Three key factors help determine a country’s history: location, location, location.
The reflection, originally about Mexico, was uttered by Porfirio Diaz, the country’s dictator at the onset of the 20th century, but it applies to Ukraine and Ireland just as well.
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Separated by geography, they share a spirit of defiance encapsulated by their passion to maintain their identity, especially through literature.
But their experiences have differed vastly over the last century or so.
Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was greeted by Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin at Cork airport in Ireland ahead of the UK-Ireland summit. The county of Cork relishes its sobriquet, the Rebel County. The fact that it was chosen to host a summit of this nature showed how close the countries are.
Indeed, on Saturday, Ireland had what would have been classified once as a crisis of identity concerning England. For Ireland to win the Six Nations, the English rugby team had to beat the French in Paris. An unusual scene played out in pubs and clubs throughout Ireland as people shouted and bayed for an English victory. Alas, the French won to prove, if nothing else, that god is not an Englishman.
And therein lies a tale. For the first time since King Henry II sent an invasion force in 1169, Ireland has allies that give it clout on the international stage. Yes, US presidents would regularly come to “Erin” to shore up the Irish vote back home, but this is different.
Once the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland voted against EU membership in 2016, Ireland was part of a bloc that could more than match isolated Britain both economically and militarily.
The irony, of course, was that this occurred just as the two nations were, and still are, enjoying their warmest relations since the tumultuous early decades of the 20th century.
The country that lost the most land as a consequence of World War I was not Germany or Russia. It was Britain. Ireland once accounted for 26 per cent of the British land mass, but what was once described as the Great War, before we started counting them, set in train events that led to a political rupture.
Irish nationalists believed that a Britain distracted by WWI provided a good opportunity to strike.
Both Ukraine and Ireland endured famine and had their destinies shaped after hunger stalked the land. The Irish famine, after the failure of the potato crop from 1845-52, had reduced the population from 8 million to four million (two million deaths, two million emigrating).
The country was exhausted and harboring an abiding sense of grievance that London had not done enough to alleviate the suffering. Food was being exported as people starved. Ireland was actually part of Britain. How could, many people asked, the British Empire and Westminster allow such a catastrophe within its borders?
The great hunger stoked the fires of Irish nationalism. In Easter 1916, a group of rebels decided to take up arms. Poor communication meant that what was to be a national rebellion turned into a small-scale rising, mostly in Dublin. The rebels, of course, realized their dilemma but believed that a blood sacrifice would nourish future uprisings.
Initially, residents of the Irish capital were against the rebels, booing them as they were paraded by their British captors through the streets.
Then, a sea change. Many of the rebels were executed, evoking accusations of harsh justice. And fears were growing that conscription, under consideration by London but never actually introduced in Ireland, was going to result in thousands of young Irishmen losing their lives on the muddy fields of France. There was a feeling that Irish soldiers were being sacrificed to save English lives.
Now, more rebels took up arms from 1919-1922 in what we now call the War of Independence. The ensuing treaty, with London offering not full independence but autonomy, sparked a civil war from 1922 to 1923. Ireland then became divided. Ulster’s northeast, the Six Counties, was kept in the UK, and the province’s three remaining counties became part of the Free State and then the Republic.
A century later, the Cork summit. The last 30 years have seen the relationship blossom. Irish citizens and British subjects can visit and work without a visa. Cork’s favorite son, Roy Keane, was a football star in England. Mass attendance has declined in what was once a staunchly Catholic country, but Irish fans trek, almost religiously, from Galway, Limerick, and a host of other cities and towns to English football grounds every weekend.
During the twentieth century, Ireland produced four Nobel Prize winners for Literature (Shaw, Yeats, Beckett, Heaney), and a host of other acclaimed writers (Wilde, Synge, O’Casey, Joyce).
Irish literature of the twentieth century is essential reading for a broader appreciation of the English language.
The border with Northern Ireland is not marked, and every day thousands from both sides cross it to shop, visit friends, or even work. Property prices are lower in the North than in the South.
This cultural flowering did not come without cost. It took political vision and courage on both sides of the divide.
The decades of violence did take a toll. There is still mistrust. But there is also a sense of a shared future, and that hatred will not be passed on.
In these bleak days, it is difficult to envisage such a scenario in Russia. In both Britain and Ireland, there was a sense that the future should not be beholden to the past.
Britain and Ireland both want a constructive relationship and are determined not to let history dictate to them.
Russia wants to rewrite history to secure its dominance. Britain and Ireland grasped the future. Russia still lives in the past.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
