Detailed Information
AE-HN337 - People in Action: Volunteers and Paramilitaries in Revolutionary Ireland
By 1912, Ireland was facing a political crisis when Ulster unionism mobilised in opposition to Home Rule, a form of legislative independence for Ireland. Resulting from this crisis, a number of volunteer/paramilitary organisations emerged across the island from 1912-24, with thousands of men and women from both sides of the political divide taking part.
This period of militarisation changed the course of Irish history when revolutionary violence erupted in Ireland in 1916. Taking a thematic approach, this course will examine Ireland’s revolutionary period through the lens of the movement’s that emerged during this time. This will include an examination of the nationalist/republican aligned Irish Republican Brotherhood, Irish Volunteers, National Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan, and Irish Republican Army, as well as the unionist aligned Ulster Volunteer Force.
Using a wide range of primary source material from archives in Ireland and Britain, combined with a wealth of secondary material, the story of the Irish revolution will be told by comparing the aims and activities of these varied movements. Key events will be examined, ranging from the emergence of both the Irish and Ulster Volunteers in 1913, the split in the Irish Volunteers and Cumann na mBan in the Autumn of 1914, the overarching impact of the First World War on the various movements, and the drift to revolutionary violence from 1916 onwards. Topics of discussion will also include the 1916 Rising, War of Independence and Irish Civil War.
Duration: 8 Tuesdays
Time: 18.00 - 20.00
Dates: Feb 28, Mar 07, 14, 21, 28, Apr 04, 18, 25 (excluding Apr 11)
- Unionism and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), 1911-13
- • The Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers, 1910-13
- • The impact of the First World War on the Irish Volunteers and the UVF, 1914-16
- • The National Volunteers, 1914-17
- • Cumann na mBan, 1914-16
- • Volunteering and the 1916 Rising
- • The Irish Volunteers reorganised, 1917-19
- • The fight for independence: the Irish Republican Army (IRA), 1919- 21
- • Civil war: the pro- and anti-Treaty IRA, 1922-24
- Alvin Jackson, Home Rule: an Irish history, 1800-2000 (2003)
- Charles Townshend, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion (London, 2005)
- Charles Townshend, The Republic: The Fight For Irish Independence (London, 2013)
- Cal McCarthy, Cumann na mBan and the Irish Revolution (Cork, 2014)
- Senia Paseta, Irish nationalist women, 1900-1918 (Cambridge, 2013)
- Ann Matthews, The Irish Citizen Army (Cork, 2014)
- Timothy Bowman, Carson’s Army: The Ulster Volunteer Force, 1910-22 (Manchester, 2007)"
• Gain knowledge of online resources available about the period
• Discuss primary documentation
• Outline the different movements that existed during Ireland’s revolutionary period
• Evaluate the historic/political circumstances that led to the rise of these movements
• Have an understanding of the role these differing movements played during the period
• Examine the impact of the First World War on these movements
• Discuss topics such as the arms trade or associational culture during this period
• Evaluate the impact of major events such as the 1916 Rising or Irish Civil War
This course will take a thematic approach across each week, focusing on particular movements within a specific chronological scope.
Each week there will be a tutor presentation
- Document analysis
- Short presentation based upon doc analysis
- Use of short video/audio clips of interviews of former Irish Volunteers
- Practical skills involving the use of online resources such as the Bureau of Military History
- Potential for a short walking tour looking at some lesser known buildings in Dublin that tell the story of the revolution on a micro level