Ireland in Ruins. The representation of cultural property destruction during the Irish Revolution in Irish, Anglo-Irish, and English newspapers, 1916-1923

The Irish Revolution (1916-1923) was one of the bloodiest and most violent conflicts in Irish history. Irish paramilitaries fought for an independent Ireland free from British rule. The Easter Rising (1916) lasted a week, in which the Irish Volunteers held out against the British military. During the War of Independence (1919-1921), the IRA fought the military, police and British paramilitary forces, resulting in the Anglo-Irish Treaty that granted Ireland Dominion status and established Northern Ireland’s own Parliament. The Civil War (1922-1923) concluded the Revolution, in which the Pro-Treaty and Anti-Treaty IRA fought each other. The Civil War ended in 1923 with a victory for the Pro-Treaty forces. This study focusses on the representation of cultural property destruction and the actors involved in Irish, Anglo-Irish, and English newspapers during the Revolution, in which the representation in newspapers will be studied from a framework of nationalism and othering. During this period, many buildings that are considered to be cultural property were destroyed. The study approaches the subject by means of a qualitative content analysis of newspapers articles which allows for a comparison of the newspapers. The research conducted is based on three case studies: the destruction of historic buildings during the Easter Rising, the destruction of Big Houses during the War of Independence, and the destruction of (Catholic) premises during the Belfast Pogroms in 1920-1922. Throughout all these periods, there were censorship regulations in place which influenced the newspapers. It is argued that during the Easter Rising and the War of Independence, the English and Anglo-Irish newspapers were irrationalising the destruction of buildings by the Irish, stating that the Irish paramilitaries were the enemy of Ireland and Britain, whereas the British troops were attempting to save the buildings or their contents, while also fighting the Irish forces. These newspapers negatively depicted these Irish paramilitaries as the ‘other’ to create a positive image of the self. However, during the pogroms the English and Anglo-Irish newspapers were rationalising the destruction, which was instigated by ‘their (national) community.’ The newspapers negatively depicted the Irish forces, whereas they were justifying the actions of their own troops. The Irish newspapers were doing the opposite. These newspapers were rationalising the destructions of the Easter Rising and Big House destruction, but depicting the Catholics in Belfast as the victims of British troops. Where they attempted to offer a moderate view of the destruction in the first two cases, they irrationalised the destruction of premises during the pogroms. In all cases, the newspapers attempted to present their own nation in a favourable way, by negatively depicting the opposing forces as ‘the other.’