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British policy in Ireland, in the years 1801–1922, was consistently based on the desire to maintain British control.’ How far do you agree with this statement?$7.16
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British policy in Ireland, in the years 1801–1922, was consistently based on the desire to maintain British control.’ How far do you agree with this statement?
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Course
Unit 36.2 - Ireland and the Union, c1774-1923
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
An A-level standard History essay arguing that in the years from 1801 to 1922 British policy in Ireland was frequently, but not entirely, based on the desire to maintain British control.
‘British policy in Ireland, in the years 1801–1922, was consistently based on the
desire to maintain British control.’ How far do you agree with this statement?
In the years 1801 to 1922 British policy in Ireland varied somewhat in accordance
with different political events and fluctuations in attitudes of Prime Ministers towards
the ‘Ireland Question’. It could be argued, however, that throughout this period British
policy was consistently motivated by desire to maintain British control in Ireland,
policy which I would outline as characterised by suppression and coercion. It seems
to me that during the period of 1801 to 1922 British policy in Ireland was sometimes
based on the desire to maintain British control, but was also motivated by factors
such as desires to maintain national security and achieve peace in Ireland/solve the
‘Catholic Question’
Policy based on the desire to maintain control can be characterised by the use of
repressive or coercive measures, measures which can be said to have been taken
frequently by the British government in Ireland in the years 1801 to 1922. Key
examples of the implementation of such policy can be seen in the British approach to
handling the uprisings of 1848 and 1867. The uprising of 1848, also known as the
Young Irelander Rebellion, was a relatively small rebellion led by the nationalist
group Young Ireland, inspired by the revolutions sweeping Europe at the time. The
British government responded to the uprising with a combination of military force and
political measures; many of the rebels were imprisoned, additional troops were
deployed in Ireland, press coverage of the event was suppressed and a series of
laws were passed including the Treason Felony Act of 1848 which restricted freedom
of expression in Ireland. The 1867 Fenian Rising, a series of coordinated attacks on
British military installations by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), was similarly
handled; additional troops were deployed and a network of spies was established to
monitor Fenian activity, resulting in the imprisonment of many members of the IRB.
In the case of both of these rebellions it is widely accepted that the British
government’s measures were designed to suppress dissent in order to maintain
control over Ireland and the consistency of this approach over the time period can be
seen in the passage of the Coercion Act and the Crimes Act in the 1880s in
response to the Land War. These acts gave the government sweeping powers to
suppress political activity, including the right to arrest and detain individuals
suspected of involvement in disruptive activities without trial, holding them in jail for
up to six months without charge and the right to search and seize property thought to
be connected to criminal or subversive activity. These coercive measures taken all
throughout the 1800s are interpreted by many as blatant attempts to suppress
political opposition and freedom of expression in order to maintain control of Ireland.
However, desire to maintain control was not the sole motivation behind British policy
in Ireland from 1801 to 1922. This can be seen in how many measures were taken
by the British government to ensure national security and preserve imperial unity as
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