“The failure of British Government policies in Ireland in the period 1916–1918 was mainly responsible for the success of Sinn Féin in the General Election of 1918.”
To what extent would you accept this verdict?
20/20 essay- Rise of Sinn Fein CCEA A Level History
Option 4 A2
Ireland
“The failure of British Government policies in Ireland in the period 1916–1918 was mainly
responsible for the success of Sinn Féin in the General Election of 1918.”
To what extent would you accept this verdict?
-introduction
-GB policy
-british fluctuation between coercion and compromise eroded support for constitutional
nationalism
-the executions and secret trials led to public speculation
-the drawn out nature of the punishments allowed public sympathy to build
-the Dublin castle administration decided that it had been a 'Sinn Fein' rebellion- this
allowed advanced nationalists to feed on the public revulsion following British repression
-the internment of many sinn seiners (3,500 arrested and 1836 interned) increased this
anger
-the exchange of ideas and cultivating of strategies in prison allowed for the success of Sinn
Fein
-the refusal to alter the death sentence of casement epitomised british stubbornness
-the sherry skefington murder reflected the brutality of British coercion
-Lord French's coercive policies in May 1918 in response to the German plot with the arrest
of 73 SF members, banning the Gaelic league and the closure sympathetic newspapers
confirmed that british authority rested upon illegal, anti-democratic measures
-the high profile martyrdom of Ashe in 1917 added to negative public opinion of british
policy and led to criticism from the british press and Irish clergy
-british credibility with the irish populace had been shattered
-impact of rising
-the rising became known as the 'sinn fein rising' by the British government who were intent
on placing all the blame on them
-the drawn out executions (15 over 10 days) evoked public sympathy- this became politically
beneficial to SF
-they gained support from a wider public sympathy with the rebels involved in the rising
-the adoption of de Valera as president cemented the Link between Pearse's noble sacrifice
and the brand of nationalism offered by SF
-the treatment of prisoners showed the lack of IPP influence at Westminster- despite
Redmond's pleas and Dillons emotional speech
-impact of war
-the war was a catalyst for SF political growth
-it removed the only credible alternative to advanced nationalism and republicanism
-it prevented the emigration of young radicals- they would become leaders of SF at a grass
root level
-it distracted the British government- they only proposed half hearted reform and failed to
implement HR in time to prevent the rise of SF
-they were primarily concerned with winning the war, without the war SF's rise would have
been hampered
-without the war government policy may have been more flexible and imaginative than
Maxwell's
-conscription was a reality
-IPP weakness
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