Syllabus Topics - Modern Times

Later Modern Ireland

Topic 1: Ireland and the Union, 1815-1870

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Society and economyThe Irish countryside, 1815; economic crisis, 1815-1850; the Famine; the post-Famine economy; emigration; education; impact of the railways; industrial development in Belfast.Private responses to Famine, 1845 - 1849
Politics and administrationAdministrative and political structures under the Act of Union. O'Connell ­ the campaigns for Emancipation and Repeal, achievements; the Tithe War; the Poor Law; Young Ireland. Government responses to Famine. Electoral reform; sectarianism in politics; Fenianism; Liberal reforms.The campaign for Catholic Emancipation, 1823 - 1829
Culture, religion and scienceDevelopments in the creation of cultural and religious identities; the creative arts; developments in science and technology.The Synod of Thurles, 1850, and the Romanisation of the Catholic Church

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Daniel O'Connell; Thomas Davis; Charles Trevelyan; Charles Kickham; James Stephens; Asenath Nicholson; Mother MaryAikenhead; Cardinal Paul Cullen; William Carleton; William Dargan.

Key concepts

The Union; sectarianism; Catholic Emancipation; physical force republicanism; laissez- faire; economic depression; dowry;landlordism; famine; nation; ultramontanism; evangelicalism.

Topic 2: Movements for political and social reform, 1870-1914

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationThe Home Rule movement: origins; development; leadership ­ Butt, Parnell, Redmond. The Suffrage movement. The first Sinn Féin party. The Irish Volunteers.Unionism and the Ulster Question.The elections of 1885 and 1886: issues and outcomes
Society and economyLand agitation and land reform. Unionisation of the working classes. The Co-operative Movement. Industrial development in Belfast: the shipyards. Educational reforms: schools and universities.Dublin 1913 - strike and lockout
Culture and religionThe GAA Cultural revivals: the Gaelic League, the Anglo-Irish Literary Revival. The consolidation of Catholic identity.The GAA to 1891

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Charles Stewart Parnell; John Redmond; Edward Carson; Isabella Tod; Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington; James Connolly; MichaelDavitt; James Larkin; Douglas Hyde; W.B. Yeats.

Key concepts

Democracy; Home Rule; separatism; militarism; socialism; feminism; political agitation; anglicisation/de-anglicisation; IrishIreland; Anglo-Irish; suffragette.

Topic 3: The pursuit of sovereignty and the impact of partition, 1912-1949

PerspectiveElementsCase Studies
Politics and administrationThe Home Rule Bill, 1912-1914.
The impact of World War I; the 1916 Rising; the rise of the second Sinn Féin party; the 1918 election; the War of Independence; Partition;Treaty and Civil War. State building and the consolidation of democracy; from Free State to Republic.
Northern Ireland ­ the Unionist Party in power. The impact of World War II, North and South. Anglo-Irish relations.
The Treaty negotiations, October-December, 1921
Society and economyImpact of partition on economy and society; impact of world economic crisis; from free trade to protectionism; impact of World War II.Belfast during World War II
Culture and religionState and culture, North and South: language, religion and education; promotion of cultural identity.The Eucharistic Congress, 1932

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Patrick Pearse; Éamon de Valera; Arthur Griffith; Michael Collins; Countess Markievicz; W. T. Cosgrave; James J.McElligott; James Craig; Richard Dawson Bates; Evie Hone.

Key concepts

Sovereignty; partition; Ulster Unionism; allegiance; physical force; IRB/IRA; "blood sacrifice"; dominion status; republic; freetrade; protectionism; neutrality; discrimination; conformity/censorship.

