Is History Poorly Taught In School (Up To Junior Cert.)?

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Rightly or wrongly I’ve always considered that the Reformation itself did not have much effect on Ireland. A few of the 'leading' families lost out, others simply adapted to the new religion. Life went on for the mass of the population. I agree there were wars, but these would have happened regardless of the Reformation, caused by power struggles rather than religious crusades . . .

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Were that trite remark the basis of a history class on the Famine, history indeed would have been badly taught.
The Famine would not have been solved by closing the ports to exports. During that period Ireland switched from being one of Britain's bread-baskets to being a net importer of food-grains. Go do some research!

This book examines one of the bloodiest epochs in Irish history. Part one covers the 16th century, revealing how efforts by the Tudor monarchy to curb the powers of the autonomous Irish lords degenerated into a bitter cultural and sectarian conflict characterized by summary killings and massacres. The second part pays particular attention to the 1641 rebellion and the Confederate Wars.

David Edwards, who lectures in University College Cork, is the author of The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515–1642 (FCP, 2003). Clodagh Tait lectures in history at the University of Essex. She is the author of Death, Burial and Commemoration in Ireland, 1550–1650 (Hampshire, 2002). Padraig Lenihan lectures in the Department of Government and Society, University of Limerick and is the author of Conquest and Resistance: war in seventeenth-century Ireland (Netherlands, 2000) and Confederate Catholics at war, 1641–49 (Cork, 2000).

'Age of Atrocity: violence and political conflict in early modern Ireland reveals the true nature and extent of violence and atrocity in the 16th and 17th centuries as a conquering England gains territorial supremacy', William J. Smyth, Irish Times Books of the Year (2007).

'Age of Atrocity’s title says it all. The period from 1534 to 1691 – early modern Ireland – was, indeed, an era of atrocities, war crimes and brutality that today might qualify as genocide. The hunger for land, the means used to obtain it and the hatred of Roman Catholicism were eerie precursors of the atrocities committed by the new American settlers and the US cavalry in their abominable progress across the continent and their annihilation of the original Americans … a gripping volume', J. Ardle McArdle, Books Ireland (February 2008).

'Much has been written in recent years about 'negotiated settlement' in early modern Anglo-Irish relations and the role played therein by English reform programs; this excellent collection addresses the understudied bloody conquest elements of that society ... This collection challenges and provokes. One of its most useful features is an excellent historiographical introduction that includes a veritable laundry list of pressing research questions. Given its detailing of such a variety of savagery, it is not always an easy or pleasant read. But it is an important, even required one', Brendan Kane, Renaissance Quarterly.

'This fascinating and enjoyable volume consists of a collection of thirteen valuable essays on the history of violence in early modern Ireland ... This is an exciting and challenging volume that should encourage historians of Ireland and Britain to engage more effectively with their violent pasts. The essays, and in particular the introduction, make a significant contribution to a severely under-developed field and will help readers to understand the violent history of early modern Ireland', Rhys Morgan, Welsh History Review (June 2009).

‘The collection offers some thirteen contributions all of which are in themselves of considerable interest and value … these essays add considerably to our knowledge and our understanding of the place of political violence in Irish history in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries … this is a pioneering effort in Irish history, which is laden with potential not only for further research but also for a fundamental reinterpretation of early modern Ireland … this promises to be the source of much exciting work to come', Ciaran Brady, Irish Economic and Social History (2009).

'This book covers a long time-span … it is a fascinating book with impeccable insights and scholarship, read it; use it; learn from it', Martyn Bennett, Scottish Historical Review (2010).

‘For various reasons, the violence and atrocity which were commonplace in the Irish wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been played down. This book is an attempt to set the record straight and to set the atrocities in their broader social and cultural context … It may be harsh reading but these atrocities are not something to be swept under the carpet’, J. Ardle McArdle, Books Ireland (December 2008).

‘In the troubled history of Ireland, the early modern period stands out as one of the bloodiest. Five major wars occurred in Ireland between 1534 and 1691 ... the fourteen chapters in this book re-examine this period with reference to acts of violence, and, specifically, to atrocities executed against unarmed civilians or captured soldiers’, Patrick Little, English Historical Review (June 2009).

‘If footnotes are the infantry of an argument then this important collection of essays, featuring a formidable array of contributors, with a thousand scholarly foot soldiers in support, is well served … It is also a beautifully produced book, and Four Courts are to be congratulated on the excellent production standards for a volume whose bloody contents are presented in such an attractive skin', Willy Maley, Eolas (2009).

The Nine Years War was one of the most traumatic and bloody conflicts in the history of Ireland. Encroachment on the liberties of the Irish lords by the English crown caused Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, to build an unprecedented confederation of Irish lords leading a new Irish military armed with pike and shot. This book is an important reassessment of the military dimensions of the Nine Years War, as situated in the wider context of European political and military history.

Backed by Philip II of Spain, Tyrone and his allies outclassed the forces of the English Crown, achieving a string of stunning victories and bringing the power of Elizabeth I in Ireland to the brink of collapse. The opening shots were fired in Ulster, but from 1593 to 1599 war engulfed all of Ireland. The conflict consumed the lives and reputations of Elizabeth’s court favourites as they struggled to cope with the new Irish way of war. Sophisticated strategy and modern tactics made the Irish war appear unwinable to many in England, but Lord Mountjoy’s arrival as deputy in 1600 changed everything. Mountjoy reformed the demoralized English army and rolled back the advances achieved by Tyrone. Mountjoy’s success was crowned by his shattering defeat of Tyrone and his Spanish allies at Kinsale in 1601, which ultimately led to the earl’s submission in 1603, though not before famine, misery and atrocity took their toll on the people of Ireland.

This book rewrites the narrative and interpretation of the Nine Years War. It uses military evidence to show that not only was Irish society progressive, it was also quicker to adopt military and technological change than its English enemies.

James O’Neill is an archaeologist and an alumnus of the QUB History department. He completed a two year post-doctorate fellowship in the School of History, University College Cork, before returning to Belfast where he now works as a heritage consultant, specializing in battlefield/conflict archaeology.