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Conference tallis::celt

Title:	Celt Notefile

Moderator:	TALLIS::DARCY

Created:	Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:	Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1632
Total number of notes:	20523

127.0. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF IRELAND SINCE 1900" by FNYFS::AUNGIER (Rene Aungier, Ferney-Voltaire, France) Thu Feb 05 1987 04:11

	I am going to write a number of articles over the next few
	days giving a brief history of Ireland since 1900. I will
	also give the name of some books I have read and which shed
	some light on Irish history of the period.


	In the early 1900's the I.R.B. (Irish Republican Brotherhood)
	began to move towards the idea that only a revolution or revolt
	would stir the people. The Irish people at the time were beginning
	to be despondent and the I.R.B. feared that unless something was
	done independence would not be possible.

	In 1912 a group of men and women from the I.R.B. started to make
	some moves towards starting a revolt. The Irish Volunteers were
	founded around this time in response to Carson's founding of the
	Ulster Volunteers in Belfast.

	The Irish Volunteers founded as far as I remember by Redmond of
	the Irish party. The Irish party were members of the British
	Parliament. Redmond believed that if Britain went to war the Irish
	Volunteers should help them. In return the poor fool believed that
	Ireland would get many concessions from the British. The I.R.B.
	penetrated the Irish Volunteers and began to gain control of it.

	Eoin Mc Neill was then C.O.S. (Chief Of Staff) of the I.R.B. Everything
	went well up to early 1916. The main force or personalities behind
	the preparation of the 1916 rising were, Padriag Pearse, Willie
	Pearse, James Connolly, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Tomas Ceant, Mc Diarmuid
	Countess Marachiev and I just cannot remember the others. I will
	check at home tonight. 
	
	Unfortunately as had happened before many times in Irish history    
	Eoin Mc Neill decided to call the rising off. It was a time when
	many Irish believed in Redmond and that they should help the British
	in their war in Europe. Sad to say many a fool hardy Irishman took
	up the call of Redmond and fought and died in France (There is a
	beautiful song by the Furies call "Willie Mc Bride" which talks about 
	his death in France.

	The leaders of the rising were very strong in their conviction that 
	there was no better moment to strike the British than while they were 
	at war in Europe.

	It was more or less around this time that the I.R.A. was founded
	made up mainly of members of the I.R.B. There were 2 groups who
	decided to go ahead with the rising at Easter time of 1916, The
	I.R.B. (I.R.A.) members of Pearse and Irish Citizens Army under
	the leadership of James Connelly.

 	Why Easter? Easter time was a time that many British officers would
	be on holidays or away at the races in Fairyhouse. Padraig Pearse
	and the other leaders of the 1916 rising knew that the chances of
	success were very small but they knew that there was no other way
	to rouse the Irish people to action. 

	The marched through the streets in broad daylight with guns and
	proclaimed the Irish Republic outside the G.P.O. (General Post Office)
	in O'Connell Street in Dublin. They then occupied the G.P.O. and
	the 1st causalties were some British cavalary men who approached
	the G.P.O. The British at first thought it was just a military
	exercise.

	They had planned to take over key positions around the city including
	Bolands Bakery (Commanded by Eamonn De Valera, future president
	of Ireland) which is on the road from Dun Laoighre, where British
	reinforcements would come from, the college of surgeons and other
	houses along the route the British would have to take.

	It might have only lasted a week but the British learned a lesson.
	There causalties were great compared to the Irish causalties especially
	around the roads into Dublin from Dun Laoighre. Almost 5000 troops
	were held at bay because of the strategic positions occupied by
	the Irish.

	The G.P.O. which was the headquarters of the Rising was on fire
	by the end of Easter week having being shelled from a gun ship 
	anchored in the river Liffey. There was a tunnel running between
	the G.P.O. and the Rotunda hospital only some 400 yards away. The
	Rotunda Hospital incidentially is a maternity hospital where almost
	all Dubliners are born.

	Pearse decided to save the city from further destruction to surrender
	unconditionally. The order went out to the various units around
	the city to surrender. 1 week after the rising started it was over.

	The Irish soldiers were marched off to prisons and internment camps
	in Wales, England and Ireland. The citizens of Dublin mainly the
	people who came from the slums which were close to the G.P.O. spat
	and abused their own soldiers because of the destruction caused
	even though they had had a field day looting shops near by.

