1.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
2.
Armed merchantman
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Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be armed, especially those engaging in long distance. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany, while armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to regular warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their journeys to the Far East. In particularly dangerous times, such as when the countries were at war. However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against pirates and they also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the Battle of Pulo Aura and the Action of 4 August 1800. The British Royal Navy purchased several that it converted to ships of the line, in 1856, privateering lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris. From 1861–65 European countries built high speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War, some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders. Russia purchased three ships in 1878 of 6,000 long tons armed with 6-inch guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for a Russian Volunteer Fleet. Germany and the United Kingdom responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war, in 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers. In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers, while the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping. The armed merchant cruisers of the British Royal Navy were employed for protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly ocean liners, were converted into troopships. Documentary evidence quoted by the BBC researched from the stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships. The downside proved to be their high consumption, and that using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of steam coal in less than three months. The ships were vulnerable to fire, because they lacked warship armour and they used local control of guns, rather than director fire-control systems. By coincidence, Cap Trafalgar was disguised as Carmania, in World War II, HMS Jervis Bay — the sole escort for convoy HX84 in November 1940 — stood off the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, when the German ship attacked the convoy. Though she was sunk alonside 5 vessels, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape and her master, Acting Captain Edward Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions
3.
Imperial German Navy
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The Imperial German Navy was the navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy, which primarily had the mission of coastal defence, Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded the navy, and enlarged its mission. The key leader was Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, who expanded the size and quality of the navy. The result was an arms race with Britain as the German navy grew to become one of the greatest maritime forces in the world. The German surface navy proved ineffective during World War I, its only major engagement, however, the submarine fleet was greatly expanded and posed a major threat to the British supply system. The Imperial Navys main ships were turned over to the Allies, all ships of the Imperial Navy were designated SMS, for Seiner Majestät Schiff. The Imperial Navy achieved some important operational feats, the Navy also emerged from the fleet action of the Battle of Jutland having destroyed more ships than it lost, although the strategic value of both of these encounters was minimal. The Imperial Navy was the first to operate successfully on a large scale in wartime, with 375 submarines commissioned by the end of the First World War. The unification of Germany under Prussian leadership was the point for the creation of the Imperial Navy in 1871. The newly created emperor, Wilhelm I, as King of Prussia, had previously been head of state of the strongest state forming part of the new empire, supreme command was vested in the emperor, but its first appointed chief was General der Infanterie Albrecht von Stosch. Kiel on the Baltic Sea and Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea served as the Navys principal naval bases, the former Navy Ministry became the Imperial Admiralty on 1 February 1872, while Stosch became formally an admiral in 1875. Initially the main task of the new Imperial Navy was coastal protection, with France, the Imperial Navys tasks were then to prevent any invasion force from landing and to protect coastal towns from possible bombardment. In March 1872 a German Imperial Naval Academy was created at Kiel for training officers, followed in May by the creation of a Machine Engineer Corps, in July 1879 a separate Torpedo Engineer Corps was created dealing with torpedoes and mines. In May 1872 a ten-year building programme was instituted to modernise the fleet, the building plan had to be approved by the Reichstag, which controlled the allocation of funds, although one-quarter of the money came from French war reparations. In 1883 Stosch was replaced by general, Count Leo von Caprivi. At this point the navy had seven armoured frigates and four armoured corvettes,400 officers and 5,000 ratings, in October 1887 the first torpedo division was created at Wilhelmshaven and the second torpedo division based at Kiel. In 1887 Caprivi requested the construction of ten armoured frigates, greater importance was placed at this time on development of the army, which was expected to be more important in any war. This shortened the journey for commercial ships, but specifically united the two areas principally of concern to the German navy, at a cost of 150 million marks, later, the protection of German maritime trade routes became important
4.
