"In the years 1865-1868 the Fenians did not pose a serious threat to British Rule in Ireland" To what extent do the extracts support this view?

"In the years 1865-1868 the Fenians did not pose a serious threat to British Rule in Ireland" To what extent do the extracts support this view? (16 marks) It is agreeable that to a certain extent "in the years 1865-1868 the Fenians did not pose a threat to British Rule in Ireland". This is because the Fenian movement did not achieve its aims, which were to overthrow British power and gain independence in Ireland by creating a mass uprising. However it was still significant in the long term, because it gained a lot of publicity, which as a result caused the British Government to discuss Irish issues and served as inspiration for future organisations. The Fenian movement was a secret revolutionary organisation established in Ireland and the United States in 1858. They gained a fair amount of support in the 1860's and even had their own newspaper 'The Irish People' run by the Irish founder and leader James Stephens. The society had been introduced as a result of the 1865 Potato Famine, which had caused a poor economic situation in Ireland. Throughout these desperate times the British government had not given any help to the Irish and so the Irish felt extremely resentful towards them. The peaceful methods that had originally been used by various groups (i.e. mass meetings and campaigns) had been unsuccessful in achieving the aims of the Irish; therefore the Fenian's

  • Word count: 1644
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Choose Two Events in the Last 100 Years Which Are Particularly Important in Shaping the Views of Today's A) Loyalists / Unionists / Protestants and B) Republicans / Nationalists / Catholics.

09/04/2003 Choose Two Events in the Last 100 Years Which Are Particularly Important in Shaping the Views of Today's A) Loyalists/Unionists/Protestants and B) Republicans/Nationalists/Catholics. Resistance to home rule 1912 - 14 Charles Parnell tried helping the Nationalist's to get 'Home Rule' 1886 but the idea was turned down. So he tried to get it again in 1893 it was turned down once more. However, in 1912 Home Rule was being considered and it seemed likely that Ireland would have it's own government governed by Dublin. In Belfast, tensions were so high over the Bill that spontaneous rioting kept breaking out between the Catholic and Protestant residents of the City. On September 28th 1912, a large crowd consisting of nearly 500,000 protestants converged on the new Belfast City Hall to sign the Solemn League and Covenant in which they pledged themselves to use 'any means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland. And in the event of such a Parliament being forced upon us we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority'. Similar scenes were seen in towns and villages throughout Ulster and even among Ulster exiles in Dublin and Edinburgh. Sir Edward Carson (the leader of the nationalists) was unsure what the people meant when they said they would resist, he did

  • Word count: 533
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Why did violence increase between the arrival of the British Troops in August 1969 & the imposition of Direct Rule in March 1972?

Why did violence increase between the arrival of the British Troops in August 1969 & the imposition of Direct Rule in March 1972? British troops were introduced to Northern Ireland due to the increasing violence and unfairness to the minority of Catholics. Protestants were increasing their control over the Catholics, in many ways such as Gerrymandering meaning Catholics had the minority vote in local elections and Protestants came into power. The IRA were rearmed and began collecting support and were getting ready for more terrorist attacks and countering the Protestant parties. Riots started to break out and the Northern Ireland police lost control, this was because from the beginning, Catholics in Northern Ireland were a disadvantaged minority in matters of employment, housing, education, cultural and political participation. In 1968 a civil rights movement emerged to protest against this discrimination, often provoking violent reactions within the Protestant community, known as the NICRA. When the British Troops arrived they found themselves in the middle of a conflict, the Protestants did not want the troops increasing fairness for the Catholics and the Catholics did not want help from the British. Tension was mounting and the British were the "Piggy in the Middle". The British Troops were at the disposal of Stormont (Northern Ireland government mainly composed of

  • Word count: 642
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

The events that occurred in Derry on 30th January 1979 became known as Bloody Sunday. Why have these events produced such different historical interpretations?

