Ireland in Schools Nottingham Pilot Scheme School of Education, U. of Nottingham

Transcription

1 Ireland in Schools Nottingham Pilot Scheme School of Education, U. of Nottingham Ireland Lesson plans, worksheets & other resources Unit 4 Ulster crisis & beyond Booklet 9 Government of Ireland Act/Michael Collins/Conclusion Lesson 31 Was the Government of Ireland Act a real achievement for the Irish? Lesson 32 What were the results of the Anglo-Irish War? Lesson 33 How has history treated Michael Collins since 1922? Lesson 34 Why was Ireland partitioned in 1921? By Gary Hillyard Ashfield School, Kirkby-in-Ashfield The following are available at this booklet in pdf format; and a PowerPoint including the presentations and visual sources used in the topic.

2 Topic Title: Government of Ireland Act Lesson 31 Lesson 32 Homework Lesson title Was the Government of Ireland Act a real achievement for the Irish? Aims: To examine the reasons behind the Government of Ireland Act. To assess its impact. Lesson title What were the results of the Anglo-Irish War? Aims: To examine the events of the Anglo-Irish War. To assess the impact of the A-I War and the resulting treaty. Starter Prior to the lesson cut up the prose sheet about Eamon de Valera into two pieces. Students are given one of the pieces (spread them around the room). Students are to use the sheet to answer the questions on the OHT. However, they will not be able to answer the questions unless they have both sides of the sheet. Apply this to what Nationalists felt about the Government of Ireland Act splitting Ireland up made no sense. Starter OHT Answers without Questions. Show students the answers and they have to decide what the questions are. w/s How successful was the Anglo-Irish Treaty in solving the problems Ireland faced? Topic title: Michael Collins/Conclusion Lesson 33 Lesson 34 Lesson title How has history treated Michael Collins since 1922? Aims: To examine the reasons behind the Government of Ireland Act. To assess its impact. Lesson title Why was Ireland partitioned in 1922? Aims: To plan an essay. To use key words relating to causation. Starter Watch the first 17 minutes of Michael Collins. Students have to log words they would use to describe Collins and an example from the film of why they have used that word. Starter Show the OHT of how Ireland was portioned and the map of Ulster. Get students to assess how successful they think this would have been? Homework Students write up essay. Mark with generic markscheme. 1 Modern History Review, November 1995, pp 21-2; 2 Hindsight, January 2004, pp 5-8. Main Activities Students use the textbook to fill out what the Government of Ireland Act meant for Northern and Southern Ireland. Main Activities Give out the information packs. Students use the information in the booklets to decide what they think the treaty should look like. Show the real treaty and assess how similar they are. Main Activities Students assess the other sources in relation to how they prove/disprove the impression they get of Collins from the movie. This is to be done on the worksheet. Main Activities Students are given an essay question. They must individually plan how they would answer it. Go through the process of planning selecting topic areas, using PEEK etc. Plenary Students express how they feel each side would have reacted to the Act and why (second side of the worksheet). Plenary Now ask the students to decide what they think the reaction of Collins and De Valera to the Treaty. Show the OHT and see how far they are right. Plenary Ask the students how useful they think a film is to an historian. Plenary Summarise the situation in Ireland in 1922 and how the problem was far from solved. Materials Information sheet Eamon de Valera w/s Government of Ireland Act. OHT de Valera Questions Materials w/s How successful was the Anglo-Irish Treaty in solving the problems Ireland faced? OHT Answers without Questions OHT For and Against the Treaty w/b The Anglo-Irish War. OHT Anglo-Irish Treaty. Materials Michael Collins - sources. w/s Michael Collins The Big Man. Materials OHT Map George Boyce, The Origins of Northern Ireland. 1 Jenny Birch, Why did the deaths of the Easter Rebels change Irish history? 2 Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 2

