Nationalism & Unionism in Ireland
Home Rule Crisis 1912-1914
Nationalism & Unionism
Nationalism
Wanted to self - govern from Dublin
Mainly Catholics
Liberals
Unionism
Keep system as it was, Westminster makes laws
Mainly Protestants
Conservatives
Abstentionism
Sinn Féin
Arthur Griffith founder
When Sinn Féin refused to attend the British parliament
British Parliament
House of Commons
Rich, Appointed
Liberal
House of Lords
Working - Class, Elected
Had the power to stop laws from passing through (VETO)
Would not leave the Home Rule bill pass
Conservative
Irish Parliamentary Party
Largest in Ireland
Opposed by the Unionist party
Parnell/John Redmond joins forces with William Gladstone and puts the 1st home rule bill into the house of commons, and defeated 1886
2nd Home Rule bill
1893
Gladstone/Redmond gets it past the house of commons, but rejected by the House of Lords
3rd Bill
1906
House of Lords refuse to pass a budget taxing the rich
King gets angry
Parliament Act 1911
House of lords can only delay a bill for 2 years
Becomes law after 2 years
Finally , since 1801, 113 years later, the Irish get a parliament in Dublin in 1914
John Redmond
Leader of Irish Parliamentary Party
The Unionist & Nationalist Response
Main Opposers to Home Rule
Edward Carson
Barrister and land owner
James Craig
Edward's Right hand man
40,000 Acres of land
1911
Parliament Act passed
1912
3rd Home Rule bill introduced
Ulster Solemn League and Covenant
Petition, Anti - Home Rule
250,000 Women
200,000 Men
1913
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Formed
Set up by Carson and Craig
Army set up to protect their position in the United Kingdom
13th January
Ages 18-65
Signed the Covenant
Trained by British Army Officers
100,000 Men
Andrew Bonner Law, leader of conservative party
Supports the Unionists
Larne gun - running (Supplied by Larne)
5 Million Rounds
35,000 Guns
From Germany
Irish Citizen Army Formed
100,000
November 1913
To combat the UVF
Equal Force (not supply wise though)
Arms imported from Germany in 1914
Because Germany is about to declare war (WW1)
Boat (the asgard), boat used for the smuggling of the guns, (sailing boat)
900 rifles
25,000 Rounds of Ammo
Howth
3 Killed 38 Injured
Eoin MacNeill
Irish National Volunteers Formed
First meeting in 25th November 1913
May 1914, 25,000 Members
Women
Unarmed (Mainly)
Medics (Mainly
John Redmond
Founder
Gets most IVF and Citizen Army to join British Army
Solitude
10,000, 10%, dont
These become involved in the 1916 Rising
1914
The Curragh Munity
Creation of UVF faced possibility of armed uprising in Ulster
Government Wanted to send the Army up North to enforce Home
57 out of 70 officers refused to go North to enforce Home Rule
Not sent North by Government
Confidence Booster for UVF and Unionists
Asquith
Prime Minister at the time