Who supported the land war - an aggregate-data analysis of irish agrarian discontent, 1879-1882

Abstract

Correlation and regression of aggregate data for Irish counties is used to investigate the social and economic environment of the Land League and the Land War between 1879 and 1882. Existing hypotheses are outlined, linked to some broader comparative propositions about the politics of agrarian societies, and assessed. Other propositions are derived from the evidence, mainly about the links between the Land War and particular agrarian strata, agricultural products, and political events. Questions are raised about some hypotheses which relate the Land War to structural changes in Irish society in the late nineteenth century.