	The leaders of the 1916 rising were help in Kilmainham jail under
	appaling conditions. James Connelly was in a wheel chair due to
	bullet wounds sustained during the week. A court marshal was organised
	for the leaders of the rising under General Maxwell.

	The leaders of the rising were naturally enough found guilty of
	treason and ordered to be executed by firing squad. The mistake
	the British made was to execute them 1 or 2 every day for a week.
	
	Padriag Pearse and his brother Willie were the first to be murdered
	followed by the other leaders. James Connelly was murdered in his
	wheel chair.

	The people of Ireland were appaled by the executions and as the
	leaders of the rising had hoped the people began to awake from their
	sleep and the spirit of the people was once again with the I.R.B.
	(I.R.A.) and the freedom movement.

	The 1916 rising had attained its goal. They died not for nothing
	but for the generations that would come after them. As Padraig
	Pearse had said in the Proclamation "When Ireland can take her
	place among the Nations, then and only then will our country be
	free"

	Tomorrow I will continue with the build up from 1916 to the War
	of Independence. Forgive me if some of the information is not 100%
	accurate as I don't have my materials here with me but I believe
	that it is more or less 100% accurate. All of the above can be verified
	in some of the books I can recommend for reading.

	I will post a list of poems, books, and the name of songs written
	about and before this period so that some of you may get a chance
	a I did to understand Irish history more fully.


