Ireland
From the Potato Famine to
Independence
Early Irish History
Iron Age: Celts/Gaels
 432 St. Patrick arrives
 1171 King Henry II of England
 13th century: English Law is introduced
 1641: Irish Rebellion
  Catholics are barred from voting or
attending to the Parliament
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
Political Situation
Since 1801: Act of Union
 English rule
 Most of the land owned by English
 2/3 of the population depending on
agriculture
 80% Catholics
 70% of the Irish representatives
Landowners or their sons
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Situation of the Farmers
English landlords
 High taxes
 Small farms (Subdivision)
 Potato
 Depending on one single crop
 Previous Failures
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Great Irish Famine
1845-1852
 Potato blight
 Great crop failures
 Population reduced by 20-25%
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Potato Bilght
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Phytophthora infestans
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Spores carried by wind & rain
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Potatoes rot in the ground
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Affected the whole island
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The Hanging Gale
The potato bight arrives
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The Famine
September 1845: Potato blight arrived
 Peer repeals Corn Laws
 1846: Crop again destroyed
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– First deaths
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1847: Worst year
– 250 000 Emigrants
– Diseases
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Low yield
© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Famine
1848: Crop failures
 Revolution
 1848/49:hard winter, Cholera
 1849: Crop failures
 1850: Relief
 Emigration continues
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
Population
1800: ~ 4,5 million
 1841: ~ 8,2 million
 1851: ~ 6,5 million
 1911: ~ 4,4 million
 ~ 1 million deaths
 Emigration
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– Up to 250 000 p.a.
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Food Exports
Food exports to England
 1782-1783 Ports closed
 Food prices low
 Most of the famine:
Food exports
  Food imports from
America
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
After the Famine
1856: James Stephens
returns
 1858: Irish Republican
Brotherhood
 1859: Fenian Brotherhood
 1867: Uprising
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The Land War
High Taxes
 Many evictions
 Political movement – Michael Davitt
 Home Rule Party – Isaac Butt
 Boycott
 Violence
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
Political Situation
Militant minority  full Independence
 Constitutional Nationalists  government
 Irish Unionists  Act of Union
 Republicans  Independence
 Nationalists  Irish State
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
1886-1905
Gladstone
 1886: First Home Rule Bill
 1890: Parnell has to retire IPP splits
 1893: Second Home Rule Bill
 1900: Reunion of the IPP
 1900: IRB regroups
 1905: Sinn Féin
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
1909 - World War I
1909: General Election
 1912: Third Home rule Bill
 UVF and IVF are founded
 County Option Scheme
 1914: War with Germany
 Home Rule Bill delayed
 Irish join the war
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
Background
August 1915: Military council
 Provisional Government
 “England’s difficulty is Ireland’s
opportunity”
 Clan na Gael
 German help
 Irish Citizen Army
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Easter Rising
Easter Week (24.-30.4.) 1916
 Militant Irish republicans
 Independence
 Most important uprising since 1798
 Concentrated on Dublin
 Suppressed by the British
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Easter Rising
Arranged for Easter Sunday
 German troops captured
 Irish Volunteer Force
 Monday: Occupation of strategic points
 English week (400 vs. 1000)
 Street fights
 Friday: English reinforcement
 Sunday: Surrender
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
After the Rising
Huge parts of Dublin are destroyed
 3 – 16. May: Executions of the leaders
 Sinn Féin is blamed for the Rising
 1917: New leader - Eamon de Valera
 1918: Sinn Féin wins election
 1919: First Dáil
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Anglo-Irish War
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21st January 1919 – 11th July
1921
Irish Republican Army
First small surprise attacks
Guerilla war
“Bloody Sunday”
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Michael Collins
The British Answer
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The Anglo-Irish War
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21st January 1919 – 11th July
1921
Irish Republican Army
First small surprise attacks
Guerilla war
“Bloody Sunday”
1921: Negotiations
Treaty  Fights between Irish
© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The Treaty
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Negotiated by Michel
Collins
Irish Free State
Part of the Empire
Members of
Parliament have to
swear an oath to the
English King
Loss of Northern
Ireland
© Marie-Christine Röhsner
Reactions
Great discussions
 Ratified in 1922
 Not very popular
 “the freedom to achieve freedom”
 Irish Civil War (1922-23)
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© Marie-Christine Röhsner
The wind that shakes the barley
In the church
© Marie-Christine Röhsner