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Anglo-Irish War

Anglo-Irish War

The Anglo-Irish War (also known as the Irish War of Independence) was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army under the proclaimed legitimacy of the First Dáil, the extra-legal Irish parliament created in 1918 by a majority of Irish MPs. It lasted from January 1919 until the truce in July 1921. The Irish Republican Army which fought in this conflict is often referred to as the Old IRA to distinguish it from later organisations that used the same name.

Origins

1921 To purist Irish Republicans, the Anglo-Irish war had begun with the Proclamation of the Irish Republic during the Easter Rising of 1916. Republicans argued that the conflict of 1919-21 (and indeed the subsequent Irish Civil War) was the defence of this Republic against attempts to destroy it. More directly, the Anglo-Irish War had its origins in the formation of an unilaterally declared independent Irish parliament, called Dáil Éireann, formed by the majority of MPs elected in Irish constituencies in the Irish (UK) general election, 1918. This parliament, known as the First Dáil, and its ministry, called the Aireacht, declared Irish independence. The IRA, as the 'army of the Irish Republic', was perceived by members of Dáil Éireann to have a mandate to wage war on the Dublin Castle British administration headed by the Lord Lieutenant running Ireland. On 21 January, IRA volunteers under Dan Breen, killed two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary when they refused to surrender a consignment of gelignite they were guarding, in Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. County Tipperary (fourth from left, front row) Eamon de Valera (centre, front row), W.T. Cosgrave (second from right, front row).]] This is widely regarded as the beginning of the War of Independence, although the men acted on their own initiative. Martial law was declared in South Tipperary three days later. On the same day as the shooting started, the First Dáil convened in the Mansion House in Dublin where it ratified the 1916 Proclamation of Independence, called for the evacuation of the British military garrison, and called on the "free nations of the world" to recognise Ireland's independence.

Violence Spreads

Volunteers began to attack British government property, carried out raids for arms and funds and targeted and killed prominent members of the British administration. The first was Resident Magistrate John Milling, who was shot dead in Westport, County Mayo, for having sent Volunteers to prison for unlawful assembly and drilling. They mimicked the successful tactics of the Boers, fast violent raids without uniform. Although some republican leaders, notably Éamon de Valera, favoured classic conventional warfare in order to legitimise the new republic in the eyes of the world, the more practically experienced Michael Collins and the broader IRA leadership opposed these tactics, which had led to the military débacle of 1916. The violence used was at first deeply unpopular with the broader Irish population, but most were won around when faced with the terror of the British government's campaign of widespread brutality, destruction of property, random arrests and unprovoked shootings. Events began slowly, but by 1920 widespread violence was the rule. In early 1920, Dublin dockers refused to handle any war matériel, and were soon joined by the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, despite hundreds of sackings. Train drivers were brought over from England after Irish drivers refused to carry British troops. In March 1920, the first man killed by the IRA for spying was found in West Limerick. In early April, 150 abandoned RIC barracks were burned to the ground to prevent them being used again, along with almost 100 income tax offices. Days later, prisoners in Mountjoy Jail begin a hunger strike for political status. The strikes led to large demonstrations in Dublin in support, followed by a one-day general strike. Due to a mix-up, all of the men were released (it was only intended to release those who had not been convicted). A joint patrol of RIC and Highland Light Infantry fired into an unarmed crowd in Miltown Malbay who were celebrating the men's release, killing three Volunteers and wounding nine others. The County Coroner found nine soldiers and policemen guilty of murder and served warrants on them, but no disciplinary action was taken. In September 1920, Resident Magistrate Lendrum was kidnapped at a level crossing near Doonbeg, County Clare, by the IRA. He was buried in sand up to his neck at a nearby beach and left for the incoming tide. Following this, and the death of six of their comrades in an ambush earlier in the day, the Black and Tans ran amok, killing six civilians in Miltown Malbay, Lahinch and Ennistymon, and burned twenty-six buildings, including the town halls in Lahinch and Ennistymon. In November, four IRA officers were captured by the Auxiliaries in Durris, County Cork. Only the intervention of a colonel of The King's Liverpool Regiment prevented the men from being summarily executed. This regiment was noted for its chivalry when compared with others, and this had saved the lives of some of its soldiers. The King's Liverpool Regiment (August-December 1921)]] Arthur Griffith estimated that in the first 18 months of the conflict, Crown forces carried out 38,720 raids on private homes, arrested 4,982 suspects, committed 1,604 armed assaults, sacked and shot up 102 towns and killed 77 unarmed republicans or other civilians. Griffith was responsible for setting up the "Dáil Courts", a legal system that operated in parallel with the British one, and eventually came to supersede it as the moral authority and territorial control of the IRA increased. The IRA's main target throughout the conflict was the mainly Catholic Irish police force, the RIC, which were seen by them as the British government's eyes and ears in Ireland. Its members and barracks (especially the more isolated ones) were vulnerable and they were a source of much-needed arms. They numbered 9,700 men, stationed in 1,500 barracks throughout Ireland. A policy of ostracism of RIC men was announced by the Dáil in April 1919. This proved successful in demoralising the force as the war went on, as people turned their faces more and more from a force increasingly compromised by association with government repression. The rate of resignation went up and recruitment dropped off dramatically. Often they were reduced to buying food at gunpoint as shops and other businesses refused to deal with them. Some RIC men cooperated with the IRA through fear or sympathy, supplying the organisation with valuable information. 165 RIC men were killed in the war, with 251 wounded.