3 PowerPoint - overviews of lessons Lesson 31 Was the Government of Ireland Act a real achievement for the Irish? Aims To examine the reasons behind the Government of Ireland Act. To assess its impact. Eamon de Valera: Where and when was de Valera born? What did he do in 1908? Which area did he command during the 1916 Easter Rising? Where was de Valera when he was elected for East Clare? What position did he hold when he returned to Ireland in 1920? Task: Using the textbook, pages, complete the worksheet on the Government of Ireland Act. Lesson 32 What were the results of the Anglo-Irish War? Aims To examine the events of the Anglo-Irish War. To assess the impact of the Anglo-Irish War and the resulting treaty. Using the information in the workbooks, decide in your group what you think the Anglo-Irish Treaty should look like. Now decide, based on the information provided, how you think Collins and De Valera would have reacted to the Treaty. If these are the answers, what are the questions? Michael Collins 11 English civilians/british Intelligence Officers IRA Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 See below for terms. Arguments for & against the Treaty Northern Ireland and Its Neighbours since 1920 by S. Gillespie & G. Jones, Hodder & Stoughton,, p. 23 See below. Homework: Read pages of the textbook and use them to help you fill out the table about the success of the Treaty. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 3

4 PowerPoint - overviews of lessons Lesson 33 How has History treated Michael Collins since 1922? Aims To how film can be used as evidence. To assess how Collins has been treated by Historians since What words can be used to describe how Collins has been portrayed in the film? Source Provenance In what ways does it agree with the interpretation of the film? In what ways does the interpretation of this source differ? Why does it have the slant that it does? How useful is the film in studying the character of Michael Collins? Lesson 34 Why was Ireland partitioned in 1922? Maps of Ireland Aims To plan an essay. To use keywords relating to causation. See below. Individually, you are going to plan an answer to the following question: Why was Ireland partitioned in 1922? Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 4

5 Eamon de Valera ( ) Lesson 31 - information sheet Eamon de Valera was born in Manhattan, New York, on 14th October His father was Juan de Valera, a Spaniard who had studied to be a sculptor but due to ill-health he had reverted to teaching music. In September 1881, Juan de Valera had married Kate Coll from Knockmore, near Bruree, Co. Limerick, a young girl who had emigrated to America two years earlier. His father died when de Valera was only two years old and his mother decided that her son would be better off at home in Ireland. She sent him to be reared by his grandmother, Elizabeth Coll, who lived in a labourer's cottage at Knockmore. De Valera attended the national school at Bruree and from there went to the Christian Brother's School at Charleville. He walked the seven miles there and back everyday since the Coll's could not afford a bicycle. At 16, he won a scholarship to Blackrock College, Co. Dublin. He went on to become a professor of mathematics and lectured part-time at Maynooth and various Dublin colleges. At school and later he was a keen rugby player. In 1908, he joined the Gaelic League, the beginning of his life-long devotion to Irish. One of his teachers was Sinead Flanagan, herself a teacher and four years his senior. They fell in love and were married in January De Valera joined the Irish Volunteers at their first meeting in He took part in the landing of guns from the Asgard in July He commanded the Boland's Mills garrison during the 1916 rising. After the surrender he was sentenced to death, but later it was decided to sentence him to life imprisonment instead. In prison, de Valera began to show his leadership qualities. De Valera was released from prison in June 1917 and was elected Sinn Fein deputy for East Clare. At the Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis in October 1917, de Valera was elected President of the party and at the end of the same month he was elected President of the Irish Volunteers. When the British Government proposed to extend conscription to Ireland in early 1918, de Valera led the successful opposition to this proposal. On 17 May 1918, De Valera was arrested and deported for internment to England, where he was to remain up to February While he was in jail he was elected for East Clare in the general election. On 21 January 1919, the assembled deputies met in the Mansion House, Dublin, and formally set up the Government for the Irish Republic. After his escape from Lincoln Jail on 3 February 1919, de Valera returned briefly to Ireland and was elected President of the Dail. Early in June 1919, he travelled to the U.S.A. to seek financial and political support for an independent Ireland. He returned to Ireland in December 1920 to take his place as the President of Ireland. From the very start the Dail had to face a number of serious problems, the lack of experience of the new government. The War of Independence was raging at this time with the regular British forces being assisted by the "Black and Tans". The "Black and Tans" were ex-army men brought into Ireland to assist the British in the War of Independence. A truce was declared on 11 July and negotiations were opened with the English Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and his government leading up to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December The Treaty was accepted in the Dail, 64 in favour and 57 against. Arthur Griffith was elected President in the place of de Valera. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 5

