Ireland in Crisis, 1791-1803 * Course Code: HI7102 * Module Title:

Ireland in Crisis, 1791-1803 * Weighting: 10 ECTS * Co-ordinator:

Dr Patrick M. Geoghgean * Teaching Staff:

Dr Patrick M. Geoghegan

* Course Overview and Aims: This course offers a new way of interpreting one of the most turbulent periods in Irish history. Looking at the rise of radicalism, the 1798 and 1803 rebellions, and the response of the British government, it allows students to form their own analysis about whether the revolutionary approach could have succeeded, and if the constitutional framework in Ireland was doomed to fail. * Working Methods: One lecture and one seminar a week (2 hours total). * Syllabus: Week 1 Introduction: The United Irishmen, 1791-1794

Seminar: [Theobald Wolfe Tone], An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland (1791)

Week 2 The Fitzwilliam Viceroyalty, 1795 Seminar: Why did Fitzwilliam have to go? The report of John FitzGibbon

Week 3 The closest English escape since the Spanish Armada? Bantry Bay, 1796 Seminar: Wolfe Tone’s account of the failed invasion

Week 4 ‘A Smothered War’: Terror in Ireland, 1797-1798 Seminar: (i) Richard Musgrave: the truth about 1798?

(ii) The trial of Theobald Wolfe Tone Week 5 The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation: the Union Debate, 1799-1800

Seminar: Selling the Nation: the Propaganda Campaign (caricatures and playbills)

Week 6 Downfall: the collapse of Pitt’s ministry, 1801 Debate: Should the Union have been passed?

Week 7 Robert Emmet and the 1803 Rebellion Seminar: The Speech from the Dock

Week 8 Daniel O’Connell, the Union and Emmet’s rebellion Seminar: ‘The text-book of my political career’: O’Connell and the Union

Week 9 Reinventing Emmet Seminar: Representations of Emmet in the 19th and 20th centuries

* Assessment: You must write two major essays for this course. The first essay will be a preliminary work. The second essay will carry the mark for the course. The first essay can be submitted directly to the lecturer. The second essay must be submitted in hardcopy to the departmental office and a copy should also be e-mailed to the department. The second essay will be double-marked within the department. * Learning Outcomes: This course is about learning skills not content. The following are the key learning outcomes of the course:

1. Ability to critically assess all secondary literature works. 2. Ability to read and interpret primary sources.

3. Skills to find and interpret other printed primary sources. 4. Skills to find and interpret archival primary sources. 5. Ability to form an original interpretation based upon primary sources.

Crucially, a high first-class essay is one that displays mastery of all these skills. In addition the course aims to develop the nine qualities of the graduate as set out in the College’s Strategic Plan. These include articulacy (through involvement in class debates, presentations and other coursework), inquisitiveness, adaptability and analytical ability.