Michael Collins and the IRA

Dáil Courts Michael Collins was the main driving force behind the independence movement. Nominally the Minister of Finance in the Republic's government, he was actively involved in providing funds and arms to the IRA units that needed them, and in the selection of officers. Collins' natural intelligence, organisational capability and sheer drive galvanised many who came in contact with him. He established what proved an effective network of spies among sympathetic members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police's (DMP) "G division" and other important branches of the British administration. The G division men were detested by the IRA as often they were used to identify volunteers who would have been unknown to British soldiers or the later Black and Tans. Collins set up the "Squad", a group of men whose sole duty was to seek out and kill "G-men", members of the DMP's relatively small political division active in subverting the republican movement, and other British spies and agents. Many G-men were offered a chance to resign or leave Ireland by the IRA, and some took these options. While the paper membership of the IRA, carried over from the Irish Volunteers was over 100,000 men, Michael Collins estimated that only 15,000 men actively served in the IRA during the course of the war, with about 3,000 on active service at any time. There were also support organisations for the IRA -Cumann na mBan (the women's group) and Fianna Eireann (youth movement), who carried weapons and intelligence for IRA men and secured food and lodgings for them. Fianna Eireann The IRA benefited from the widespread help given to them by the general Irish population, who generally refused to pass information to the RIC and the British military and who often provided "safe houses" and provisions to IRA units "on the run". Much of the IRA's popularity was due to the excessive reaction of the Crown forces to IRA activity. An unofficial government policy of reprisals began in September 1919 in Fermoy, County Cork, when 200 British soldiers looted and burned the main businesses of the town, after one of their number had been killed when he had refused to surrender his weapon to the local IRA. Actions such as these, repeated in Limerick and Balbriggan, increased local support for the IRA and international support for Irish independence. In April, after several IRA raids, the Inland Revenue ceased to operate in most of Ireland. People were encouraged to subscribe to Collins' National Loan, set up to raise funds for the young government and its army. Resident Magistrate Alan Bell, from Banagher, had been tasked by the British to track down the money. By the 26th of March 1920, he had successfully confiscated over £71,000 from Sinn Féin's HQ and, by investigating banks throughout the country, was set to seize much more. On that day he was pulled off a tram in south Dublin and shot three times in the head. By the end of the year the loan had reached £357,000. Rates were still paid to local councils, as these were controlled by Sinn Féin members, who naturally refused to pass them on to the British government. When Éamon de Valera returned from the United States, he demanded in the Dáil that the IRA desist from the ambushes and assassinations that were allowing the British to successfully portray it as a terrorist group, and to take on the British forces with conventional military methods. This unrealistic proposal was immediately shot down, but illustrated how many in the Sinn Féin leadership were out of touch with the nature of the conflict.

