Re: What's the latest in people's lives?
Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:26 pm
Hey, if it works why fight it?
We study the Versailles Treaty, but not the war itself.Really? Why is it such a sticky subject? I'd think you'd study that in more dietail since WWII is basicly the continuation of WWI...
The reason that it's so controversial over here is the simple fact that we were in it. Thing is, we were in it as part of the British Empire.
When it started in 1914, Ireland was just one more loyal province of the Empire, with little real interests in rocking the boat. Things were going fairly well for us. We had home rule, which was all we really wanted back then, and reaped all the benefits of being part of the most powerful empire on the planet.
Roll on to 1916, and the Easter Rising. Rebel forces in Dublin seize several buildings around the city, declare Ireland to be an independant republic, and tell the British to go fuck themselves. They hold out for about a week before the British forces force them to surrender. Now, this wasn't too major a problem. The rebels were hated by the majority of the populace for causing parts of the city to become ruined in the fighting, and were considered to have stabbed our British allies in the back.
Then the British did the most utterly stupid thing they could have done. They began rounding up anyone who may have had a hand in the Rising, and imprisoned them. They sentanced to death all of those involved in the Rising in military trials, which were closed and hidden from the public. No one knew what was happening in the trials. They didn't know who was going to be shot, or whether the British were also going to shoot those rounded up after the Rising itself. The public turned against the British government with surprising speed.
After being pressured, the British government eventualy put a halt to the executions and released the prisoners. Thing is, said prisoners had been held in what could only be described as rebel indoctrination camps, and many came out fully supporting the rebels and the idea of Irish independance from Britain.
Anti-British resentment built up over the next couple of years, culminating in Sinn Féin taking the 1918 elections in Ireland by storm. This clearly showed that the vast majority of people supported independance, but the British weren't exactly just going to let us go like that. So began the War of Independance.
And that's where the main problem is. When our troops went off to fight in the war in 1914, they were hailed as heroes; standing up for the freedom of European countries, and supporting our great British allies.
When they came home in 1918, they were hated and despised as British collaborators and traitors to Ireland. They were shunned by former friends and family members, and quite a few ended up committing suicide.
Needless to say, it's a touchy subject over here. Many people simply aren't sure whether they should be treated as heroes, or traitors. Because of that whole issue, we just avoid the subject altogether.