U-boat
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U-boat is the anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, a shortening of Unterseeboot, literally undersea boat. While the German term refers to any submarine, the English one refers specifically to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role. Austro-Hungarian navy submarines were known as U-boats. The first submarine built in Germany, the three-man Brandtaucher, sank to the bottom of Kiel harbor on 1 February 1851 during a test dive, the inventor and engineer Wilhelm Bauer had designed this vessel in 1850, and Schweffel & Howaldt constructed it in Kiel. Dredging operations in 1887 rediscovered Brandtaucher, it was raised and put on display in Germany, there followed in 1890 the boats WW1 and WW2, built to a Nordenfelt design. The SM U-1 was a completely redesigned Karp-class submarine and only one was built, the Imperial German Navy commissioned it on 14 December 1906. It had a hull, a Körting kerosene engine. The 50%-larger SM U-2 had two torpedo tubes, the U-19 class of 1912–13 saw the first diesel engine installed in a German navy boat. At the start of World War I in 1914, Germany had 48 submarines of 13 classes in service or under construction, during that war the Imperial German Navy used SM U-1 for training. Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, on 5 September 1914, HMS Pathfinder was sunk by SM U-21, the first ship to have been sunk by a submarine using a self-propelled torpedo. On 22 September, U-9 sank the obsolete British warships HMS Aboukir, HMS Cressy, for the first few months of the war, U-boat anticommerce actions observed the prize rules of the time, which governed the treatment of enemy civilian ships and their occupants. On 20 October 1914, SM U-17 sank the first merchant ship, surface commerce raiders were proving to be ineffective, and on 4 February 1915, the Kaiser assented to the declaration of a war zone in the waters around the British Isles. This was cited as a retaliation for British minefields and shipping blockades, under the instructions given to U-boat captains, they could sink merchant ships, even potentially neutral ones, without warning. In February 1915, a submarine U-6 was rammed and both periscopes were destroyed off Beachy Head by the collier SS Thordis commanded by Captain John Bell RNR after firing a torpedo, on 7 May 1915, SM U-20 sank the liner RMS Lusitania. The sinking claimed 1,198 lives,128 of them American civilians, munitions that it carried were thousands of crates full of ammunition for rifles, 3-inch artillery shells, and also various other standard ammunition used by infantry. The sinking of the Lusitania was widely used as propaganda against the German Empire, a widespread reaction in the U. S was not seen until the sinking of the ferry SS Sussex. The sinking occurred in 1915 and the United States entered the war in 1917, the initial U. S. response was to threaten to sever diplomatic ties, which persuaded the Germans to issue the Sussex pledge that reimposed restrictions on U-boat activity
5.
David Lloyd George
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David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lloyd George was a key figure in the introduction of reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. His most important role came as the highly energetic Prime Minister of the Wartime Coalition Government, during and he was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers. He made an impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader. Furthermore, in foreign affairs he played a role in winning the First World War, redrawing the map of Europe at the peace conference. His main political problem was that he was not loyal to his Liberal party—he was always a political maverick, while he was Prime Minister he favoured the Conservatives in his coalition in the 1918 elections, leaving the Liberal party as a hopeless minority. He became leader of the Liberal Party in the late 1920s, by the 1930s he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure. He gave weak support to the Second World War amidst fears that he was favourable toward Germany, Lloyd George was born on 17 January 1863 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, to Welsh parents, and was brought up as a Welsh-speaker. He is so far the only British Prime Minister to have been Welsh and his father, William George, had been a teacher in both London and Liverpool. He also taught in the Hope Street Sunday Schools, which were administered by the Unitarians, in March of the same year, on account of his failing health, William George returned with his family to his native Pembrokeshire. He took up farming but died in June 1864 of pneumonia, Lloyd George was educated at the local Anglican school Llanystumdwy National School and later under tutors. He added his uncles surname to become Lloyd George and his surname is usually given as Lloyd George and sometimes as George. The influence of his childhood showed through in his entire career, brought up a devout evangelical, as a young man he suddenly lost his religious faith. Biographer Don Cregier says he became a Deist and perhaps an agnostic, though he remained a chapel-goer and he kept quiet about that, however, and was hailed as one of the foremost fighting leaders of a fanatical Welsh Nonconformity. It was also during this period of his life that Lloyd George first became interested in the issue of land ownership, by the age of twenty-one, he had already read and taken notes on Henry Georges Progress and Poverty. This strongly influenced Lloyd Georges politics later in life through the Peoples Budget which heavily drew on the georgist tax reform ideas, the practice flourished, and he established branch offices in surrounding towns, taking his brother William into partnership in 1887. Although many Prime Ministers have been barristers, Lloyd George is to date the only solicitor to have held that office, by then he was politically active, having campaigned for the Liberal Party in the 1885 election, attracted by Joseph Chamberlains unauthorised programme of reforms. The election resulted firstly in a stalemate with neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives having a majority, William Gladstones proposal to bring about Irish Home Rule split the party, with Chamberlain eventually leading the breakaway Liberal Unionists
6.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
7.
