1916 Rising in Ireland. Progress or regress?

Yes, indeed, because as everyone knows having an opinion that is logical, rational and most importantly based on stuff that actually happened is clearly wrong...whereas empty phrases, no evidence and made up stuff that didn't happen has to be right...

Originally posted by F�dhla the simple fact is that the British Government did not want to grant Irish People Independence as ALL the evidence shows.

Uh, thats not entirely true. The Irish people were, if you will, apathetic about full independance (i.e. Independance as a seperate nation state. Independance in the form of Home Rule is a different matter) until 1916. Before that Home Rule and Land Reform were the issues of the day. Even radicals like Arthur Griffith originally wanted, at best, a dual monarchy of Ireland and Great Britain. Furthermore the Ulstermen do count as part of the Irish people and as the UVF and Larne gunrunning episodes show they were not at all in favour of independance. That the British Government did not want to give full independance is true but they did try (albeit depending on Parliamentary majorities) to sort out Ireland with an extensive and unpartisan series of land and government reforms as well as the promise of Home Rule (which was supported by the whole Liberal Party from 1886 onwards- as all the evidence shows).

1916 was incredibly important.  Because it happened and because of the executions a great sympathy was born for the Republicans whilst the Home Rule Nationalists looked weak. Home Rule was therefore chucked, despite the Liberal Partys best efforts. We can see this in the 1918 election results:
Unionists: 26
Home Rule Nationalists: 6 (4 from deals with Sinn Fein)
Sinn Fein: 73
Previously the Home Rule party had been the strong contender- reflecting of course the wishes of the general Irish population pre-1916.

Incidentally you have called Dolphin an Imperialist. Several times you have claimed he supported British Imperialism, if not German, which amounts to support for at least one national form of Imperialism.






Edited by YohjiArmstrong - 04-Sep-2007 at 09:09