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John Gibney (1)

Autore di A Short History of Ireland, 1500-2000

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18 opere 157 membri 2 recensioni

Sull'Autore

John Gibney holds a doctorate in history from TCD and has been a research fellow at the University of Notre Dame in the USA and at NUI Galway He hay written several books on Irish history and produced an acclaimed radio documentary on the folklore of inner-city Dublin.

Opere di John Gibney

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Informazioni generali

Sesso
male
Nazionalità
Ireland

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Recensioni

Irish historian John Gibney proceeds from the beginning of Ireland’s modern period to the present day in this well-told and comprehensive history. Before launching into a more detailed look at the 1500s onward however, he provides background on who the Irish people were and how the territory was controlled. He notes that disputes with the English for domination have been going on for centuries.

The English presence in Ireland became ever more coercive beginning in the sixteenth century, and inspired a number of revolts, shaped by several factors. The Protestant Reformation gave a new political dimension to religious differences. Gibney, as well as many other historians, ponders why the Irish did not “reform,” that is, convert to Protestantism like the rest of Great Britain. He concludes that Catholicism was simply too embedded in the old and rich culture of Gaelic Ireland.

The English saw the Irish as primitive, barbarous, and treasonous. English settlers and soldiers in Ireland caused Irish resentment. But the acquisition of land in Ireland by English settlers offered opportunities for wealth and political influence.

Notable events Gibney describes include the Catholic revolt of 1641 during which the Protestants, fearing slaughter, gave Oliver Cromwell cause to invade. Money for his army was raised by using land confiscated from Catholic “rebels” as collateral. Cromwell led an army of 12,000 that arrived in Dublin in 1649 and “embarked on a swift and ruthless campaign over the next nine months.” Gibney observes that “Thanks to the intertwined ravages of war, famine, and disease, the overall mortality rate in Ireland from 1649 to 1652 may have been as high as 15-20 percent of the population. The war ended with the defeat of the Irish in 1653. Gibney records:

“Perhaps thirty-five to forty thousand confederate soldiers emigrated in the aftermath, while some fifteen to twenty-five thousand civilians were transplanted to English plantations in the Caribbean as indentured servants. The human cost of war, as always, extended far beyond those who had done the fighting.”

The Cromwellian conquest also resulted in a number of punitive laws that allowed the English to confiscate even more land and to repress the Irish in such a heavy-handed manner it was guaranteed to lead to future conflicts.

Gibney offers an interesting perspective on England’s 1688 “Glorious Revolution,” so called because of the absence of violence (in England) in effecting rapid monumental social change. After more than a century of Protestant rulers such as Henry IV, Elizabeth I, and Oliver Cromwell, the Catholic James II Stuart ascended to the English throne. He was tolerated by his overwhelmingly Protestant English subjects because he was rather old and had no male heirs. However, the birth of his son in 1688 precipitated a crisis in that continued Catholic rule appeared likely.

Support for James was very weak in England, Wales, and Scotland, but very strong in Ireland. When English Protestants invited William of Orange to assume the throne, he met little or no resistance in Britain, but much in Ireland, where a civil war broke out. A British army invaded Ireland and prevailed over Catholic forces in the decisive “Battle of the Boyne.” Many of the defeated Catholic army emigrated to the European continent and found employment as mercenary soldiers. The achieved a degree of notoriety as the “Wild Geese.”

In 1798, a rebellion of Catholics against the Protestant ascendancy motivated Parliament to incorporate Ireland into the British state through the Acts of Union in 1800. For the next 120 years, Ireland was split not only by the Protestant-Catholic divide, but also the divide between those who wanted an independent Ireland and those who wanted to be part of England (the “Unionists”).

When it transpired that the Unionists were predominantly Protestant and living mostly in the north (Ulster), a further rift developed. Many Catholics and some Protestants wanted the entire Irish island to be united and independent. Most Protestants, recognizing that they could be in the majority only in Ulster, wanted to remain a part of England. A settlement was reached in 1922 when and independent Irish “free state” was established that excluded Ulster, which remained a part of England.

Animosity toward England was so strong in the south that the Irish Free State remained neutral during World War II. Protestant maltreatment of the Catholic minority in the north led to the establishment of the Irish Republican Army (The “IRA”), which became responsible for a decades long terrorist campaign (the “troubles”) to drive the British out of Ulster.

Although Ulster remains firmly a part of England, even after Brexit, discrimination against its Catholic minority has abated sufficiently that Ireland has become a relatively tranquil island, even though divided into two separate nations. The north and south of Ireland have made amends with one another, and the island is now a safe and delightful tourist destination.

While this book is rather short and terse (only 244 pages), it offers much more detail than this review can cover. In fact its brevity allows for a clearer understanding of the progression of Irish-English relations because of the lack of the very many complicating factors and personalities involved. It makes an excellent introduction to the complex history of the land of so many of Americans’ forbearers.

(JAB)
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
nbmars | Apr 15, 2023 |
Despite the number of pages, this was a lengthy read for me as the subject matter explored some very singular events and subjects that are an extension of the Irish Civil War of the 1920s.

This is niche content covering off specialised areas within the remit of Irish history. If you have no background in this subject matter, you will find it hard going as the authors of this collection of essays assume a prior and intimate knowledge.

"... experts on the subject explore the experience and consequences of the latter phases of the Irish revolution from a wide range of perspectives ..." and topics covered range from a look at the files of the RIC collated within Dublin Castle; the Black and Tans; flirtations with Bolshevism and Fascism; the murder of the Mayor of Cork and the burning of Cork City from the perspective of the Fire Brigade; the use and fate of informers; social issues like the postal strike, the moratorium of public amusements as a form of protest, and a cricket match; before finishing off with a look at the women of Cumann na MBan.

For those for whom this is a particular area of study, this will make a nice addition to your required reading.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
Melisende | Jun 26, 2020 |

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Statistiche

Opere
18
Utenti
157
Popolarità
#133,743
Voto
3.8
Recensioni
2
ISBN
42

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