A ‘Triumph of Federalism’? The German Empire in Debates on Irish Home Rule before the First World War

Abstract

In March 1911, John Redmond published a newspaper article praising the German Empire as ‘the most convincing proof of the triumph of federalism’. While foreign and colonial analogies – ranging from Canada and the United States to Switzerland and Austria-Hungary – had been a regular feature in debates on Irish Home Rule since the 1870s, Redmond’s whole-hearted expression of admiration for constitutional arrangements in Imperial Germany came as a surprise to many contemporaries. Yet it bears witness to a renewed interest in German federalism among Irish nationalists following the granting of ‘Home Rule’ to Alsace-Lorraine in 1911, a development that generated regular comparisons with Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom during the Home Rule crisis of 1912-1914. By exploring the frequent and contested parallels drawn between Ireland (or in some cases Ulster) and Alsace-Lorraine by both unionists and nationalists during this period, this article not only highlights the ambiguities and complexities of Irish views of Germany on the eve of the First World War but also reveals the multiple ways in which the debate on Home Rule, and on federalism within the United Kingdom more generally, were influenced by wider European developments during this period of rising domestic and international tension.