John Redmond
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John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, and MP in the British House of Commons. He was best known as leader of the moderate Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 until his death in 1918 and he was also leader of the paramilitary organisation the Irish National Volunteers. He was born to an old prominent Catholic family in rural Ireland and he took over control of the minority IPP faction loyal to Charles Stewart Parnell when that leader died in 1891. Redmond was a politician who achieved the two main objectives of his political life, party unity and, in September 1914, the passing of the Irish Home Rule Act. The Act granted limited self-government to Ireland, within the United Kingdom, however, implementation of Home Rule was suspended by the outbreak of the First World War. However, after the Easter Rising of 1916, Irish public opinion shifted in favour of militant republicanism and full Irish independence, in sharp contrast to Parnell, Redmond lacked charisma. He worked well in small committees, but had success in arousing large audiences. Parnell always chose the nominees to Parliament, now they were selected by the local party organisations, giving Redmond numerous weak MPs over whom he had little control. He never tried to understand the unionist forces emerging in Ulster, Redmond was further weakened in 1914 by the formation by Sinn Féin members of the Irish Volunteers. His enthusiastic support for the British war effort alienated many Irish nationalists and his party had been increasingly hollowed out, and a major crisis—notably the Easter Rising—was enough to destroy it. John Edward Redmond was born at Ballytrent House, Kilrane, County Wexford and he was the eldest son of William Archer Redmond, MP by Mary, daughter of General Hoey, the brother of Francis Hoey, heir of the Hoey seat, Dunganstown Castle, County Wicklow. For over seven hundred years the Redmonds had been a prominent Catholic gentry family in County Wexford and Wexford town. They were one of the oldest Hiberno-Norman families, and had for a time been known as the Redmonds of The Hall. His more immediate family were a political dynasty themselves. After his death in 1866, his nephew, William Archer Redmond, John Redmond was the brother of Willie Redmond, MP for Wexford and East Clare, and the father of William Redmond, whose wife was Bridget Redmond. Redmonds family heritage was more complex than that of most of his nationalist political colleagues and his mother came from a Protestant and unionist family, although she had converted to Catholicism on marriage, she never converted to nationalism. As a student, young John exhibited the seriousness that many would come to associate with him. After finishing at Clongowes, Redmond attended Trinity College, Dublin to study law, in 1876 he left to live with his father in London, acting as his assistant in Westminster, where he developed more fascination for politics than for law
8.