Topic 4: The Irish diaspora, 1840-1966

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationThe main trends in Irish emigration by origin, destination and type of emigrant; their occupations and where they settled in the country of immigration: pre-1845; the Famine decade, 1845-1855; 1855-1914; 1920-1966. Increased restriction and regulation of emigration after 1920.Grosse Isle
Society and economyAnti-Irish sentiment in both US and Britain in the 19th century; Irish participation in politics in the USA and in Britain; the Molly Maguires; Irish nationalism as an international force from the Famine to independence; the anti-partition campaign; Ulster Unionist efforts to lobby for international support among Ulster emigrants.De Valera in America, June, 1919-December, 1920
Culutre and religionRole of Catholic Church and GAA in sustaining a sense of Irishness among emigrants; Irish missionaries in Africa and Asia. Role of Protestant churches in fostering an UlsterScottish identity.The Orange Order in Canada and Australia. The creation of Irish images through film and music. Links between Ireland and the wider Irish community through tourism and heritage. The impact of John F. Kennedy.The Holy Ghost mission to Nigeria, 1945-1966

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

John Devoy; Andrew Bonar Law; Joe Kennedy; Boss Croker; Archbishop Mannix; Domhnall Mac Amhlaigh; Paul O'Dwyer;Bishop Edward Galvin; Maureen O'Hara; Mother Mary Martin.

Key concepts

Pre-paid passages; chain-emigration; emigrants' remittances; discrimination; assimilation; "Ireland's spiritual empire".

Topic 5: Politics and society in Northern Ireland, 1949-1993

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationFrom Brookeborough to O'Neill; the Civil Rights movement; emergence of the Provisional IRA; the fall of Stormont; Direct Rule; Republican and Loyalist terrorism; Sunningdale and power-sharing; the Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985. The Republic ­ responses to the "Troubles". The Downing Street Declaration, 1993.The Sunningdale Agreement and the power-sharing executive, 1973-1974
Society and economyImpact of Welfare State: education, health, housing. Social and economic developments prior to 1969. Impact of the "Troubles": (a) the economy; (b) society ­ education, health, housing.The Coleraine University controversy
Culture and religionReligious affiliation and cultural identity; ecumenism; cultural responses to the "Troubles".The Apprentice Boys of Derry

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Terence O'Neill; Conn and Patricia McCluskey; Bernadette Devlin; Ian Paisley; Brian Faulkner; John Hume; JamesMolyneaux; Margaret Thatcher; Gerry Adams; Seamus Heaney.

Key concepts

Civil Rights; gerrymandering; terrorism; power sharing; sectarianism; bigotry; tolerance and intolerance; cultural traditions;cultural identity; ecumenism; propaganda.

Topic 6: Government, economy and society in the Republic of Ireland, 1949-1989

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationAlternating governments and their economic and social policies, 1948-1959. Economic planning; the move to Free Trade. Changes in education, health and social welfare provision. Economic and social challenges of the 1970s and1980s. Anglo-Irish relations, 1949-1989. Increasing international involvement ­ the UN and the EEC.The First Programme for Economic Expansion, 1958 - 1963
Society and economyDemographic change. Social change ­ status of women, housing, schools, amenities. Economic change and its social consequences; the impact of EEC membership.Impact of the EEC on fisheries
Culture, religion and scienceChanging attitudes towards Irish language and culture; the impact of television; the impact of Vatican II; the impact of the communications revolutionThe impact of RTÉ, 1962 - 1972

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

T.K. Whitaker; Seán Lemass; Archbishop J. C. McQuaid; Jack Lynch; Charles Haughey; Garret FitzGerald; Sylvia Meehan;Mary Robinson; Breandán Ó hEithir; Gay Byrne.

Key concepts

Economic planning; free trade; common market; equality of opportunity; ecumenism; secularisation; balance of payments;discrimination; censorship; pluralism; liberalisation.

Later Modern Europe and the Wider World

Topic 1: Nationalism and state formation in Europe, 1815-1871

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationThe Germanic lands from Confederation to Empire: the system of Metternich under attack. Autocracy in the East: Balkan nationalism; Greece and Serbia. Italy moves towards unity. The State in France: monarchy, republic and Empire.The 1848 Revolution in Germany
Society and economyThe changing agricultural economy in the West; serfdom in Russia. Industrialisation: trade unionism and socialism; mass politics. Urban growth and migration Primary education: increased literacy.Robert Owen's model village at New Lanark
Culture, religion and scienceCity planning. Cultural nationalism: music, art, literature and language. The churches and social change: France and Great Britain. Developments in science: electricity, biology and technology.Haussmann's Paris

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Clemens Metternich; Giuseppe Mazzini; Karl Marx; Mikhail Bakunin; Feargus O'Connor; Napoleon III; Victor Hugo;Charles Darwin; Otto von Bismarck; Robert Peel.

