From the 1870’s until the late 1880’s, Charles Parnell (Protestant) led the Irish Party. It was primarily concerned with the implementation of Home Rule, a system that would give Ireland independence in all areas except foreign policy and in which allegiance to the B

In 1893, Gladstone had been returned to power and resiliently introduced a second Home Rule bill that was passed in the House of Commons but was blocked by the more conservative House of Lords. This promising outcome spurred on politician John Redmond to re-unite the Irish Party in 1900 and to pick up the late Parnell’s legacy of Home Rule for Ireland. The election of 1905 brought with it a landslide to the Liberal Party, which had previously supported the Irish Party and its cause. Unfortunately for Redmond and his men, however, the Liberals’ huge majority resulted in the undermining of the Irish Party’s balance of power in the House. With that, the impetus for Home Rule diminished.

At the time of the successful passing of the third Home Rule bill in 1913, an unofficial army comprising northern Ireland Protestants called the Ulster Volunteers was formed. The Ulster Volunteers were led by Sir Edward Carson and were financed and supplied with weapons by the British. The Protestant Ulstermen were happy with Ireland as it was and were proud of its British government. In the event of a revolution by pro-republican Catholics, Carson and his men would fight alongside Britain in order to maintain its rule in Ireland.

Some topics in this essay:
Home Rule, William Gladstone, Irish Party, Irish Volunteers, Gowrey League, Fein Party, Anglo-Irish Protestant, Citizens’ Army, Eoin MacNeill, Irish Volunteers’, home rule, irish party, eoin macneill, irish volunteers, independent irish, rule bill, home rule bill, irish republic, ulster volunteers, third home rule, tom clarke, balance power, irish citizens’ army, independent irish republic,