Ireland and the Union, c1774–1923 - 1 Irish nationalism: from agitation to…

The idea

Home Rule meant Irish self-government within the Union. From c1870 Isaac Butt built constitutional nationalism: his Home Rule League (1873) and the Home Rule Party pressed for a Dublin parliament through persuasion and parliamentary argument, but progress was slow. From 1880 Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish Parliamentary Party added discipline, obstruction and land agitation, linking Home Rule to tenant grievances; after his fall and death (1891) the party split, then reunited under John Redmond. From 1910 the third Home Rule bill (1914) provoked unionist resistance: Edward Carson and the UVF, the Ulster Covenant (1912) and the Curragh incident (1914). Nationalist responses shifted: the Easter Rising (1916), the War of Independence (1919–21), the Anglo-Irish Treaty, civil war (1922–23) and partition.

What earns the marks

• Explains Butt's methods: founding the Home Rule League and leading the Home Rule Party, using parliamentary persuasion and building an alliance of Irish MPs rather than physical force.
• Explains Parnell's contribution: leadership of the Irish Parliamentary Party, tighter party discipline, obstruction tactics, and the link between Home Rule and the land question.
• Explains the unionist response: Carson's leadership of the UVF, the Ulster Covenant as mass mobilisation, and the Curragh incident as a sign of army and unionist resistance.
• Explains changing nationalist attitudes and responses: the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Treaty, civil war and partition, showing how constitutional nationalism was overtaken by more radical methods.
• Uses accurate chronology and terms, such as Home Rule League, Irish Parliamentary Party, UVF, Ulster Covenant, Curragh incident, Easter Rising, War of Independence, civil war and partition.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating Home Rule as immediate independence.

  Put it right by explaining that Home Rule meant self-government within the Union, not a republic.

• Confusing the UVF with the Irish Volunteers.

  Put it right by identifying the UVF as Carson's unionist force and the Irish Volunteers as a nationalist body.

• Assuming the Curragh incident was a battle.

  Put it right by describing it as a crisis of army officers' willingness to act against unionists in Ulster.

Exam tips

• Plan by factor: Butt, Parnell, Carson and the UVF, then changing nationalist responses, so every clause of the statement is covered.
• Support each point with a specific development and date, such as the Home Rule League, the Ulster Covenant or the Easter Rising.
• Link causation and change: explain why constitutional nationalism weakened and more radical nationalism grew after 1910.