Key concepts

Nationalism; autocracy; democracy; liberalism; serfdom; industrialisation / "Industrial Revolution"; laissez-faire; Chartism;socialism; romanticism.

Topic 2: Nation states and international tensions, 1871-1920

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationThe Second Reich and the changing balance of power; Anglo- and Franco-German tensions; Bismarck's foreign policy. The structures of European diplomacy; the New Imperialism and colonial rivalries; Wilhelm II and Weltpolitik. Serbia as a fulcrum of Great Power rivalry. The Second International. The outbreak of war in 1914; the conduct of war; war and revolution; the Peace Settlement.The naval policy of Wilhelm II
Society and economyEconomic growth and social tensions: industrialisation in Germany and its impact on society; industrialisation and economic crisis in Tsarist Russia; the impact of war on society and economy.Women in the workforce during World War I
Culture, religion and scienceExpression of national identity through literature and the arts; the literature of World War I. Church/State tensions in Germany and Italy. Anti-Semitism in France and Russia. Key developments in science, technology and medicine.The invention and early history of the motor car

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Otto von Bismarck; Wilhelm II; Douglas Haig; Woodrow Wilson; the Krupp family; Rosa Luxemburg; Wilfred Owen; LeoXIII; Marie Curie; Karl Benz.

Key concepts

Balance of power; nationalism; the New Imperialism; world war; war of attrition; conscription; self-determination; warguilt; anti-Semitism.

Topic 3: Dictatorship and democracy in Europe, 1920-1945

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationOrigins and growth of the fascist regimes in Europe; the Nazi state in peace and war. Communism in Russia: the regimes of Lenin and Stalin; the Stalinist state in peace and war. France: the Third Republic, 1920-1940, and the Vichy state. Wartime alliances, 1939-1945.Stalin's show trials
Society and economyEconomic and social problems of the inter-war years, with particular reference to Britain and Germany. The Soviet alternative. Society during World War II: the Home Front; rationing/evacuees; refugees; collaboration/resistance. Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.The Jarrow March, October 1936
Culture, religion and scienceNazi propaganda ­ State control and use of mass media. Church-state relations under Mussolini and Hitler. Anglo-American popular culture in peace and war: radio and cinema. The technology of warfare.The Nuremberg Rallies

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

J. M. Keynes; Adolf Hitler; Benito Mussolini; Vladimir Ilyich Lenin; Josef Stalin; Winston Churchill; Joseph Goebbels; LeniRiefenstahl; Bing Crosby; Charlie Chaplin.

Key concepts

Inflation; the Depression; protectionism; collectivisation; communism; fascism; dictatorship; personality cult;totalitarianism; democracy; propaganda; anti-Semitism; herrenvolk; Reichskirche; the Holocaust; collaboration;resistance; lebensraum; blitzkrieg.

Topic 4: Division and realignment in Europe, 1945-1992

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationOrigins of Cold War; division of Germany; "Sovietisation" of Eastern Europe; military alliances; main crises of Cold War; emergence of reform movements in Eastern Europe; collapse of Soviet Union; fragmentation and realignment in Europe. Moves towards European unity, 1945-1957; establishment and evolution of EEC.The Hungarian Uprising, 1956
Society and economyThe Western economies, 1945-1973: the era of economic growth; Marshall Aid; moves towards free trade; immigration; the Welfare State. The Western economies, 1973-1990: impact of the Oil Crisis; recession and the rise in unemployment. The Communist economies: problems and outcomes. Marriage, the family and the changing role of women. Affluence, leisure time and the consumer society.The Oil Crisis, 1973
Culture, religion and scienceLiterature and social criticism, East and West. Changing patterns in religious observance. Youth and popular culture (including sport) and the mass media. The impact of (a) advances in the biological sciences (b) nuclear power and (c) the computer.The Second Vatican Council

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Imre Nagy; Nikita Khrushchev; Pope John Paul II; Mikhail Gorbachev; Jean Monnet; Jacques Delors; Margaret Thatcher;Alexander Solzhenitsyn; Simone de Beauvoir; John Lennon.

