that the period between the Irish War of
Independence until our days was even more violent in some decades that the war
itself. Having two main territorial and political isues, the complete
independence of Ireland from Britain and the internal territorial division in
the Irish territory, dividing it into two parts: Northern and Southern Ireland.
Likewise, I have also discussed about the biggest paramilitary movement emerged
in Ireland in the last century, the IRA, which I have considered very important
for the understanding of the Irish Nationalism, because it would be crucial in
the conflict of Nothern Ireland.
Works cited
Boyce, D. G. (2003). Nationalism
in Ireland (3). London: Routledge.
Curtis,
K. (2010). Anthem Irish Studies : P. S. O'Hegarty (1879-1955) : Sinn Féin
Fenian (1). London: Anthem Press.
Hopkinson,
M. (2002). The Irish War of Independence. Montreal: MQUP.
Larkin,
H. (2014). Anthem Perspectives in History : A History of Ireland 1800–1922
Theatres of Disorder? (1). London: Anthem Press.
McCaffrey,
L. J. (2015). The Irish Question : Two Centuries of Conflict (2).
Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
McEvoy,
J. (2008). Politics Study Guides EUP : Politics of Northern Ireland.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Sanders,
A. (2011). Inside the IRA : Dissident Republicans and the War for
Legitimacy (1). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