The events that occurred in Derry on 30th January 1979 became known as Bloody Sunday. Why have these events produced such different historical interpretations? On January 30th 1972, civil rights activists were involved in a protest march against internment through Londonderry. British paratroopers, who were deployed on the streets, shot and killed 13 of the marchers and wounded others. Many people have different views on what happened and why. The main conflicting views are those of the paratroopers and their supporters and the views of the marchers and the friends and family of those killed. Source A is a newspaper report form the Daily Mail in September 1999. It is a report on new evidence released from the second enquiry into Bloody Sunday, led by Lord Saville. The headline reads "PARAS IN BLOODY SUNDAY EVIDENCE STORM". This headline states the situation that the report is based on. The report includes the opinions of different people on the new evidence. The new evidence suggests that the original tests, which confirmed that some of the protesters shot had been handling firearms or explosives, may have been contaminated. It concluded that, "there is no credible evidence that any of the 14 people killed by the army in Londonderry in January 1972 had been handling firearms." The premature release of this evidence "incensed" the paratroopers and their supporters.

  • Word count: 1155
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

What Obstacles are standing in the way of peace in Northern Ireland?

IRELAND What Obstacles are standing in the way of peace in Northern Ireland? In this essay, I am going to explain how a feud between the Protestants and Catholics, is still kept alive today. Also how politicians from Britain, Ireland and the USA are trying to make peace, although there has been some success rate peace has not yet been restored. The reason there can never be peace in Northern Ireland is because the citizens of Northern Ireland look back as past events with hostility. There were several periods of famine in the first part of the nineteenth century, but the most terrible was the potato famine of 1845-9, as a Southern reporter explained in October 1845, "The potato is apparently sound when dug, but on examination small, round spots are found running round the tuber and having each the appearance sore or cancer. The potato in this state... will within a few days be completely destroyed, necessitating a method of turning it to food as quickly as possible" When the potato crops became infected with blight, the Irish catholic farmers could not pay their rent to their wealthy Protestant landlords. Both the landlords and the British Government refused to help the farmers. Many of the farmers were evicted from their farms, 1 million people died and 1 million people emigrated to escape the death and suffering. Hatred of the British Government and Protestant

  • Word count: 1783
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Friars Bush -Using the sight and supplied sources (K-Y), suggest reasons for this growth

Question 2A There is evidence of growing sectarianism in Belfast during the 19th century. A) Using the sight and supplied sources (K-Y), suggest reasons for this growth. In the 18th century, Belfast's extremism between catholic and protestant was seemed amicable. According to source A, St. Marys Catholic Church was built in 1784 and was built by generous donations from Belfast's Protestants and volunteers. Although we can still see in source K that in 1782 was only 1,092 catholic's to the protestant 13,100 living in Belfast. By 1841 the catholic population had dramatically risen to 24,000 to the 75,300 Protestants. This number and date also corresponds with the first major outbreak of sectarianism rioting in 1857 which lead to development of segregated housing. Protestant preachers were influencing Protestant's on their ideas and feeling on Catholic people. Preachers such as Dr. Henry Cooke were completely against the Catholic people living in Belfast and they would preach to people about this. 'Which led to increasing polarisation between the communities' was reflected by the drift into religious areas, this process was nearly complete in the 1850s. Despite the continuous rioting, Belfast's catholic businessmen continued to prosper. Businessmen such as Andrew Joseph McKenna, a news paper editor who launched his own newspaper in 1868 is an example a of catholic

  • Word count: 780
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Which political party, Conservative or Liberal, was more threatened by events in Ireland in the period 1909-1916?

Which political party, Conservative or Liberal, was more threatened by events in Ireland in the period 1909-1916? The events in Ireland 1909-1916 were to lead to a political crisis in England. The issue was over Home Rule for Ireland and it was the Liberal's, as the party who favoured Home Rule, who were facing difficulties over the question of reform and potential disaster. When the Liberals came to power in 1906 the size of their overall majority and a deliberate decision to tread with caution in Ireland ensured that the Irish question remained low on the political agenda but in 1910 the position changed. The elections of that year, fought on the House of Lords issue, resulted in the Irish Nationalists once again holding the balance of power. The Liberals were only able to reduce the power of the Lords with the help of the Irish Nationalists. This forced the government to agree that the Home Rule would be brought of cold storage. The passing of the parliament act removed a major obstacle in the way of Home Rule. At most the Lords could only delay a Home Rule for two years. After that it would become law. A third Home Rule Bill was introduced in 1912. Although the Irish Nationalists held the balance of power, that alone does not explain why the Liberal government introduced the Bill. Many Liberals genuinely wanted Home Rule; the Nationalists did not therefore force the

  • Word count: 1600
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Conflict in Northern Ireland.