Key concepts

Capitalism; communism; Sovietisation; Cold War; Iron Curtain; nuclear deterrence; détente; satellite state; glasnost; commonmarket; federal Europe; welfare state; feminism; dissident writer; ecumenical movement; mass media; information technology;pop star; teenager.

Topic 5: European retreat from empire and the aftermath, 1945-1990

PerspectiveElementsCase studies
Politics and administrationImplications of World War II for European role in Asia; independence struggles and the reactions of the European powers (with particular reference to India, Indochina and East Indies); post-independence relations with the colonial power. British withdrawal from Palestine and origins of Arab-Israeli conflict; the Suez Crisis, 1956. Africa ­ the "winds of change" (with particular reference to Algeria, Nigeria, the Congo,Tanzania and Angola); postindependence relations with the colonial power.British withdrawal from India, 1945 - 1947
Society and economyEconomic consequences of the process of de-colonisation; the Lomé Conventions; trade, aid and famine in postcolonial Africa; Julius Nyerere and the policy of ujamaa. Immigration patterns and policies in different European states ­ Britain, France.The secession of Katanga, 1960 - 1965
Culture and religionTensions between indigenous culture and colonial culture; the spread of Islam and Christianity in Africa; the Islamic faith in Europe; cultural diversity in multi-racial Britain and France; English as a world language; post-colonial literature.Race relations in France in the 1980s

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Mohandas Gandhi; Ho Chi Minh; Achmad Sukarno; David Ben-Gurion; Gamal Abdul Nasser; Charles de Gaulle; SeseSeko Mobutu; a development worker in Africa; Nadine Gordimer; Chinua Achebe.

Key concepts

Colonial rule; assimilation; de-colonisation; Zionism; terrorism; tribalism; racism; (British) Commonwealth; (French)Union and Community; IMF; World Bank; transnational economy; NGO (non-governmental organisation); culturaldiversity; identity.

Topic 6: The United States and the world, 1945-1989

PerspectiveElementsCase Studies
Society and economySources of the US economic boom: the war, public investment and international financing, 1945-1968. The development of the US industrial structure: the multinational corporation, 1945-1968. The Vietnam War; the federal deficit; domestic recession; international competition from Japan and Europe, 1968-1989. Demographic growth; affluence ­ consumerism, leisure, the role of work, the changing role of women and the family. Troubled affluence: racial conflict, urban poverty, drugs and crimeThe Montgomery bus boycott, 1956
Politics and administrationUS politics: structures and tensions ­ federal government and the states; the separation of powers. The Presidency from Roosevelt to Reagan. Domestic factors in US foreign policy: McCarthyism, the anti-war movement, race relations. US foreign policy, 1945-1972: Berlin, Korea, Cuba,Vietnam. Decline of Cold War certainties, 1973-1989: withdrawal from Vietnam, détente, SALT and Star Wars.Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam, 1963 - 1968
Culture, religion and scienceConsensus? 1945-1968: Hollywood ­ the American Dream; the "red scare". Collapse of consensus, 1968-1989: youth culture, "counter-culture", and multiculturalism. Religion in modern American culture; the mass media in modern American culture; mass higher education. Advances in military, space and information technology.The Moon landing, 1969

In their study of the topic, students should become aware of the role of certain key personalities.

Another "key" to developing understanding will be learning to identify the main issues through a familiarity with certainkey concepts.

Key personalities

Students should be aware of the contribution of the following to the developments listed under the elements above:

Harry Truman; Joe McCarthy; Martin Luther King; Lyndon Johnson; the "Organization Man"; Betty Friedan; NormanMailer; Muhammad Ali; Billy Graham; Marilyn Monroe.

Key concepts

Corporate capitalism; globalisation; internationalism; imperialism; consumerism; technological development; the military-industrial complex; discrimination; liberalism; presidential bureaucracy; mass media; public opinion; fundamentalism; moralmajority; feminism.

 
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