British Response

terrorist terrorist (1918-1921)]] The "Black and Tans" were set up to bolster the flagging RIC. 7,000 strong, they were mainly ex-British soldiers demobilised after World War I. Most came from English and Scottish cities. While officially they were part of the RIC, in reality they were a paramilitary organisation who left a reputation of murder, terror, drunkenness and ill-discipline that did more harm to the British government's moral authority in Ireland than any other group. Later came the Auxiliaries, 1,400 former British army officers. While easily matching the violence and terror offered civilians by the Black and Tans, the Auxiliary Division tended to be slightly more effective and willing to take on the IRA. The government policy of reprisals, which involved public denunciation or denial and private approval, was famously satirised by Lord Hugh Cecil when he said: "It seems to be agreed that there is no such thing as reprisals, but they are having a good effect." In January of 1921, all pretence was dropped and "official reprisals" began with the burning of seven houses in Midleton in Cork. One morning in November 1920, Collins' Squad executed 19 British intelligence agents (known as the "Cairo Gang") at different places around Dublin. In response, Auxilaries drove in trucks into Croke Park (Dublin's premier football ground) during a football match, shooting into the crowd at random. 14 unarmed people were killed and 65 wounded. Later that day two republican prisoners, and an unassociated friend who had been arrested with them, were "shot while trying to escape" in Dublin Castle. This day became known as Bloody Sunday. Today a stand in Croke Park is named the Hogan Stand, after a Tipperary player who was killed in the attack. Tipperary Outside of Dublin, County Cork was easily the scene of the bitterest fighting. Many of the tactics which soon became the standard for the Crown forces throughout Ireland began in Cork, such as the destruction of property in retaliation for IRA attacks, and the murder of prominent republicans. The centre of Cork was burnt out by Crown forces, who then prevented firefighters from tackling the blaze, in November 1919. In March 1920, Thomas Mac Curtain, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, was shot dead, in front of his wife at his home, by men with blackened faces who were later seen returning to the local police barracks. His successor, Terence MacSwiney, died on hunger strike in Brixton prison in London. The jury at the inquest into his death returned a verdict of wilful murder against David Lloyd George (the British Prime Minister) and District Inspector Swanzy, among others. Swanzy was later tracked down and killed in Lisburn, in County Antrim. Cork also saw the first "flying columns": mobile units of around 100 men, who could strike in devastating ambushes and melt into the countryside they knew far better than the British soldiers who were deployed to fight them. Some regiments of the British army had a reputation for killing unarmed prisoners. The Essex Regiment was one of these. In November 1920, only a week after Bloody Sunday in Dublin, the west Cork unit of the IRA, under Tom Barry, ambushed a patrol of Auxiliaries at Kilmicheal in county Cork, killing all 18 of them. It has been alleged that some of the Auxiliaries were killed after they had surrendered, though the IRA men were adamant there had been a false surrender, after which no quarter was given. This action marked a significant escalation of the conflict, with all of the province of Munster being put under martial law. martial law.
It was burned by the IRA in 1921, but subsequently rebuilt by the Irish Free State. ]] In August of 1920, the British suspended all coroners' courts, due to the large number of warrants served on members of the Crown forces. They were replaced with "military courts of enquiry". The following eight months until the Truce of July 1921 saw a spiralling of the death toll in the conflict, with 1000 people — 300 Police and Military and 700 civilians, including IRA volunteers — being killed in the months between January and July 1921 alone. In addition, 4,500 IRA personnel (or suspected sympathisers) were imprisoned in this time. Between the 15th and 17th of January 1921, British soldiers imposed a curfew in an area bounded by Capel St., Church St., North King St. and the quays in Dublin's inner city, sealing it off and allowing no-one in or out. They then conducted a house-to-house search, but no significant arrests or finds were made. At the end of January, the British army in Dublin started carrying republican prisoners in their trucks when on patrol, with signs saying "Bomb us now". This was discontinued when foreign journalists in the city reported it. They later covered the trucks with a mesh to prevent grenades entering the vehicles, to which the IRA responded by attaching hooks to what were then referred to as "Mills bombs", which would catch in the mesh. On the 1st of February, the first official execution of an IRA man takes place. Cornelius Murphy of Millstreet, Cork, is shot in Cork city. On the 28th, six more were executed, again in Cork. Twelve unarmed British soldiers were shot in the streets of Cork the following day in reprisal. On May 4th, the Kerry IRA left the body of an 80 year-old spy, Thomas Sullivan, they had killed at the side of the road near Rathmore, in order to lure the police. They successfully killed eight, with only one escapee from the RIC patrol. Five houses and a creamery were burned in reprisal. Four days later, again in Kerry, near Castleisland, two RIC men are shot on their way home from Mass. One is killed, but the other is saved when his wife covers him with her body. On the 10th, two constables disappear while out for a walk near Clonmany, County Donegal. The body of one washes up on the shore the next day. In May 1921, IRA units occupied and burned the Custom House in Dublin city centre. Symbolically, this was intended to show that British rule in Ireland was untenable. However, from a military point of view, it was a fiasco, which saw 5 IRA men killed and over eighty captured. This showed the IRA was not well enough equipped or trained to take on British forces in a conventional manner. By July 1921, most IRA units were chronically short of both weapons and ammunition. Also, for all their effectiveness at guerrilla warfare, they had, as Richard Mulcahy recalled, "been unable to drive the British out of anything bigger than a medium sized police barracks". By the time of the Truce, many Republican leaders, including Michael Collins, were convinced that if the war went on for much longer, there was a chance that the IRA as it was then organised could be defeated. Because of this, plans were drawn up to "bring the war to England". It was decided that key economic targets, such as the Liverpool docks, would be bombed. Nineteen warehouses there had been burned to the ground by the IRA the previous November. The units charged with these missions would more easily evade capture because England was not under, and British public opinion was unlikely to accept, martial law. These plans were abandoned because of the Truce.

