181. Ireland: deeper splits, more ugliness
A History of England11 Feb 2024

181. Ireland: deeper splits, more ugliness

The general elections of 1910 left Asquith’s Liberal government dependent, to stay in office, on the votes of the Irish Nationalist MPs. The price of their support was a renewed attempt to drive through Home Rule for Ireland. That would recreate the Dublin parliament absorbed into Westminster over a century earlier.

Gladstone had twice tried to introduce Home Rule but it had split the Liberals. The party then left it on the back burner. Now it was back on the front burner.

The problem was that there was powerful opposition to Home Rule, in Britain, but also in Ireland, where Protestant opponents, especially in Ulster, went so far as to raise an armed force to resist it. That meant that Britain might find itself in the paradoxical position of having to use the military against people not for wanting to leave British rule, but to stay within it.

The resistance had support in Britain, right up to the top of the Unionists, led by Andrew Bonar Law, the son of a Presbyterian minister from Antrim in Ulster.

However, the Parliament Act, which Law referred to as the ‘Home Rule in disguise bill’, meant that legislation could be driven through parliament without the agreement of the House of Lords, where the Unionists were in a powerful majority.

Long debates led to no compromise. With the Parliament Act behind it, the Home Rule bill finally became law, as the Government of Ireland Act of 1914. But lack of support in the army for action against the Ulstermen left it uncertain it could ever be enforced.

By then, though, other events had overtaken the whole issue. On 4 August, Britain joined what would become the Great War. Relations between Britain and Ireland would be relegated once more to the back burner.



Illustration: Ulster Volunteer Force parading in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1914. Public domain.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.


Avsnitt(259)

2. The Wives of Henry VIII

2. The Wives of Henry VIII

We got to know Henry VIII a bit in chapter 1. We also talked a little about his wives, and it seems only right that we think about them a bit more now, especially since having a lot of wives is what Henry's best known for. So chapter 2 takes a look at their stories, at why Henry married them (well, the other reasons, apart from his attraction to young women), and to what extent he hit his objective. And, to surprise and amuse us all, we end with an unusual example of foresight and enlightened thinking from a monarch generally better known for self-serving authoritarianism. The picture is a detail of a British stamp showing the face of Catherine Howard, the wife who was rather too free with her charms for the taste of of her husband. ©Andy Lidstone/123RF.COM Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

24 Nov 202013min

A History of England (Trailer)

A History of England (Trailer)

21 Nov 202036s

1. Bloody Henry

1. Bloody Henry

Welcome to A History of England. As well as the podcast, there's a series of accompanying booklets, available as a paperback or a Kindle download. The first, covering episodes 1-35, is available on Amazon now. Just look for David Beeson A History of England. We can't get started without taking a moment to acknowledge the Spanish journalist and novelist, Arturo Perez Reverte. It was his Una Historia d'España, A History of Spain that inspired me to make this series. I like the idea of really short chapters, which I've imitated. I like the use of a normal sort of language,  and not fine, carefully modulated diction. But above all, what I liked was the idea of A history and not The history of the nation. I make no pretence at writing some academic tome. I make no pretence of academic detachment. I do make a pretence, or rather the attempt, to get the facts as right as possible. However, it's a particular view. Above all, it's less about discovering what England did at any particular point over the last few centuries, as about understanding how, by doing it, England got Britain to where it is today.  Let's get started. With, sensibly enough, Chapter One. It's dedicated to Henry VIII or, as I think of him, Bloody Henry. Picture: ©Satori/123RF.COM Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

19 Nov 202012min

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