page_title: Irish nationalism
section_title: Home Rule crisis 1912–14
hierarchical_section_title: Irish nationalism / History / Home Rule crisis 1912–14
caption_attribution_description: This meeting in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim - which took place 100 years ago today - was organised by the Alternative Ulster Covenant. Apparently it was a very important meeting. We have no information about it, so perhaps one of you might be interested in doing a wee bit of background research for us (on any aspect)? Date: Friday, 24 October 1913 Printed by: Hatty &amp; Co., Ballymoney Size: 22 x 14 cm NLI Ref.: &lt;a href="http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000509497" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"&gt;EPH B206&lt;/a&gt;
context_page_description: Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which asserts that the Irish people are a nation and espouses the creation of a sovereign Irish nation-state on the island of Ireland. Irish nationalism celebrates the culture of Ireland, especially the Irish language, literature, music, and sports. It grew more potent during the period in which all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, which led to most of the island seceding from the UK in 1921.
  Irish nationalists assert that foreign rule has been detrimental to Irish interests. Politically, Irish nationalism gave way to many factions which created conflict, often violent, throughout the island. The chief division affecting nationalism in Ireland was religious. The majority of the island's population was Roman Catholic, which is the part that seceded, but a portion of the northern part has a Protestant majority that elected to stay a part of the United Kingdom. Since the partition of Ireland, Irish nationalism often refers to support for Irish reunification.
context_section_description: Home Rule was eventually won by John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party and granted under the Third Home Rule Act 1914. However, Irish self-government was limited by the prospect of partition of Ireland between north and south. This idea had first been mooted under the Second Home Rule Bill in 1893. In 1912, following the entry of the Third Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons, unionists organised mass resistance to its implementation, organising around the "Ulster Covenant". In 1912 they formed the Ulster Volunteers, an armed wing of Ulster Unionism who stated that they would resist Home Rule by force. British Conservatives supported this stance. In addition, in 1914 British officers based at the Curragh Camp indicated that they would be unwilling to act against the Ulster Volunteers should they be ordered to.
  In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, to ensure the implementation of Home Rule. It looked for several months in 1914 as if civil war was imminent between the two armed factions. Only the All-for-Ireland League party advocated granting every conceivable concession to Ulster to stave off a partition amendment. Redmond rejected their proposals. The amended Home Rule Act was passed and placed with Royal Assent on the statute books, but was suspended after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, until the end of the war. This led radical republican groups to argue that Irish independence could never be won peacefully and gave the northern question little thought at all.
caption: Poster for a 1913 anti-Carson meeting, hosted by Protestants of Ballymoney. Speakers included Roger Casement and Robert Glendinning.
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