The Making of Modern Irish History: Revisionism and the Revisionist Controversy

257 Pages·2006·8.493 MB·English

by  D. George Boyce, Alan O'Day

THE MAKING OF MODERN
IRISH HISTORY
This book is about the writing of modern Irish history: how it has been
influenced both by the changes in professional historical methods in the
last half-century, and by the involvement of history with political ideologies.
The book is arranged so that the reader is guided through the main
topics in Irish history since the eighteenth century. Each chapter offers a
review and an analysis of major work published on a particular event or
issue, together with a discussion of the historical controversies involved
Each contributor then offers their own interpretation of the subject and an
analysis of how interpretations have changed over the last thirty years. In
this way the book makes a substantive contribution to key issues in
modern Irish history as well as contributing to the debate on revisionism.
The editors have written a comprehensive introduction which outlines
the history of the revisionist controversy and places Ireland within a
historical and contemporary context. The combination of synthesis and
original analysis make this book ideal for both students and historians
alike.
D. George Boyce is Professor of Politics and Head of Department at
the University of Wales, Swansea. His most recent publications include
Ireland 1828-1923 (1992) and The Irish Question in British Politics (1988).
Alan O'Day teaches at the University of North London and holds the title
of Professor at Concordia University, Montreal. He is the author of The
English Face of Irish Nationalism (1994) and Parnell and the First Home Rule
Episode (1986).

THE MAKING OF
MODERN IRISH
HISTORY
Revisionism and
the revisionist controversy
Edited by
D. George Boyce and Alan O'Day
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX144RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Reprinted 1997
Transferred to Digital Printing 2006
© 1996 selection and editorial matter, D. George Boyce and Alan O'Day.
© Individual contributors, their contributions
Typeset in Palatino by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, Surrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-415-09819-X (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-12171-X (pbk)
CONTENTS
Notes on Contributors vii
1 INTRODUCTION
'Revisionism' and th,e 'revisionist controversy' 1
D. George Boyce and Alan O'Day
2 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY IRELAND 15
S.J. Connolly
3 THE UNION OF IRELAND AND BRITAIN, 1801-1921 34
Liam Kennedy and David S. Johnson
4 REVISIONISM AND IRISH HISTORY
The Great Famine 71
Mary Dal!{
5 THE NATIONAL QUESTION, LAND, AND
'REVISIONISM'
Some reflections 90
PaulBew
6 IRISH NATIONALISM 100
John Hutchinson
7 IRISH UNIONISM 120
Alvin Jackson
8 HOME RULE AND THE HISTORIANS 141
Alan O'Day
9 1916, INTERPRETING THE RISING 163
D. George Boyce
10 REVISING THE DIASPORA 188
Alan O'Day
v
THE MAKING OF MODERN IRISH HISTORY
11 PAST AND PRESENT
Revisionism and the Northern Ireland troubles 216
D. George Boyce
Index 239
vi
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Paul Bew is Professor of Irish Politics at the Queen's University of Belfast.
He is author and co-author of eleven books including Ideology and the Irish
Question (Oxford, 1994) and Northern Ireland, 1921-1994 (Serif, 1994). He
is currently working on the Ireland volume in the Oxford History of
Modern Europe series, under the general editorship of Lord Bullock and
Sir F.W. Deakin.
D. George Boyce is Professor in the Department of Politics, University of
Wales, Swansea. He has published in the field of modern British and Irish
political history. His Nationalism in Ireland is now in its third edition
(Routledge, 1995) and his most recent book is Political Ideas in Ireland Since
the Seventeenth Century, co-edited with R. Eccleshall and V. Geoghegan
(Routledge, 1993).
S.J. Connolly is Reader in History at the University of Ulster at Coleraine.
He has written Priests and People in Pre-Famine Ireland 1780-1845 (Dublin,
1982), Religion and Society in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (Dundalk, 1985),
and Religion, Law and Power: The making of Protestant Ireland (Oxford, 1992).
He is currently editing the Oxford Companion to Irish History.
Mary E. Daly is Associate Professor of Modern Irish History at University
College Dublin and joint editor of the journal Irish Economic and Social
History. Her publications include, Dublin: The Deposed Capital, 1860-1914.
A Social and Economic History, (Cork, 1984); The Famine in Ireland (Dublin,
1986) and Industrial Development and Irish National Identity, 1922-39
(Dublin, 1992).
John Hutchinson is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities at
Griffith University, Brisbane. He studied History at the University of
Edinburgh and took a doctorate in Sociology at the London School of
Economics. He is the author of The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The
vii
THE MAKING OF MODERN IRISH HISTORY
Gaelic revival and the creation of the Irish nation-state (London, 1987) and
Modern Nationalism (London, 1994), and has co-edited (with Anthony D.
Smith) Nationalism (Oxford University Press, 1994) for the Oxford Readers
series. He is presently working on the subject of nations in world
historical perspective.
Alvin Jackson is Lecturer in Modern History at the Queen's University of
Belfast. He is the author of The Ulster Party: Irish Unionists in the House of
Commons, 1884-1911; he has also written Sir Edward Carson, and Colonel
Edward Saunderson: umd and loyalty in Victorian Ireland. He has been a Post-
doctoral Fellow of the British Academy and Lecturer in Modern Irish
History at University College Dublin.
David S. Johnson is Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the
Queen's University of Belfast. He has published widely on nineteenth-
and twentieth-century Irish economic history and is the author of The
Interwar Economy in Ireland (Dublin, 1985).
Liam Kennedy is reader in Economic and Social History at the Queen's
University of Belfast, co-editor of An Economic History of Ulster, 1820-1939
(Manchester, 1985) and author of The Modern Industrialisation of Ireland,
1940-1988 (Dublin, 1989).
Alan Q'Day is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of North
London and Professor of History at Concordia University, Montreal. His
publications include The English Face of Irish Nationalism (London, 1977;
reprinted 1994), Parnell and the First Home Rule Episode (Dublin, 1986) and
with D. George Boyce he edited Parnell in Perspective (London, 1991).
viii
1
INTRODUCTION
'Revisionism' and the 'revisionist'
controversy
D. George Boyce and Alan Q'Day
What is the popular image of historical revisionism today? A
retelling of Irish history which seeks to show that British rule of
Ireland was not, as we have believed a bad thing, but a mixture of
necessity, good intentions and bungling; and that Irish resistance to
it was not as we have believed, a good thing, but a mixture of
wrong-headed idealism and unnecessary, often cruel violence. The
underlying message is that our relations with Britain on the Irish
question the Irish have been very much at fault. This is the popular
image of historical revisionism.
Desmond FennelP
REVISING HISTORY
Revising national history is perilous, especially if cherished legends are
debunked or heroes pushed off their pedestals. History is viewed as
having the functions of inculcation of the young with a sense of their own
national past and of recounting a public morality tale legitimising the
state, nation or community. It can give self-respect to a diaspora suffering
from disorientation, alienation or a sense of inferiority. One commentator
notes of Britain's Irish community
the Irish have often found solace in reminding themselves of their
victimised past. The past is where a small nation was colonised and
crushed by a ruthless oppressor. In their own lives they may well be
ridiculed at work for being Irish. Since the re-emergence of the
'troubles' twenty years ago, the abuse has sometimes been more
than verbal (particularly if the IRA campaign comes across the
water). A reading of traditional Irish nationalist history helps to
place their experiences in context. It gives people pride in their past,
and thus national self-respect. The classes are dominated by first
and second generation Irish and the climate is one of uncritical
1