Wild and Bitter Fruits and Royal Pains

This chapter portrays the formation of early modern Ireland through to the formation and defeat of the United Irishmen. The conquest, and three subsequent reconquests, of Ulster and Ireland over two centuries, and their legacies, are traced. The reactive fusion of the Gaelic Irish and the Old English in the first manifestations of modern Irish nationalism are treated. The plantation of Ulster, the Ulster Rising of 1641, the War of the Three Kingdoms, and the Cromwellian conquest and its legacies are surveyed in turn, before a comparative portrayal of the penal laws and the impacts of the American and French revolutions are introduced. The costs of the failure of the United Irishmen are assessed.

Introduction

This chapter sets the scene for the three volumes that follow. It provides an introduction to the conflict, and debates over its nature. It defends defining the conflict as primarily national and ethnic, rooted in the English and British colonial past. The meaning(s) of national and ethnic groups are defined. The chapter summarizes the history of the collective names of the groups in question, and provides an account of how cultural Catholics and cultural Protestants recognize one another through names, places, and schools. The plan of the book is set out in relation to Political Science and Irish historiography, indicating how the concepts of colonialism, control, and consociation will be used to order the subsequent exposition.

Overlooked by the Tall Kingdom before Dying of Political Economy

This chapter examines Ireland’s political experience during the first half of the Union. Among the subjects surveyed are the long delay in Catholic emancipation, the continuation of administrative colonialism, and the emergence of fiscal dependence and highly uneven economic development that culminated in the Great Famine. The latter’s significance is assessed. The author argues that, just as manslaughter should be distinguished from homicide, so “geno-slaughter” better accounts for what occurred than genocide. The limitations of efforts to make Ireland British are assessed, and the development of state–church relations critically evaluated. Protestant Ulster’s resistance to O’Connell’s movement for Repeal of the Union is assessed, as is the return of Presbyterians toward a pan-Protestant coalition against reenergized Irish Catholicism.

An Audit of Violence after 1966

This chapter provides a systematic and partly comparative survey of the scale of political violence in Northern Ireland 1966–2006, with some additional materials related to the broader costs of the conflict. Graphs and charts depict primary patterns of violence, victims of violence, agents held responsible for violence, the human and economic costs, and disputes over culpabilities and consequences. In specific locales the conflict was deeply intense, in others few suffered—explanations are provided for this spatial variation. Inaccurate accounts of the patterns of violence are corrected. The damage done to UK and Irish democracy and constitutionalism are assessed. The benefits that have accrued since a largely successful peace process came to fruition are also highlighted.

Scratches across the Heart

RRThis chapter clarifies the concept of partition, and then evaluates the partition of Ireland, comparing it with the colonial partitions of Palestine and British India, as well as other cases. Types of partition are carefully distinguished, and explanations for their emergence are evaluated, as well as the justifications that usually accompany them. The actual partition of Ireland is appraised against potentially fairer partitions. The failure of the Irish Boundary Commission provided for in the Treaty of 1921 ratified by the Westminster and Dublin parliaments is explained. An assessment is made of the degree to which fraud and deceit occurred in the making of the treaty that specified how partition might be modified.

Conceptual Conspectus

This chapter contrasts the colonial and “sectarianized peoples” interpretations of modern Irish history, defining and defending the former while noting that the latter frequently displays “observational equivalence” with the former. Jürgen Osterhammel’s conception of colonialism is shown to be applicable and apposite, as are those of a range of thinkers from Machiavelli to Michael Hechter. A political rather than an economic or cultural conception of colonialism is defended. An overview of the influential “ancient-régime” reading of Irish history by Sean Connolly is shown to have significant limitations. The curious absence of decolonization from much Irish historiography is noted. The reason that matters is that it is important to date the end of colonization in the South and the North respectively and precisely.

“ ’Twas better to die ’neath an Irish Sky, than at Suvla, or Sud-el-Bar”

This chapter demonstrates the significance of the First World War in the partial successes of Irish republicanism and Ulster unionism. The run-up to the 1916 Rising was preceded by significant evidence of declining support for Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party. The 1916 Rising, British wartime policy, and the elections of 1918 are examined to demonstrate the weakening of British authority in Ireland. The Rising itself was more rational and less romantic than it is typically portrayed. The British decision to ignore the election outcomes in Ireland at the end of the First World War led militant republicans to return to armed combat, conducting a guerrilla war of independence. The partition of Ireland and the war of independence are surveyed before a puzzle is addressed: why did the English prove incapable of federalizing their dominions and their dependencies in the Isles? The development of Irish nationalism and Ulster unionism are examined in their comparative European context. The UVF’s significance is emphasized in blocking Ireland’s comprehensive secession and in the formation of Northern Ireland.

Crying Aloud for Vengeance and the Power of a Colonial Caste

In the latter half of the Union, participation crises occurred across the institutional spectrum, with many Irish men and women choosing exit rather than voice or loyalty. That, however, produced a better-resourced Irish diaspora in an emergent great power. Catholics achieved some limited social mobility, but experienced regression in some occupations; by contrast, Presbyterians more clearly benefited from pan-Protestantism. The churches deepened their institutional strength in education, including higher education. The undemocratic character of the Union is emphasized in this chapter, but the secret ballot and the eventual widening of the male franchise made more visible what had long been evident: most Irish Catholics preferred repeal of the Union, home rule, or independence, or some variant thereof. The expanded electorate, in conjunction with modernization, underpinned the electoral solidification of nationalism and unionism, respectively supported by cultural Catholics and cultural Protestants, especially in Ulster, where polarization was deepest. The formation of Irish nationalism and republicanism in party formats, initially focused on land rights and home rule, and the countermovement of Irish and Ulster unionism are treated. The First World War postponed conflict in a newly para-militarized Ireland.