The Propaganda War

martial law.]] martial law.]] Another feature of the war was the use of propaganda by both sides. The British tried to portray the IRA as anti-Protestant in order to encourage loyalism in Irish Protestants and win sympathy for their harsh tactics in Britain. For example, in their communiqués they would always mention the religion of spies or collaborators the IRA had killed if the victim was Protestant, but not if they were Catholic (which was more often), trying to give the impression, in Ireland and abroad, that the IRA were slaughtering Protestants. They encouraged newspaper editors, often forcefully, to do the same. In the summer of 1921 a series of articles appeared in a London magazine, entitled "Ireland under the New Terror, Living Under Martial Law". While purporting to be an impartial account of the situation in Ireland, it portrayed the IRA in a very unfavourable light when compared with the Crown forces. In reality the author, Ernest Dowdall, was an Auxiliary and the series was one of many articles planted by the Dublin Castle Propaganda Department (established in August 1920) to influence public opinion in a Britain increasingly dismayed at the behaviour of its security forces in Ireland. In February 1921, two Loyalists were shot dead by the IRA in Enniskeane in Cork, after being suspected of the killings of the Coffey brothers, local IRA men. Both of the Loyalists had been members of the local Anti-Sinn Féin Society. The Catholic hierarchy was critical of the violence of both sides, but especially that of the IRA, continuing a long tradition of condemning militant republicanism. The Bishop of Kilmore, Dr. Finnegan, said: "Any war...to be just and lawful must be backed by a well grounded hope of success. What hope of success have you against the mighty forces of the British Empire? None...none whatever and if it unlawful as it is, every life taken in pursuance of it is murder." The Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Gilmartin, issued a letter saying that IRA men who took part in ambushes "have broken the truce of God, they have incurred the guilt of murder." However in May 1921, Pope Benedict XV dismayed the British government when he issued a letter that encouraged the "English as well as Irish to calmly consider...some means of agreement", as they had been pushing for a condemnation of the rebellion. They declared that his comments "put HMG (His Majesty's Government) and the Irish murder gang on a footing of equality". In September 1920 a law clerk named John Lynch was murdered in his hotel bed. It was a mystery to most why he should have been killed, but the Propaganda Department successfully deflected journalists' attention from the fact that he was working on the cases of IRA men charged with killing policemen at the time. Desmond FitzGerald and Erskine Childers were active in producing the "Irish Bulletin", which detailed government atrocities Irish and British newspapers were unwilling or unable to cover. It was printed secretly and distributed throughout Ireland, as well as to international press agencies and American, European and sympathetic British politicians.

