Today In Irish History

December 10: TODAY in Irish History:

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W. B. Yeats

Snippets of Irish History by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks 

Conor is a Chicago based Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff.

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WATCH: A Short History of Ireland

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1920: Martial Law Introduced

In response to increasing violence and deaths, the British declare martial law in Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.

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1923: William Butler Yeats receives Nobel Prize in Literature

The honor was conferred “for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.”

At the Nobel Banquet, the Dublin born poet spoke of the development of Irish literature. “Thirty years ago a number of Irish writers met together in societies and began a remorseless criticism of the literature of their country. It was their dream that by freeing it from provincialism they might win for it European recognition. I owe much to those men, still more to those who joined our movement a few years later, and when I return to Ireland these men and women, now growing old like myself, will see in this great honour a fulfilment of that dream.

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Illustration of W.B. Yeats in For the Love of Being Irish by author Conor Cunneen

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1998: Peace Prize for Hume and Trimble

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John Hume and David Trimble receive the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.”

In accepting the award Hume spoke about  the “extraordinary courage and fortitude by individual men and women, innocent victims of violence. Amid shattered lives, a quiet heroism has born silent rebuke to the evil that violence represents, to the carnage and waste of violence, to its ultimate futility.” 

In his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, David Trimble spoke with humor “the way politics work in Northern Ireland – if John Hume has a medal, it is important that I have one too” and with a strong historical perspective. Referencing famed Irish born orator and parliamentarian Edmund Burke  who “of course he has special significance for us in Ireland. Burke, the son of a protestant father and a catholic mother, was a man who in word and in deed honoured both religious traditions, recognised and respected his Irish roots and the British Parliamentary system which nursed him to the full flowering of his genius. Today as we seek to decommission not only arms and ammunition, but also hearts and minds, Burke provides us not only with a powerful role model of the pluralist Irishman, but also with a powerful role model for politicians everywhere.

Burke is the best model for what might be called politicians of the possible. Politicians who seek to make a working peace, not in some perfect world, that never was, but in this, the flawed world, which is our only workshop.”

In 2010, John Hume in a phone and text poll conducted by Irish national broadcaster RTE, was voted Ireland’s Greatest.

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Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish

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This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humorist IrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the comment button.

Visit Conor’s YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaks to Laugh and Learn.

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