6 Was the Government of Ireland Act a real achievement for the Irish? Lesson 31 - w/s Ireland became a part of the political agenda again in 1918 because: a. Sinn Fein won 73 seats in the 1918 General Election. b. The Home Rule Act of 1914 was only postponed until after the War. c. The Treaty of Versailles was centred around national self-determination - nations should govern themselves. Hence, the outcome of all of this was the Government of Ireland Act of Impact on Northern Ireland Impact on Southern Ireland Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 6

7 How would each side have reacted to the Government of Ireland Act? Sinn Fein Home Rulers Ulster Unionists Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 7

8 Eamon de Valera: questions Lesson 31 - OHT Where and when was de Valera born? What did he do in 1908? Which area did he command during the 1916 Easter Rising? Where was de Valera when he was elected for East Clare? What position did he hold when he returned to Ireland in 1920? Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 8

9 The Anglo-Irish War, Lesson 32 - w/b Beginning of 1919 IRA, led by Collins, began a campaign of murder and harassment directed at British police and soldiers. Britain struggled to know how to deal with this Lloyd George saw the IRA as a tiny murder gang, therefore they should not be treated as combatants. For a time, the British refused to see a state war was taking place. The government eventually resorted to repression: Sinn Fein and IRA was made illegal; The Dail was banned: Special powers of imprisonment, arrest and arms control were introduced; Tried to ban revolutionary publications. This only antagonised the civilian population. British relied on the police to deal with trouble but the RIC was undermanned and demoralised by the IRA s murder campaign (176 policemen were killed in 1920, compared to 54 soldiers). The police were strengthened by the introduction of the Black and Tans tough ex-soldiers. They were also reinforced by the Auxiliaries ex-army officers who acted as an ill-disciplined military force. IRA widened its campaign to include civilians who were seen as enemies. The Black and Tans responded in kind they acted unofficially, but their actions were condoned by the British government although there was press opposition. Autumn of 1920 British acknowledged they were engaged in a war. It applied its regular troops and introduced martial law in the south. This last stage of the war was one of terror, counter-terror, ambush and atrocities and the intimidation and murder of civilians. Bloody Sunday 21st November 1920, Dublin 11 English civilians were shot dead by the IRA (believed to be British spies). The Black and Tans invaded a sports ground Croke Park and fired indiscriminately killing 12 dead and 60 wounded. By 1921 the war was clearly not going to be won by either side. Between January 1st and July 1921 c.752 men and women were killed and 866 wounded. The Truce End of 1920 public opinion swinging against what was happening in Ireland. Lloyd George was told it would take a further 100,000 soldiers to crush the Irish he knew the public would not support this. Hence, December 1920 began to test the waters and see if the Irish would accept a peace settlement: tried to gauge de Valera s opinion through the Roman Catholic clergy failed. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 9

10 There was also the question of how southern Ireland was to be ruled Sinn Fein would not accept Home Rule settlement, so the only options left were all-out war and military rule or peace and negotiations. The first option was impossible! More importantly, the success of Home Rule in Northern Ireland meant that that problem had been dealt with and was not a complication for a treaty with Sinn Fein. Peace came suddenly some say it was the words spoken by King George V when he opened the Northern Ireland parliament asking Irish people to join together the reach for peace. But what moved de Valera and Collins was the fact that too many men had died and the IRA was exhausted. They could only have carried on for another 3 weeks. Also, they accepted that Lloyd George was genuinely seeking a solution. Both sides agreed to a truce on 11th July Sinn Fein were represented by Griffith and Collins and three others. They were given the authority to sign a Treaty with Britain. However, de Valera stopped in Ireland and wished every draft of the Treaty to be sent to Ireland to be submitted to the government before it was signed. Task There were three areas of the Treaty which were discussed: A. British security and defence in Ireland. B. Ulster C. The powers of the new Irish State. You must decide what you think the Treaty will have looked like based on both the attitudes of Sinn Fein and the British government. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 10

11 What we think the Treaty should look like. Security and defence Ulster Powers of the new Irish state The actual Anglo-Irish Treaty Security and defence Ulster Powers of the new Irish state Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 11 Lesson 32 - w/b (A-I War)

12 Arguments for & against the Treaty Why and how would Collins, having been a delegate, justify the Treaty? What would de Valera have argued against in the Treaty? Collins actual justifications. De Valera s actual thoughts. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 12 Lesson 32 - w/b (A-I War)

