Passed in 1800, Politically tied Ireland to Britain.
3/4 of Irish population did not support the Union
Ireland had no Parliament of its own, Ruled by parliament in
Westminister, we were allowed 105 seats in parliament.
The British parliament consisted of the House of
Commons(elected individuals) and the House of Lords(non-elected
individuals, british nobility)
The Nationalists VS The Unionists
Nationalist- A person against the Union
Parties
Home Rule Party
Wanted its own Parliament for Ireland to deal with Irish affairs
while UK deals with more important events such as the irish
army.Ireland will still be under power of the king.
Sinn Fein
Arthur Griffith
1905
Wanted Own irish parliament but wanted king of England
to still be king of Ireland.Griffith wanted Ireland to develop
their own industries and prosperity.
Labour
Irish Republican Brotherhood(IRB)
Wanted total independence from England, Believed
Ireland should be a republic.This organisation was a
secret one, They believed their goal could only be
achieved through rebellion.
Unionist-A person who supported the Union.
Edward Carson, James Craig
Reasons as to why N and U
were against/for the Union
Poverty:During the union only Ulster blossomed
with much wealth and jobs, whereas the Irish were
barley getting by on the scraps.
Religion:As Britain at the time was protestant
and Ireland was Catholic this caused a problem
as The protestants(unionist) did not want home
rule as if Ireland were to get their own parilment
,it would mostly contain catholics leaving
proestants out in votes whereas the same for
the opposite side if Britain were to take over
fully catholics would have no say in how their
country was run.(Home Rule is Rome Rule)
Culture:The Irish culture
was nothing like the
English culture, we even
had a completely different
language, many people felt
that if Ireland were to join
England we would be
giving up our culture and
irish heritage.
The GAA(The Gaelic Athletic Association)
Set up by Douglas Hyde
in hopes to renew Irish
culture through sports
such as Gaelic
Football.Also in hopes
of uniting all opinions
through sport.(1884)
The First Gaelic League in 1884 was set up to
renew the irish language also to teach Ceilis and
irish music.They also started printing newspapers
in irish in a desperate attempt to get back their
beloved language. Eventually the GAA was taken
over by the IRB, Hyde retired in distgust as his
original idea of a united Ireland had been taken
away.
The Lockout/Labour Movement
Durning the 1913s Irish workers were treated badly and worked in terrible conditions on little
pay.Many people beleved that workers should have rights; these people were referred to as
Socialists.Amoung them were two men James connoly and Jim Larkin.In 1908 Jim Larkin tried to set up a
trade union called the Irish Transport and Genral Workers' union (ITGWU),Afraid of this union all work
places locked workers out of work until they agreed not to join the union.Many people refused this
offer and started striking outside their workplaces, unfortuantley the police were on side with the
powerful bosses and beat up any person who refused the offer,in order to protect the irish people the
ICA (Irish Citizen Army) was set up.This army protected the people from the police brutality.Eventually
after 5 months of the lockout workers were forced to go back to work as their jobs were the only way
they feed their families, when the workers returned they returned to even worse conditions.
Home Rule Crisis
After the genral election in 1910 the Libral Party tried
to pass a higher tax on the rch which got veto and lost
the libral party votes, in order to beat the opposing
team so they contacted John Redmond the head of the
Home Rule Party and struck a deal with them if they
give the Libral Party their votes in return they must
pass the home rule bill.When the liberal party did win
they kept their word and made a law so the house of
lords could only Veto a bill twice and on the third time
the bill is automatically passed.Evntaully the bill got
accepted in1912 and the house of lords could only
delay the bill by two years.As you can imagine the
Nationalists were delighted while the Unionists were
horrified.
Unionist reaction:After finding out the home rule bill was to be passed
Carson and Craig set up the Ulster Voulenteer Force( UVF) to prevent
home rule being opposed on them.They state they will not stop at any
cost until they do not face home rule.They also signed the Soleum
league and covannant.
Nationalists Reaction:In reaction to the unionists the nationilists felt that if the UVF caused to much trouble the
bill would be canncllled so in response Eoin Mac Neill set up the Irish Voulenteers to protect the home rule
bill.While this was happening the IRB secretly set up inside the IV slowly converting the men to a full republic.
Threat of Civil War:As there were now two
separate armies ready to fight for their belief
there was a threat of civil war,quite quickly
Asquith the leader of the liberal party convinced
Redmond and Carson to talk and discuss ther
beliefs amound eachother and reach an
agreement.Eventually an agreement was
reached that a Partition was to be put in place to
separate the unionists from the
nationalists.Carson wanted ulster while
Redmond agreed where his majority stood.
Unfortuanatley World War One broke out before Home rule was
supposed to come out.Due to WW1 Home rule was postponed till
the end of the war.Both groups encouraged their volounteers to
join.
The 1916 Rising
Preparrations
The 1916 rising was due to happen on Easter day 1916, the IRB needed more men
for this rising to be sucsessful so they created a fake letter to the IV saying that
anyone involved was to be arrested, this caused Eoin Mac Neill unaware the letter
was forged to join forces with the IRB and plan the easter rising.Just when
everything was planned Eoin Mac Neill discovered that the guns and arsenal that
was supposed to be delivered got captured off the coast of howth by a British Army
Ship.Mac Neill also discovered the letter was forged and called off the rising in the
Sunday paper.The IRB were still intent on going on with the rising as they planned
to use Blood Sacrifice to change the peoples minds.
The Rising
The Rising Itself took place on Easter Sunday 1916 at 12:00.The IRB were in short numbers and planned to take over
the key buildings in Dublin.The GPO was the headquarters for the rising.It contained Parick Pearse the Main leader of
the IRB, The college of Surgeons which contained James Connelly, They also tried to take over Dublin castle the british
headquarters in Dublin but failed due to lack of men.The rising lasted for 6 days it started on Sunday and by Tuesday
the English had brought in 2000 more soilders.Eventually after a lot of bloodshed and crossfire Parick Pearse
surrendered causeing all his followers to surrender such as his right hand man or should I say women who when
surrendered kissed her gun and handed it over to the general.
Why it failed
There were too little men and the English had greatly
outnumbered them.Also they did not think through
their stratigy as they were trapped inside buildings
unable to get out.
Repercussion of the rising
All the main leaders of the rising were caught and exacuted, one of
the men were already badly injured and was bound to die within
numbered days but the British strapped him to a chair and shot
him,The public started changing their opinions as they felt the
executions were to harsh.The British started realizing this and
stopped the executions but it was too late.The damage had been
done and now Ireland wanted to be free.