Get Over It: The Problem With Irish History

by Pat Anderson

In the new Irish state, history was taught in the same way as every other country. It was a tale of heroes, where the Irish were always the 'Good Guys', with the long struggle against English imperialism finally ending with a free Ireland.
New attitudes toward History, as a subject, meant that the trend was for relating history in the way it was experienced by the people of the past; not as a 'Whiggish' narrative leading up to the present. Irish historians, Robert Dudley Edwards and TW Moody took up the challenge, determined to tell the 'real' history of Ireland and get rid of all the 'myths'.
'Whiggish' History, however, was not so easily dismissed and, to many, the climax had not been reached yet. There was still the matter of those six counties in the north, which were still part of the UK.
When the Troubles began, the IRA and Sinn Fein were able to use 'Whiggish', Traditionalist History, which was still popular, to justify their campaign. The elites in Dublin took fright and sought to distance the Irish Republic from the terrorists. Enter the Revisionists, claiming to be picking up the mantle from Dudley Edwards and Moody to tell the truth about Irish history. In reality, their sole purpose was to deny any legitimacy to the Provos.
And so, Irish History ended up with two the Traditionalists and the Revisionists; separated, not by approaches to historical research, but by contemporary politics.
This is the story of how it happened and how Irish History itself has been the victim.

157 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 23, 2018

About the author

Although born in Paisley I was brought up in Glasgow and consider myself a Glasgwegian. I worked as a primary-school teacher for 17 years. I am quite an eclectic reader and have a habit of returning to books I have read before. Most of the books I own I have read at least three times each. I have been writing for years now and hoping that somebody, somewhere likes it!