The Truce — an uneasy peace

European The war ended in a Truce on July 11 1921, in some respects, the conflict was at a stalemate. Talks that had looked promising the previous year had petered out in December when Lloyd George insisted that the IRA first surrender their arms. Fresh talks, after the Prime Minister had come under pressure from Herbert Henry Asquith and the Liberal opposition, the Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress, resumed in the spring and resulted in the Truce. From the point of view of the British government, it appeared as if the IRA's guerrilla campaign would continue indefinitely, with spiralling costs in casualties and in money. More importantly, the British government was facing severe criticism at home and abroad for the actions of Crown forces in Ireland. On the other side, IRA leaders and in particular Michael Collins, felt that the IRA as it was then organised could not continue for long. It had been hard pressed by the deployment of more regular British soldiers into Ireland and by the lack of arms and ammunition. The initial breakthrough that led to the truce was credited to three people: King George V, General Jan Smuts of South Africa and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. The King, who had made his unhappiness at the behaviour of the Black and Tans in Ireland well known to His government, was unhappy at being asked to open the new Parliament of Northern Ireland created through the partition of Ireland. Smuts, a close friend of the King, suggested to him that the opportunity should be used to make an appeal for peace in Ireland. The King asked him to draft his ideas on paper. Smuts gave them to the King and supplied a copy to Lloyd George. Lloyd George then invited Smuts to attend a British cabinet meeting where he was asked to comment on the "interesting" proposals Lloyd George had received, without either man informing ministers that Smuts had been their author. Faced with the endorsement of them by Smuts, the King and the Prime Minister, ministers reluctantly agreed to the King's planned 'reconciliation in Ireland' speech. Parliament of Northern Ireland The speech, when delivered, had a massive impact. Seizing the momentum Lloyd George then issued an appeal for talks to Éamon de Valera in July 1921. The Irish, unaware of the extent to which the speech did not fully represent the views of all the British government, but was to a significant degree a 'peace move' engineered by the King, Smuts and Lloyd George, reluctantly consented to in cabinet, responded by agreeing to talks. De Valera and Lloyd George ultimately agreed a truce that was intended to end the fighting and lay the ground for detailed negotiations. These were delayed for some months as the British government insisted that the IRA first decommission its weapons, but this demand was eventually dropped. It was agreed that British troops would remain confined to their barracks. Most IRA officers on the ground interpreted the Truce merely as a temporary respite and continued recruiting volunteers and raiding the RIC and British army barracks for arms. The continuing militancy of many IRA leaders was one of the main factors in the outbreak of the Irish Civil War as they refused to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith negotiated with the British.

