Nationalisims in Ireland

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Nationalism in Ireland
Executive summary
Nationalism is the feeling that people have towards their country for a shared history, culture, and principles. The spirit of nationalism brings a people together and gives them a sense of pride towards their nations, and what they share as a group. As indicated by Cairns and Shaun (356), the British wanted to introduce their culture to the Irish people by assimilation but was failed. The sense of pride and a feeling of uniqueness in their culture made the Irish people decline the British offer. England and Scotland had formed a collaboration and attacked Ireland. The result was the partitioning of the 26 Free states into six states that were collectively known as North Ireland. The other twenty were ruled in the separately but still under the British rule as shown in (Kearns para 2). The rebellion on Easter Monday of April 24, 1916, led by Patrick Pearse, was a nationalist activity with various groups from Ireland uniting to liberate Ireland. They attacked the post office and replaced the British flag with the flag of Ireland Republic. Courageously they declared they wanted to grant freedom to exercise self-governance as Irish people. This triggered violence with 3500 men being arrested, but ultimately they were granted independence in 1921 as shown in (“THE LEARNING NETWORK…. ” para 1-3). After Ireland had been granted independence, regions like Ulster had many English and Scottish people. The peace agreement that led to independence included the provision of allowing the already living English and Scottish people to be allowed to continue their stay in Ireland just like any other Irish person.

The Irish people formed the Gaelic athletic association that organized Irish sports exclusively for Irish men and boys. This was a cultural activity that acted as a source of unity and a fuel of nationalism for the Irish people as shown in (McDevitt 278). The Irish culture based on their religion, sports and activism helped to fuel the fight against the British colonial rule. Nationalism in Ireland was an integral energy that promoted the struggle for independence in Ireland.
THE LEARNING NETWORK, .. “April 24, 1916, | Irish Nationalists Stage Easter Uprising in Dublin.” The New York Times. The Learning Network, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/april-24-1916-irish-nationalists- stage-Easter-uprising-in-Dublin/?_r=0>.
On Easter Monday of April 24, 1916, Irish nationalist launched a revolt in Dublin and seized a post office alongside other buildings after which they declared the establishment of the Republic of Ireland. The insurgency was pioneered by the Irish citizen army, Irish republican brotherhood, and member of the guerrilla organization. The British had deployed most her army to the world war one battlefield and the Irish rebel groups took the advantage of the inadequate British troops supposed to promote British rule in Ireland. The rebels dismantled the British flag from the post office and replaced it with and Irish flag embedded with the name of the Irish Republic. The flag replacement was the act that triggered violence between the British colonial rule and people of Ireland in Dublin. Patrick Pearse, their leader, read a declaration that said that the Irish people were entitled to their land and self-rule. The Easter Monday war contributed to 1921 granting of independence to the Irish people.
The author has shown how various nationalist groups were united on a common course to liberate Ireland from colonial rule. The act of erecting their flag and replacing with theirs and declaring they own their land and want to be a sovereign state is an act of nationalism
The source is a media source explaining event about the past of Ireland, it is focused on the topic and supports the thesis making it a valuable resource for the research study.

Cairns, David, and Shaun Richards. Writing Ireland: Colonialism, Nationalism, and culture. Manchester University Press, 1988.
The Irish people were ruled by the orthodox British. With the intentions to assimilate Ireland. The British thought to come up with cultures and customs that would replace those of the Irish making the Irish people without any sense of identity but some new persons in the British community in their native land. The Irish people were supposed to be ruled and have their culture scrapped off to remain with just a sense of humanity. Spenser, a British political scientist, suggested that assimilation would fail since the Irish people have cultures and rules that were totally contrasting. The original plan was to erode the top Irish people, which included the chief and the soldiers. The Irish people were feeling proud of their culture and would not accept to conform. The Irish viewed the change of culture that was intended by the British colonialist as a contamination of their culture that were superior to the one of British.