Conflict in Northern Ireland For centuries there has been conflict in Northern Ireland. The disagreement between Irish Catholics and the Irish Protestants still continues to this day. In this assessment I am going to examine why soldiers were sent into Ireland in 1969. Between 1921 and the mid 1960s Catholics in Northern Ireland faced many problems. After the War Of Independence, in 1919, the country of Ireland was divided into two parts; The North, here there was a large Protestant Majority, each of the six Ulster counties had their own parliament and their own government. The South, largely occupied by Irish Catholics, most opposed the idea of dividing Ireland. But in 1921 a group of Sinn Fein, and IRA members signed an treaty with the British, accepting the division of Ireland. This was when what's known as 'Northern Ireland' was created, dominated by Protestants. However, Catholics had wanted a united and Independent Ireland, so resentment grew. "After partition, it was hardline Unionists who held power in the North, they were determined to keep Ulster British and Protestant. They tended to see all Northern Catholics as possible traitors. As a result Catholics were discriminated against" (1) In the 1930s there was a worldwide economic depression, due to the 'Wall Street Crash' in America. Both Irish Catholics and Protestants were affected

  • Word count: 1149
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

What are the main differences between the believes of the Unionists and the Nationalists?

Conflict in Ireland. Question 1: What are the main differences between the believes of the Unionists and the Nationalists? Ireland is the most western part of Europe. It is divided into two countries, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland is the size of Yorkshire and only has a population of 1.5 million. Yet it has been in the news since 1968. This is due to the conflict that has taken place in Northern Ireland. This conflict is over one simple question; Whether Northern Ireland should stay part of the United Kingdom or to join the south as one kingdom. The two groups that have different ideas on how this country should be are called the Nationalists and the Unionists. The unionists want to stay part of the UK, they are also known as loyalists. Most of these unionists are Protestants. There are many different parties within this belief. The Ulster Unionist party was established in the late 19th century to defend the interests of the Northern Protestants. It is sometimes called the Official Unionist party. The Ulster Unionist party have ruled Northern Ireland between 1920 and 1971. The democratic unionist party is the second most powerful party and was established in 1971 by Ian Paisley. This group was blamed for the destruction of the IRA. The orange Order was established in 1795 to help protect Protestants. Today it is the largest protestant organisation

  • Word count: 3537
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay

Explain why the loyalists have been rioting in Ireland.

Modern World Study Coursework 2002 . Explain why the loyalists have been rioting in Ireland. Loyalists are rioting in Ireland because of religious and political hatred and to get their voices heard on their opinion of whether or not Ireland should become a united and independent republic. In 1641, Catholics in Ireland massacred Protestants because in Ulster, they were losing their land to Protestants. This massacre is still used today as an example to by Protestants to show Catholics as "bloody thirsty rebels" who can not be trusted. Later in 1649, Cromwell's Protestant troops massacred Catholics at Drogheda. Sources show that Cromwell and his soldiers believe that the Catholic religion was wrong and only Protestants were true Christians and some sources also show how they also believed the propaganda of the Protestant massacre. These reasons help to explain why Cromwell massacred the Catholics but the only justifications are that he wanted to teach the Catholics rebels a lesson and that this massacre was just a tit for tat killing which happens a lot in modern Ireland. The hatred result from these two massacres is still remembered today which remains as one of the reasons for the rioting Protestant Loyalists. The loyalists could be rioting to show their superiority over the Catholic Republicans as they do on the Protestant marches; these marches take place every year on

  • Word count: 2260
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
Access this essay