The Treaty

Ultimately, the peace talks led to the negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), which was then ratified in triplicate: by Dáil Éireann in December 1921 (so giving it legal legitimacy under the governmental system of the Irish Republic), by the House of Commons of Southern Ireland in January 1922, so giving it constitutional legitimacy according to British theory of who was the legal government in Ireland), and by both Houses of the British parliament. House of Commons of Southern Ireland, August 1922.]] The Treaty allowed Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, to opt out of the Free State if it wished, which it duly did under the procedures laid down. As agreed, an Irish Boundary Commission was then created to decide on the precise location of the border of the Free State and Northern Ireland. The Irish negotiators understood that the Commission would redraw the border according to local nationalist or unionist majorities. Since the 1920 local elections in Ireland had resulted in outright nationalist majorities in County Fermanagh, County Tyrone, the City of Derry and in many District Electoral Divisions of County Armagh and County Londonderry (all north of the "interim" border), this might well have left Northern Ireland unviable. However, the Commission chose to leave the border unchanged, A new system of government was created for the new Irish Free State, though for the first year two governments co-existed; an Aireacht answerable to the Dáil and headed by President Griffith, and a Provisional Government nominally answerable to the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and appointed by the Lord Lieutenant. (The complexity of this was even shown in the matter by which Lord FitzAlan appointed Collins as head of the Provisional Government. In British theory, they met to allow Collins to "Kiss Hands". In Irish theory, they met to allow Collins take the surrender of Dublin Castle.) Kiss Hands Most of the Irish independence movement's leaders were willing to accept this compromise, at least for the time being, though many militant Republicans were not. A minority of those involved in the War of Independence, led by resigned president Eamon de Valera, refused to accept the Treaty and started an insurrection against the new Free State government, which it accused of betraying the ideal of the Irish Republic. The subsequent Irish Civil War lasted until mid-1923 and cost of the lives of some of the leaders of the independence movement, notably President Arthur Griffith, the head of the Provisional Government Michael Collins, ex minister Cathal Brugha, as well as anti-Treaty republicans Harry Boland and Rory O'Connor. Following the deaths of Griffith and Collins, W.T. Cosgrave became head of government. On 6 December 1922, following the coming into legal existence of the Irish Free State, Cosgrave became President of the Executive Council, the first internationally recognised head of an independent Irish government. The war ended in mid-1923 in defeat for the anti-treaty side. Later in his life, as President of Ireland, when asked what had been his biggest political mistake, Éamon de Valera said "not accepting the Treaty". A memorial called the Garden of Remembrance was erected in Dublin in 1966, the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising. The date of signing of the truce is commemorated by the National Day of Commemoration, when all those Irish men and women who fought in wars in whatever armies are commemorated.

Additional reading

- Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins
- F.S.L. Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine
- Dorothy MacCardle, The Irish Republic (Corgi paperback)
- Lord Longford, Peace by Ordeal
- Michael Hopkinson, The Irish War of Independence (Gill & Macmillan, 2002)

External links

- [http://webpages.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist Chronology of Irish History 1919 - 1923] Category:Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921) Category:Guerrilla wars