Willie Redmond
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William Hoey Kearney Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and soldier, who fell in action in World War 1. He came from a Catholic gentry family of Norman descent long associated with County Wexford for seven centuries, Willie Redmonds five-years elder brother was John Redmond who became leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and he had two sisters. His mother was a daughter of General R. H. Hoey of the Wicklow Rifles, Redmond grew up at Ballytrent, County Wexford, the second son of William Archer Redmond and his wife Mary, née Hoey of Protestant stock from County Wicklow. William like his father was educated at Clongowes Wood College from 1873–1876, previously attending the school at Knockbeg College and St. Patricks. After school he first apprenticed himself on a merchant sailing ship, at first contemplating a regular army career, he became a second lieutenant in October 1880, then resigned in 1881. He immediately joined Charles Stewart Parnell in the Irish National Land League agitation and he never wavered in his loyalty to Parnell even after the latters fall. He went to the United States in June 1882 with Michael Davitt to collect funds for the Land League and he and his brother John Redmond then travelled to Australia in February 1883 to raise funds, collecting £15,000 sterling for the nationalist cause. They developed close links with James Dalton of Orange, New South Wales and they both then travelled to the United States where they collected a further £15,000 sterling, many others following their example in the next years. In his absence in 1883, he was elected as MP for his fathers old constituency of Wexford Borough, when that constituency was abolished at the 1885 general election, he was returned for Fermanagh North. His time in this constituency as an Ulster MP was important, during this decade many were his narrow escapes from capture by police during the Land League campaign when he and William O’Brien and others like them made the country ring with their exploits. For resisting a tenants eviction in 1888 he was imprisoned to three months hard labour and his father supported the Home Rule Movement and in his election address in 1874, he declared Home Rule is absolutely essential to the good government of the country. At the centre of Willie Redmonds political philosophy stood the belief he had inherited from his father on Irish home rule, Home Rule was necessary he declared, because the Union has depopulated our country, has fostered sectarian strife, has destroyed our industries, and ruined our liberties. He was an ardent, extrovert parliamentarian and like other Irish members hated British rule in Ireland with fierce intensity, the two characteristics which dominated his character – a boyish enthusiasm and a simple unselfish sincerity – were stimulated by political action. What endeared him to the people was his fearless spirit of comradeship, where the fight was fiercest there he was always to be found, and he would never ask anyone to do what he was not prepared to do himself. He was during the eighties and nineties, the enfant terrible of Irish politics, on Irish platforms he often spoke of insurrection though he remained a constitutionalist at heart. On 24 February 1886 he married Eleanor Mary Dalton, eldest daughter of James Dalton and they had one son who died early in 1891 at the age of five. He was called to the Irish Law bar as a barrister in 1891, for most of his career he lived on a salary from the Irish Parliamentary Party. In condemning the South Africa Boer War in 1899 he joined with the nationalists such as Arthur Griffith, James Connolly
9.
Dublin Castle
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Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the United Kingdom governments administration in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland, the Kingdom of Ireland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, the complex was handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government led by Michael Collins. The castle today is a major tourist attraction and conferencing destination, the building is also used for State dinners and most significantly, the inauguration of the presidents of Ireland. Dublin Castle fulfilled a number of roles through its history, the second in command in the Dublin Castle administration, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, also had his offices there. Over the years parliament and law courts met at the castle before moving to new purpose-built venues and it also served as a military garrison. Castle Catholic was a term for Catholics who were considered to be overly friendly with or supportive of the British administration. Upon formation of the Free State in 1922, the castle assumed for a decade the role of the Four Courts on the Liffey quays which had been damaged during the Civil War. It was decided in 1938 that the inauguration of the first President of Ireland, Douglas Hyde would take place in the castle, two dedicated conference facilities, The Hibernia Conference Centre and The Printworks, were install for the European Presidencies of 1990 and 2013. Sited to the south-east of Norman Dublin, the formed one corner of the outer perimeter of the city. The city wall directly abutted the castles northeast Powder Tower, extending north, in 1620 the English-born judge Luke Gernon was greatly impressed by the wall, a huge and mighty wall, foursquare, and of incredible thickness. The Poddle was diverted into the city through archways where the walls adjoined the castle, one of these archways and part of the wall survive buried underneath the 18th-century buildings, and are open to public inspection. The building survived until 1673, when it was damaged by fire, the Court of Castle Chamber, the Irish counterpart to the English Star Chamber, sat in Dublin Castle in a room which was specially built for it about 1570. The Castle sustained severe damage in 1684. Extensive rebuilding transformed it from medieval fortress to Georgian palace, United Irishmen General Joseph Holt, a participant in the 1798 Rising, was incarcerated in the Bermingham Tower before being transported to New South Wales in 1799. In 1884 officers at the Castle were at the centre of a homosexual scandal incited by the Irish Nationalist politician William OBrien through his newspaper United Ireland. In 1907 the Irish Crown Jewels were stolen from the Castle, suspicion fell upon the Officer of Arms, Sir Arthur Vicars, but rumours of his homosexuality and links to socially important gay men in London, may have compromised the investigation