13 If these are the answers, what are the questions? Michael Collins 11 English civilians/british Intelligence Officers IRA Lesson 32 - OHT 1 Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 13

14 Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 Security and Defence -Britain was to have 3 naval bases in Ireland. Ulster -Would be able to opt out of the Treaty so could end up being partitioned permanently. -A Boundary Commission would be set up to examine the boundaries of Ulster and make recommendations. The powers of the new Irish state -Southern Ireland would have dominion status granted Ireland the same powers as Canada and other Dominions within the Empire. This was not independence. This meant full control of domestic affairs, membership of the Empire and the Irish would have to swear allegiance to the Crown. -Oath of allegiance was watered down. Lesson 32 - OHT 2 Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 14

15 Arguments for & against the Treaty Northern Ireland and Its Neighbours since 1920 by S. Gillespie & G. Jones, Hodder & Stoughton, X, p. 23 Lesson 32 - OHT 3 Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 15

16 How successful was the Anglo-Irish Treaty in solving the problems Ireland faced? Read pages of the textbook, Adelman, Great Britain and the Irish Question, and find examples for the boxes below. You may not find examples for every box. See if you can think of your own answers too. Short-term success Long-term success Short-term failure Long-term failure Lesson 32 - w/s (Homework) Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 16

17 Historical interpretations of Michael Collins - sources Lesson 33 Source 1 The Belfast Telegraph, after the death of Collins, The Telegraph was an Ulster Unionist paper. Mr Collins had not the brains of his late chief, nor had he many pretensions to high statesmanship, on the other hand he had that subtle gift of personality which counts so much...it is not for us to judge the man, he has gone to his last account and we are willing to believe that he sincerely intended to carry out the Treaty and to restore order in Southern Ireland...his death will bring about a remorse which will make his countrymen the more determined to make a success of the scheme which British statesmen, rightly or wrongly, have committed to their charge. Source 2 The Cork Examiner, 24 th August, Michael Collins, soldier, statesman, patriot has passed into the great beyond and a bereaved nation, stunned by the calamity, can scarcely yet appreciate its full import... Michael Collins has died as a soldier but by his demise his country has lost a statesman of great constructive ability. Source 3 Michael Hopkinson, Green against Green, As Collins was only thirty-one at the time of his death, there has been much debate about whether he would have matured into a major statesman if he had lived, or whether he would have become a military dictator. He had shown considerable impatience with politicians and negotiations, often telling friends that he had little aptitude for politics. He did have definite administrative talents and great gifts of communication. He had demonstrated no desire to establish a military dictatorship. Collins had little consciousness of any need for wide-ranging social and economic change, despite being a severe critic of some aspects of Irish society. Major parts of his speeches were taken up with a simple articulation of Gaelic revivalism...collins could, perhaps, have helped to heal wounds within the Twenty-Six Counties - many believed that he would not have allowed an executions policy. He might well, however, have increased tensions between North and South in the post-war period. Meanwhile, for many old volunteers in the army the loss of their leader meant that their position appeared to be threatened, and it increased their fears that old republican ideals were to be ignored. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 17

18 Michael Collins - the Big Man Lesson 33 - w/s Watch the extract from Michael Collins. Log down words which describe what the movie shows Collins to be like and an example from the film which supports each word. For example, if you thought the film makes him look romantic you may put the example that he flirts with the women. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 18

19 Other interpretations of Michael Collins Lesson 33 - w/s Source Provenance In what ways does it agree with the interpretation of the film? In what ways does the interpretation of this source differ? Why does it have the slant that it does? Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 19

20 Map: Ireland partitioned Lesson 34 - OHT IRISH FREE STATE (becoming the Republic of Ireland in 1949) 66% Protestant 33% Catholic ULSTER (Six counties - Northern Ireland) Stayed part of Britain of UK Given Home Rule, the right to have its own government and make its own decisions. BUT. The Free State stayed in the British Empire. Irish politicians had to swear an oath of loyalty to the King of Britain. Ireland had to accept the loss of Ulster. 10% Protestant 90% Catholic 66% Protestant 33% Catholic The Catholics felt cheated by the treaty. They wanted to be a part of a united Ireland. They felt abandoned in the new Ulster dominated by Protestants. From the start they felt no loyalty to the Orange State. Hillyard, Ireland : L 31-34, 20