The author of the book explains nationalism among the British and the Irish. The main reason for Irish resistance to British rule was the cultural change that British wanted to introduce them. Their sense of superiority, based on aspects of religion the British were orthodox and Irish people were Catholics, and, they were not willing to abandon their culture.
The book content explains relevant cultural clash that exposes Irish nation nationalism. Spenser realized that Irish pride based on their culture would hinder assimilation process and prompt resistance. The content makes the book relevant to the research.
McDevitt, Patrick F. “Muscular Catholicism: Nationalism, Masculinity and Gaelic team sports, 1884–1916.” Gender & History 9.2 (1997): 262-284.
The Irish people have been living with the English men and wanted to be identified differently from the English people. The spirit of nationalism allowed them to indulge in sporting activities that would exclude them from the English men and boys. The Irish people out of the spirit of nationalism, they formed the Gaelic athletic association that united the Irish people as they celebrated and exhibited their culture through sports like hunting to remind them of the great famine and their struggle for independence. Through these sports aspects of Irish renaissance of their nationalist feeling and the feeling Irish masculinity which were not similar those of the British.
The author talks about the extreme feeling of nationalism among the Irish people, they formed teams and played games that gave them a unique identity. They were living with English people but still felt they had a superior culture to portray which became their source of the feeling of nationalism. The issue of masculinity is connected to nationalism in the sense that Irish men wanted to show British men that they had a sense of collective identity, which was different from the ones for the English people. They engaged in the games that will deliberately exclude the British men and make them feel foreign in Ireland. During the sports, the Irish men would enhance their bond making them on a good ground in case they needed to resist any British institution. The formation of Gaelic athletic association was exclusively for the Irish people and was as a result of Irish nationalism and love of their country.
The journal is a peer-reviewed article that makes it an authentic source for study since it talks about Gaelic traditions that distinguished the Irish people from the English people. The sporting activities since were only meant for Irish men and boys created a sense of national identity. In such context, the British would feel they had nothing to connect with Irish people. These sense of national identity was the base of their nationalistic spirit and the need for full autonomy from the London rule.
Hewitt, Christopher. “Catholic grievances, Catholic nationalism and violence in Northern Ireland during the Civil Rights Period: a reconsideration.” British Journal of Sociology (1981): 362-380.
The Irish had been living with Protestants as they were Catholics but felt discriminated. They had to protest against the discrimination since they experienced it in their land. The article talks about violence that lasted for close to having a decade from the late 1960s to early 1970s. Out of the spirit of nationalism, a political movement in Northern Ireland was formed called, North Ireland Civil right Association. The Catholics thought they needed equality and freedom considering they were the natives, with time the grievances were addressed and they were granted self –governance.
The journal articles explain the reason for the violence in North Ireland. The civil right movement formed out of nationalism shows the Irish people were facing a lot of dissatisfaction from the British tyrants, and the violence led to their freedom. The spirit of nationalism as they collectively identified as minority Catholics united them against the British.
The source is a journal article that makes its credibility for using in the research study more reliable. It explains nationalist events that led to a formation of civil right movement and violence.
Kearns, Gerry. “Irish Historical Geography: Colonial Contexts and Postcolonial Legacies | Kearns | Historical Geography.” Irish Historical Geography: Colonial Contexts and Postcolonial Legacies | Kearns | Historical Geography. National University of Ireland Maynooth, 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. <https://ejournals.unm.edu/index.php/historicalgeography/article/view/3141/html_4>.
The geography of current Ireland was characterized by large plantation and later famine after the British decided to use scorched earth policy to regain the lost colonial land in Ireland. Ireland had 26 Free States, but the British decided to separate them geographically and named six state North Ireland. For instance, the British colonial troops were commissioned to reconquered Ulster from Ireland and during that time the army deployed was considered the largest ever sent for such an expedition. After the taking over of Ulster, the British had killed most of the Irish people and subsequently replaced them other people from England and Scotland. This move made Ulster the first colonized state to collaborate with the colonial power, which was the collaboration between England and Scotland. The partition of Ireland by placing some states to be identified as Northern Ireland had sparked violence in the 1970s, from Republicanism and Unionism of the Irish nationalistic groups.
