World History Irish Independence

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "World History Irish Independence"

Adam Douglas
6 years ago
Views:

1 World History Irish Independence Name: Date At the beginning of the 20 th century Great Britain was an imperialist power for 58 different nations throughout the world. One of the nations that was part of Great Britain but began the Nationalism movement was Ireland, the only nation that Great Britain directly borders. The Nationalism bug had been going for a while in the Irish region, but it was during the decade of the 1910 s that major changes began to occur. As it turns out the 1918 election in Britain was about to become a big deal in the fight for Irish Independence or to remain part of the British Empire. The Irish, Celt, and Ulster peoples making up the majority of the nation were not in agreement as whether or not nationalism should even happen, much less what strategy it should take. The election would determine the number of citizens from each party that would sit in Parliament, and Parliament would most likely make a major decision on Irish independence in the upcoming session. Monday, March 20 th -Wednesday, March 22 nd (Late Start Day): Research and Prep Days As is the case today, every election in history begins with a campaign to win support. You and your group will represent one of the groups fighting for as many seats as possible in Parliament. On Monday we will form our groups and begin discussion. On Tuesday and Wednesday your team will do research and build your campaign for Election Day on Friday. On the opposite side of this page are a series of historical events that played a role in shaping the election of Your group should assign each person to research 2-4 of these events in order to establish how they might be relevant to Irish independence, the election of 1918, or your group s position and campaign. You will also receive an assignment sheet describing your group s goals, strategies, and the most important events that directly relate to your argument. For your campaign you will not only present to the class your argument but you will also build a poster to help you explain your position. The poster will take the form below: Your Campaign Party Your claim on what should be done about Irish independence and the election of 1918 Minimum two entries (events/laws/acts, etc) from the past that back up your claim above, with 2-3 sentence description of each (This section should focus on WHAT happened in each of these entries) Your justification of each of the entries on the left, with 2-3 description of each (This section should focus on HOW these entries back up your claim above on what should be done in the election)

2 Friday, March 23 rd : Election Day Each member of your group will speak for at least 1 minute (5-7 minutes total presentation). You may choose to spend your minute -Explaining your political party and their purpose or goal -Explaining your opinion on what should be done in the 1918 election -Explaining one of the historical events and how it applies to your party s argument -Addressing the points that have been made/will be made by another group and offering a rebuttal to the point. In Parliamentary politics you vote for a political party and not for an individual person. The party is then awarded a number of seats in Parliament equal to the percentage of votes they received. (Example: if the Libertarian party received 8% of the popular vote, they could choose which members they want to fill 8% of the seats in parliament). When each group has presented, you will receive a ballot containing each of the political parties in the election. You will vote on which party you feel did the best job in their campaign of convincing you. You will not be allowed to vote for your own group. The political party that receives the most votes in this election will receive extra credit. Rubric for the project Names: Time (5-7 minutes). Less than 4 minutes = ½ credit for entire project All parts of the poster included and complete Persuasiveness of your claim and justification of evidence Ability to challenge arguments presented by other groups All members speak an equal amount and can be heard Total (Lab Points) /5 pts /5 pts /20 pts /10 pts /10 pts /50 pts The five campaign parties in the 1918 United Kingdom lection in Ireland Nationalists o Irish Parliamentary Party o Irish Republican Party o Sinn Fein Socialists o Independent Labour Party Unionists o Irish Unionist Party

3 You are the Independent Labour Party! You are big into socialism, and so you d prefer not to get too involved in the issue of nationalism. These other parties are missing the big picture; no matter which nation is in charge, the working class is still and always will be oppressed. You want a nation of the people. Instead of fighting for or against nationalism you want people to realize that your socialist ideology is the goal. The more seats in Parliament you can receive, the more you will be able to serve the working class and abolish the middle or upper classes of society.

4 You are the Sinn Fein Party! You were established to form a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation. Sinn Fein means ourselves; you just want the right to rule yourselves. You love Ireland and believe in Ireland, but are fine with not fully breaking from Britain. If you can achieve home rule of Ireland as part of a dual monarchy with Britain, you re fine with that. If you can achieve home rule completely separate from Britain, you re fine with that. You re not a fan of revolution and uprising, but will do so if necessary. You re the middle ground of the other nationalist groups in this election. As long as Irish rule Irish you are happy.

5 You are the Irish Republican Brotherhood! You were founded by national Irish in secret back when it was illegal, but you re not in secret anymore. You are big, big, big into nationalism for Ireland and you will do whatever it takes to succeed. If it means winning seats in Parliament and achieving nationalism through politics, fine. If it means achieving a national home rule through force, uprisings, and revolution, even better. The IPP has been trying this for years within the government with no success; time for revolution! You love Ireland and everything involved with being Irish and you know that you can run a country by the Irish and for the Irish better than anyone else.

6 You are the Unionist Party! Home rule is wrong. Say it again, home rule is WRONG. You are Irish by ethnicity, but you are British by nationality and you always will be. It s egotistical to think that common religions and language is all it takes to run a country. Britain has provided military and economic support to Ireland for all of history, something the other four groups fail to show how they will account for when they are in charge. Not to mention, if an Irish-Catholic government is instilled won t we simply be a nation ruled by Rome as opposed to Britain? Don t fall for it; life has been great as a Brit and we should stay Brits.

7 You are the Irish Parliamentary Party! You want home rule for Ireland, but in the right way. You failed at an attempt at home rule a few years ago, but now it s time to try again. When Ireland becomes its own nation though, you will still want a strong relationship with Britain. Acts of terrorism like what the IRP and Sinn Fein advocate for only ruin your argument and position with the rest of the world. If you gain seats in Parliament you ll be able to write a constitution that is fair, honorable, and maintains necessary trade and military agreements with Britain for Ireland s protection. You ve long been the political representatives of Ireland and you are the best fit for leading a new Irish government.

The British Parliament

The British Parliament Chapter 1 The Act of Union Ireland had had its own parliament and government in the 1780s but after the Act of Union 1800 Irish Members of Parliament had to travel to London and sit in Westminster with