Revisionism in

Irish historiography The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...

refers to a historical revisionist tendency and group of historians who are critical of the orthodox view of

Irish history The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...

since the achievement of partial Irish independence, which comes from the perspective of

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

. For opponents, Revisionists are regarded as apologists for the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...

in Ireland, proponents of a form of

denialism In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to deny reality as a way to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth. Denialism is an essentially irrational action that withholds the validation of a historical experience ...

and even in some cases advocates of

neo-unionism Unionism is a political tradition on the island of Ireland that favours political union with Great Britain and professes loyalty to the United Kingdom, British Monarchy of the United Kingdom, Crown and Constitution of the United Kingdom, cons ...

, while the Revisionists on the other hand see themselves as positing a progressive cosmopolitan narrative opposed to a "narrowly

sectarian Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

" viewpoint.

History

The revisionist school of Irish history can be said to have originated in the 1930s when it was championed by

Robert Dudley Edwards Robert Walter Dudley Edwards (4 June 1909 – 5 June 1988) was an Irish historian. Biography Robert Walter Dudley Edwards, known to his friends as Robin and his students as 'Dudley'"Dr Robin Dudley Edwards dies in Dublin", ''Irish Times'', 6 Ju ...

, D. B. Quinn and T. W. Moody.''Varieties of Irishness'': Historical Revisionism, Irish Style, Nancy J. Curtin, Journal of British Studies 35 (April 1996) 195-219
/ref>

Themes

Figures

Brendan Bradshaw, Fellow and Director of Studies in History at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, c ...

, stated that there has been an "iconistic assault" on nationalist martyrs. Examples include Ruth Dudley Edwards' criticisms of

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...

and Tom Dunne's criticism of

Wolfe Tone Theobald Wolfe Tone, posthumously known as Wolfe Tone ( ga, Bhulbh Teón; 20 June 176319 November 1798), was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members in Belfast and Dublin of the United Irishmen, a republican socie ...

in his book ''Theobald Wolfe Tone: Colonial Outsider''.

Patrick Pearse and the Provisional IRA

One trend is to link the violence of people like Patrick Pearse and the Easter rebels to the violence of the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunif ...

by saying Pearse provided a template for the ideology of the Provisionals. The

President of the Republic of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can ...

Michael D. Higgins has criticised this calling it "loose revisionism" and "tendentious". He followed up: “This was of course a somewhat simplistic and ideological assumption, and contemporary historians are more interested in the human rights breaches and the political and social basis of conflict and exclusion as a source of violence in the Northern Ireland of the 1970s.”

Historians and other writers

Revisionists

Ian Adamson Ian Adamson OBE (28 June 1944 – 9 January 2019) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician and paediatrician, who was the Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1996 to 1997. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Belfas ...

Donald Akenson Donald Harman Akenson (born May 22, 1941, Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American historian and author. Notably prolific, he has written at least 23 book-length, scholarly monographs, 3 jointly-authored scholarly books, 6 works of fiction and histo ...

Jonathan Bardon Jonathan Eric Bardon (born in Dublin, 1941 – died in Belfast, 21 April 2020), was an Irish historian and author. Early life Bardon was born in Dublin in 1941 and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), in 1963. Shortly thereafte ...

Owen Dudley Edwards Owen Dudley Edwards (born 27 March 1938) is an Irish historian and former Reader in Commonwealth and American History at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the son of Professor Robert Dudley Edwards and brother to the Irish writer, R ...

* Ruth Dudley Edwards * Marianne Elliott *

Richard English Richard Ludlow English (born 1963) is a Northern Irish historian and political scientist from Northern Ireland. He was born in Belfast. He studied as an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford, and subsequently at Keele University, where he w ...

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987, a ...

* R. F. FosterEvi Gkotzaridis, Irish Revisionism and Continental Theory: An Intellectual Kinship, The Irish Review, 27 (2001)
/ref> * Eoghan Harris * Peter Hart * Liam Kennedy *

Michael Laffan Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

F. S. L. Lyons Francis Stewart Leland Lyons (11 November 1923 – 21 September 1983) was an Irish historian and academic who was Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1974 to 1981. Biography Known as Le among his friends and family, Lyons was born in Derry, ...

* Martin Mansergh * F. X. Martin *

Theodore William Moody Theodore William Moody (26 November 1907 – 11 February 1984) was a historian from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Background Early life Moody was born in Belfast, to a poor family who made their living from dressmaking and iron turning and ...

Kevin Myers Kevin Myers (born 30 March 1947) is an English-born Irish journalist and writer. He has contributed to the ''Irish Independent'', the Irish edition of ''The Sunday Times'', and ''The Irish Times''s column "An Irishman's Diary". Myers is kno ...

Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...

Cormac Ó Gráda Cormac Ó Gráda (born 1945) is an Irish economic historian and professor emeritus of economics at University College Dublin. His research has focused on the economic history of Ireland, Irish demographic changes, the Great Irish Famine (as well ...

* Fintan O'Toole * Tom Reilly * Tom Dunne

Anti-Revisionist

Aubane Historical Society The Aubane Historical Society (AHS) is a historical society of amateur historians based in Millstreet, County Cork in Ireland, focusing on local history and the Irish revolutionary period. Brendan Clifford and Jack Lane, members of both the AH ...

* Revd Dr Brendan Bradshaw * Tim Pat Coogan * Anthony Coughlan * Seamus Deane * Desmond Fennell *

Meda Ryan Meda Ryan is an Irish historian. She has written extensively on the Irish revolution of 1916-23. Among her books are ''The Tom Barry Story'' (1982)- later updated and revised as ''Tom Barry, IRA Freedom Fighter'' in 2003 - ''The Day Michael Colli ...

* Kevin Whelan (historian)Kevin Whelan, 'Come all you staunch revisionists: towards a post-revisionist agenda for Irish history', in: ''The Irish Reporter'', 2 (1991), 23-26.

References

* * * * *

Notes

{{reflist

External links

The Revisionist Debate in Ireland
at Project Muse
Beyond Revisionism, Reassessing the Great Irish Famine
at History Ireland Historiography of Ireland Historiography of the British Empire Unionism in the United Kingdom Irish nationalism