Lectures for Leaving Cert students… and interested bystanders

Why was there an Easter Rising? Why did WWI come about?

History is an enormous subject. At UCD, students can take modules that assess the fall of the Roman Empire, track the rise of barbarian kingdoms or analyse the impact of UCD foreign policy in the 20th century. Agreements and conflicts, technological advances and ending eras along with births, deaths and marriages are all markers along the world’s timeline.

In the Lectures of Leaving Cert Students series, two UCD historians, Professor Michael Laffan and Dr William Mulligan, look at the circumstances that preceded two world-changing events at the beginning of the twentieth century – Ireland’s 1916 Rising, and World War I.

Professor Michael Laffan explores the national and international circumstances of Ireland before Easter Week, 1916. He looks at the reasons for the Rising from the perspectives of public opinion, popularity and democracy. Finally, Professor Laffan considers how one might now appraise the Rising, in 2009.

WWI was a seminal global catastrophe. Dr William Mulligan explores the complex origins of the conflict, which was the product of a series of international crises. He explores the roles of imperialism, European strategic alliances, rising military capability, the influence of public opinion on foreign policy and the impact of the global economic climate on policy and politics.