Aspects of Nationalism and Anti-imperialism in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

This chapter focuses on the anti-imperial and anti-colonial rhetoric of Irish nationalistsin the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Irish nationalists lamented misgovernment,cultural loss, colonial denigration and a sense of inferiority, problems they shared withcolonised peoples elsewhere. They noted parallels with fellow-sufferers at the hands ofthe British, particularly with the Boers, and incorporated such issues into their nationalistrhetoric. Nevertheless, even ardent Irish nationalists demonstrated limited sympathywith groups of non-European backgrounds. Others took up military and administrativeopportunities within the British Empire. This possibility of complicity in the Imperialproject sparked strong anti-imperialist sentiment and imaginative anti-imperialist campaigns.At the same time, the steady process of Anglicisation of Irish culture promptedattempts to promote Irish culture and a sense of national pride and assertiveness.