Trinity College Dublin Association – Cambridge Branch Spring Event
Centenary thoughts on the Easter Rising
(Venue by kind permission of Eugenio Biagini, Professor of History, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College)
12:00 Drinks Reception
12:45 Lunch in the Old Library
14:15 Two talks in the William Mong Hall followed by questions
Professor Eugenio Biagini, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, our host, author of “British Democracy and Irish Nationalism”, will open the afternoon with a paper on ‘Irish Protestant responses to Revolution in the age of revolution.’ The talk will examine the debate in the social and intellectual circles around Trinity College between 1912 and 1937. Beginning with the Ulster Covenant and the role of TCD graduate Edward Carson, it will examine response to the Rising and the subsequent partition both of Ireland and the Irish Protestant community.
Professor Brendan Simms, Professor in the History of European International Relations, Director of Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Peterhouse, TCD graduate 1989, will speak on 'The European context to Anglo-Irish relations' This talk will argue that the determining factor in Anglo-Irish relations has generally been the security of England within the European state system. Beginning with the story of Spanish and French intrigue in Ireland in the early modern period, working through the Napoleonic Era and the two world wars to the present day, the talk will conclude with some reflections on Brexit, its implications for Ireland and possible solutions to the European problem in which the Irish Republic is now fully involved.