	Go n-eire an bothair leat.
	Slan agus beannacht

	Rene Aungier

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
127.1		TSC01::MAILLARD		`Thu Feb 05 1987 07:04`	11
	Re .0: Rene, your account is essentially correct as far as facts are concerned. I don't intend to give an opinion about its orientation as I don't think I'm entitled to enter such a discussion, not being Irish myself, but you sure have a problem spelling people's names. Countess Marachev might have existed, but she sure had nothing to do with Irish history. I think you meant Countess Markiewicz, but I'm myself not really sure of the spelling. Also "Willie Mc Bride" was not, to my knowledge, sung by the Furies, if such a group exists, but by the Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur. Please go on with the following chapters. Denis.
127.2		KAOFS::MUX_USER		`Thu Feb 05 1987 08:45`	8
	....and the song, oddly enough, was written by a Glaswegian living in Australia. The same man, whose name escapes me, also wrote "and the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" Keep up the good work, Rene. Mike McCrohan
127.3	I MADE A MISTAKE	FNYFS::AUNGIER	Rene Aungier, Ferney-Voltaire, France	`Thu Feb 05 1987 08:48`	22
	Denis, I know that I have maybe in some cases spelt the name incorrectly but unfortunately I have have all my source material here to check the spelling. Essentially I can trying to give a brief outline and to give the chance for people to read some books about the period. I am no historian and its orientation Denis is exactly as it happened. I may have skipped some things or ommitted them only because as you may well appreciate, I don't have the time to transcribe any books. The group is sometimes called the Furies by Irish people but you are correct that their full title is "The Fury Brothers and Davy Arthur". The song is called "The Green Fields Of France", the person the sing about is Willie Mc Bride. Its a long time ago and I am sure that I can be forgiven for the hopefully few errors. Thanks anyway for pointing it out Rene
127.4		TSC01::MAILLARD		`Thu Feb 05 1987 11:53`	8
	Re .2,.3: I can't recall the author's last name right now either, but his first name is Eric. As for the Fureys, I can well understand why they are called the Furies: last time we had them in the folk club I was then managing, they stopped to play only a 5AM and this only because the bar ran out of beer. They were floating on an ocean of empty beer bottles and Finbar was actually playing his uilleann pipes kneeling... (it was 6 six years ago now...) Denis.
127.5	Eric Bogle	WELMTS::MANNION		`Thu Feb 05 1987 12:00`	5
	It was Eric Bogle. He came from Scotland originally, Perth or Stirling, can't remember which. His songs are beautiful but I don't like him singing them, he's only average as a singer. Phillip
127.6	What Eric did next	WELMTS::MANNION		`Thu Feb 05 1987 12:09`	2
	And then he went to live in Australia, perhaps that was Perth.
127.7	A Terrible Beauty is Born	TALLIS::DARCY	George @Littleton Mass USA	`Thu Feb 05 1987 14:31`	21
	Thanks Rene for the history - heres a few words from the forefathers concerning nationality and in particular languages. Padraig MacPiarais (Patrick Pearse): "Irish nationality is an ancient spiritual tradition, and the Irish nation could not die as long as that tradition lived in the heart of one faithful man or woman. But had the last repositor of the Gaelic tradition, the last unconquered Gael, died, the Irish nation was no more. Any free state that might thereafter be erected in Ireland, whatever it might call itself, would certainly not be the historic Irish nation." Jamese Connolly: "It is well to remember that nations which submit to conquest or races which abandon their language in favour of that of an oppressor do so, not because of their altruistic motives, or because of a love of brotherhood of man, but from a slavish and cringing spirit, from a spirit which cannot exist side by side with the revolutionary idea."
127.8	The Green Fields of France	SSGVAX::OCONNELL	Irish by Name	`Fri Feb 13 1987 11:55`	2
	Be forwarned...in case you ever want to learn "The Green Fields of France", DON'T get the words from the Fureys.
127.9	Eric (not in the red)	AYOV15::ASCOTT	Alan Scott, FMIC, Ayr, Scotland	`Mon Feb 16 1987 11:24`	15
	RE .5 etc - as I recall, Eric (what Eric did next, etc) came from Peebles (a small town in south Central Scotland, maybe midway between the central industrial belt and the Border area nearer England). He got to some prominence as a writer of folk songs - agree what .6 said about him being a low-key, average-sounding performer (to my taste anyway). What really surprised me about his biography was his profession - he's an accountant - and that he gave up folk singing altogether after going to Australia, to concentrate on his job. I think he's been coaxed out of retirement occasionally, but sounds like a strange mix of sensitive lyricist and hard-headed bean-counter. The "Green Fields of France" is about a Scottish soldier, of course, despite the references to 1916, greenery, etc - but the Fureys do a pretty effective performance.
127.10	Whereabouts of Eric	MEO78B::FARRELL		`Thu Feb 26 1987 23:39`	14
	Eric Bogle,sad to say, lives not in Perth but in Adelaide. Also, the husband of the late Sandy Denny (trevor Lucas not sure of the spelling)lives there too. eric Bogle is still writing and giving occassional tours. If Eric Bogle is average then how low do you rate Finbar Furey ?? With so many good singers in Ireland it is a pity that Finbar inflicts himself on the public. The best version of the 'Grenn fields of France ' that I have heard was from a lady whose name is pronounced June Tabor (I'll try to get the spelling organised - only heard it on radio) Long live he music of Planxty - they could play and sing !! - Joe
127.11		TSC01::MAILLARD		`Fri Feb 27 1987 05:48`	6
	Re .10: June Tabor IS the correct spelling. As for Finbar his voice has never been among his strong points: He's the group's piper, and a very good one (or at least used to be, but I don't know how he's been playing recently; booze being another of his strong points, his playing on the uilleann pipes might not be as good as it was). Denis.
127.12	More comments on singers/bands	SSGVAX::OCONNELL	Irish by Name	`Tue Mar 03 1987 09:38`	26
	I too remember when Finbar's piping was excellent. Unfortunately the only adjective I can now apply is "showy". It lacks the emotive qualities it used to have in the early years when he was in competition. Personally, I can't stand the Furey's anymore. I still like fun music, I guess what I've grown out of is music that's fast for the sake of being fast, loud for the sake of being loud, and excessive drinking on stage that give the musician the impression that he/she's terrific, but the audience (unless they are also drunk out of their minds) the sense that the performance has deteriorated over the course of the evening. Sound preachy?? Well let's just say I paid for the ticket, therefor I expect a certain level of professionalism and a good time. There are plenty of groups around that fit the bill: The Boys of the Lough for one. Moloney, O'Connell and Keane (although I must confess to being biased there -- but my musical integrity stands intact when I recommend this group), Tannahill Weavers, DeDanaan, Clannad, The Chieftans, Silly Wizard, Relativity, and host of solo musicians who value and respect their audience enough to make their music something worth sharing. June Tabor is a great singer. She's been around for a long time and has done work with other British singers and musicians. I think she was one of the singers in Peter Bellamy's folk-opera "The Transports". Great stuff! Roxanne
127.13	More on the GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE	WAGON::FEELEY		`Thu Mar 12 1987 08:53`	11
	I think THE GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE is such a beautiful song that any singer who is halfway decent can do a moving rendition ot it. But I have yet to hear anyone do it any better than Liam Clancy. I think he can sing ballads better than anyone. By the way, Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem are singing on St. Paddy's Day at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. --Jay