This course explores the rich, tragic and fascinating history of modern Ireland with a particular emphasis on the period commonly known as the Irish Revolution, from 1912 to 1923. From the devastating consequences of the Great Irish Famine and the revolution in land ownership that followed, to the rise of organised political movements and experience of partition and successive wars, the political, economic and demographic landscape of Ireland was transformed across the period 1845-1923. Yet it is only relatively recently that historians have started to pay attention to groups, movements and events which have been subsumed, side-lined or ignored due to the prevalence of the domestic political questions which underlined Ireland’s ‘Revolution’, generating new questions about the inevitability of Ireland’s transformation.
This course simultaneously introduces students to some of the traditional anchors in Irish historiography, as well as newer areas of research. Through lectures and seminar discussions, students will have the opportunity to explore a range of historiographical, critical and methodological approaches to thinking about and writing Irish history. By the end of this course, students should have a better understanding of the evolution of Ireland’s transformation in this important period and a more critical understanding of the events, people and issues that shaped the face of modern Ireland.
Learning outcomes
- To understand the major events, issues and groups involved in the evolution of Ireland’s political and social transformation;
- To develop a more critical understanding of these events, issues and groups;
- To critically consider which aspects of Ireland’s revolution were inevitable.