The author has explained how the British had introduced their rule by forcibly partitioning Ireland into the different geographical region to enhance their colonial rule. The attributes the violence in Northern Ireland as a result of the portioning, although the violence contributed to the gaining of independence.
The source is an electronic journal article making it a credible peer reviewed source that has an emphasis on the topic of interest. This makes it valuable to be used in the research study.
White, Timothy. “Catholicism and Nationalism in Ireland: From Fusion in the 19th Century to Separation in the 21st Century.” (University of Westminster. Xavier University, Cincinnati, 2007. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. 4(1): 47- 64<https://www.westminster.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/20099/004WPCC- Vol4-No1-Timothy_J_White.pdf>.

The Irish people were known to be among the most religious community in the European context. They had their religious faith based on the Catholic religion. The Catholic religion was a tool for creation of leaders in the late 19th and early 20th century. Later Ireland as the nation was created and religious leaders started to lose value in the political arena as they were replaced by secular leaders. The church not only lost the power to impose political authority on the Irish land but also the power to control moral. Pre-independently it was used as a source of national identity as The Irish people fought against the British colonial government.
The author has tried to explore the issue of nationalism in Ireland. The Catholic religion was considered the source of Irish identity and ultimately creating the collective bargain over their independence and struggling to win the colonial government. Later after the independence was gained, Catholic religion was abandoned as the core of Irish political drive in preference for secular governance.
The paper is a journal article, making it a peer review. It is valuable for my research study since it examines the issue of nationalism in Ireland and the various forces of religion and secularization of the political system.
McConne, James. “Irish Home Rule: An Imagined Future.” BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web.9Dec.2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/home_rule_movement_01.shtml>.
Between the early 1800s and early 1900s more than one century, Ireland was colonized by the British and many attempts to deliberate Ireland were conducted. In 1886 after the several failed attempts, a legislative procedure by the introduction of a home rule for Ireland was introduced in the House of Commons by Gladstone for consideration. This first attempt was failed, but Gladstone did not lose hope he made another attempt in 1893. The second one passed in the House of Commons, but the House of Lords turned it down. In 19 12 another move to pass a home rule bill was introduced but failed as usual. The Irish people realized they only way they would get to rule themselves is by taking the independence physically for the British, which led to the success 1916 through the Easter rebellion.
The author is trying to show that Irish people tried to pursue the right means for attaining self-governance but were denied the rights and the justice despite using the right mechanism that is the parliament. They latter decided to use force to reclaim their independence that become successful.
The article is a newspaper article, and it is addressing the nationalism in Ireland and how they were capable of recovering their home rule through the Easter rebellion of 1916. This makes the source valuable for the research.
Boland, Vincent. “Rise of SNP Has Echoes of Irish Nationalism – FT.com.” Financial Times. Financial Times, 1 Apr. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015. <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2c24a0e-e776-11e4-8e3f- 00144feab7de.html#axzz3tmlWdeB5>.
In 1916, there was an Easter rebellion that led to the establishment of Ireland as an independent republic. De Valera’s after he took the presidential office. John Redmond, an Irish politician, led the West-minister parliament to promote self-rule for Ireland, which happed in the 1910 general elections that were held in the United Kingdom. Henry Herbert and David Lloyd by a then prime minister and Chancellor Exchequer were not for granting Ireland it’s home rule since they feared Scotland would claim the self-governance as well. Redmond was not a radicle, so he did not seek for a full independence from the British rule but rather Ireland to attain a capacity of self-rule. The 1916 rebellion led to complete autonomy by Irish people on Irish land.
The author is showing that Irish people were looking for self-rule within their territory although not independence. The British imperialist denied the request despite been made formal by Redmond and others. The denial was not welcomed very nicely by the Irish people and 1916 they fought for their independence.
The media source is magazine article and since it addresses the issue of nationalism and how the rebellion that led to the freedom materialized, it will be available material for the study.