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Discuss the historical debates that have developed in relation to ‘The 1916 Rising’ and ‘Irish Neutrality’.

Uploaded by Kerrytom on Aug 10, 2013

Over the course of this essay we will discuss and contrast the historical debates which have developed over time, relating to both the 1916 Easter Rising and Irish Neutrality. To be able to achieve this objective, it is vital to consider the changes in the way historical scholarship has developed over time and also discuss under what circumstances these refreshed historical viewpoints are taken. As well as this, an important question one must consider in a study like this is where the author is coming from, what his or her motives might be and whether or not his or her challenge to existing accepted writings is valid. We must also consider in what context certain points of view were taken and judge these views from when they were taken. “to concentrate on relating the past to the present while neglecting the task of understanding the past in its own terms is to over-simplify and, in effect, to distort the past.” Modern Irish history offers the historian a wide range of interpretation, which obviously leads to a healthy amount of debate and argument in academic circles. These debates in turn, offer the opportunity for examination on the various, differing viewpoints which are presented. The logical way to tackle these two debates is to examine them each individually, but linking them in terms of how their historiography has grown. An additional point to make here is that often when analysing important Irish historical events, one tends to think of them in Irish terms. Yet important opinions are brought forward from overseas, in relation to Ireland and these are vital to the growth of debate. The obvious example of this relates to Irish Neutrality which will be explored in more detail later. We will first examine the debate on the Easter Rising of 1916.



The 1916 Easter Rising has long sparked plenty of debate and revision on pre-existing viewpoints on its meaning and consequences. For a long time it was an area which remained unexamined by Irish historians, on the most part because it stirred up nationalistic feeling so vehemently. “Historians see their task as being not only to study the past through its surviving evidence, to interpret it and (as best they can) to breathe new life into it; they also examine, question and modify existing interpretations. It is the latter activity which has provoked a hostile reaction in some...

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Uploaded by:   Kerrytom

Date:   08/10/2013

Category:   European

Length:   17 pages (3,841 words)

Views:   1369

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