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

:This article is about the historical state called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1927). For information about its modern successor states, see the main articles: United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. :For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was created on 1 January 1801 by the merger of the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a merger of the former Kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707) and the Kingdom of Ireland. It ended upon Irish independence in 1922 when the Anglo-Irish Treaty created the Irish Free State.
Origins
Irish Free State The merger followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the crisis over the mental health of King George III, given that both separate kingdoms could in theory appoint different regents. The union was enacted by means of the Act of Union, passed by both the Irish Parliament and the British Parliament. The British government controversally awarded gifts of titles, land and money to Irish Members of Parliament to encourage their support for the merger, since most of them had previously been against union. Some saw this as offering compensation for the loss of status through loss of seats that this would bring (many of the seats represented rotten boroughs and were seen as the "property" of families and of financial benefit). Most outside the Irish parliament, and most historians subsequently, saw it as blatent bribery to achieve something that could not be achieved by normal means.
The Deal
Under the terms of the merger, the Irish Parliament was abolished, and Ireland was to be represented in the united parliament, meeting in the Palace of Westminster. Part of the trade-off for Irish Catholics was to be the granting of Catholic Emancipation, which had been fiercely resisted by the all-Anglican Irish Parliament. However, this was blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath. Whilst the Irish Free State became independent in 1922, after the Anglo-Irish War, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland continued in name until 1927 when it was renamed as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in accordance with the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927.
The new United Kingdom
Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 The Act of Union was initially seen favourably in Ireland, given that the old Irish parliament was seen as hostile to the majority Catholic population, some of whose members had only been given the vote as late as 1794 and who were legally debarred from election to the body. The Roman Catholic hierarchy endorsed the Union. However King George III's decision to block Catholic Emancipation fatally undermined the appeal of the Union. Leaders like Henry Grattan who sat in the new parliament, having been leading members of the old one, were bitterly critical. The eventual achievement of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, following a campaign by Daniel O'Connell, who had won election to Westminster and who could not for religious beliefs take the Oath of Supremacy, removed the main negative that had undermined the appeal of the old parliament, the exclusion of Catholics. From 1829 on a demand grew again for a native Irish parliament separate from Westminster. However, his campaign to repeal the Act of Union ultimately failed. Later leaders, such as Charles Stewart Parnell, campaigned for a version of Irish self-government called Home Rule within the United Kingdom, which was nearly achieved in the 1880s under the (British) ministry of William Ewart Gladstone. However, the measure was defeated in Parliament, and following the ascension of the Conservatives to the majority, the issue was buried as long as that party was in power. The constant delaying of Home Rule created the frustration that eventually led to political violence and independence. In 1919, Sinn Féin MPs elected to Westminster formed a unilaterally independent Irish parliament in Dublin, Dáil Éireann with an executive under the President of Dáil Éireann, Éamon de Valera. A War of Independence was fought between 1919 and 1921. Finally in December 1922, twenty-six of Ireland's counties seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and formed the independent Irish Free State. Six counties, called Northern Ireland, remained in the United Kingdom, which was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.
Legacy
Dispite having complete political independence from each other since 1922, the union left the two countries intertwinded with each other in many respects. Due to ongoing disputes, people in Northern Ireland now have de facto dual nationality. They can apply for and travel under either Irish or British passports. Ireland used the Irish Pound from 1928 until 1997 when it was replaced by the Euro. Until it joined the ERM in 1979, the Irish pound was directly linked to the Pound Sterling. Decimalisation of both currencies occurred simultaneously on Decimal Day in 1971. Coins of equivalent value had the same dimensions and size until the introduction of the British Twenty Pence coin in 1982.
List of monarchs
1982 Though the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland effectively came to an end in 1922, the monarch continued to use the title of King or Queen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1927. Then, under the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, new titles were introduced for the British monarch so that he would reign as 'King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland', in Britain, and 'King of Ireland', in Ireland.
- George III (1801—1820)
- George IV (1820—1830)
- William IV (1830—1837)
- Victoria (1837—1901)
- Edward VII (1901—1910)
- George V (1910—1922/1927)
See also

- History of Ireland (1801-1922)
- History of the United Kingdom
External links

- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk British History Online] Great Britain, United Kingdom of Category:History of the United Kingdom Category:History of Ireland 1801-1922 ja:グレートブリテンおよびアイルランド連合王国

Irish Republican Army

:This article primarily deals with the army of the Irish Republic as it existed up to 1922. For Irish paramilitary organisations after 1922 that use or have used the name Irish Republican Army see Irish Republican Army (1922-1969), Official Irish Republican Army (1969- ), Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969- ), Continuity Irish Republican Army (1986- ), and Real Irish Republican Army (1997- ). Real Irish Republican Army The name Irish Republican Army has been used to refer to several Irish republican paramilitary organisations. The earliest of these was recognised by the First Dáil as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic, as proclaimed in the Easter Rising in 1916 and reaffirmed by the Dáil in January 1919. Though a series of organisations later claimed to be a continuation of the IRA from the 1920s to today, most Irish people disagree with these claims. After the signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, members of the IRA who supported the Treaty formed the nucleus of the National Army founded by IRA leader Michael Collins in 1922. While the anti-Treaty IRA continued to exist after its defeat in the Irish Civil War, by the late 1930s it had lost most of the legitimacy with which most supporters of the Republican side initially regarded it. A small minority of Irish people accepts later claimants to the name as the political heirs of the original Irish Republican Army. To distinguish between the army of the Irish Republic, and later claimants to the name, the former is often called the Old IRA.

Origins

Physical force Irish republicanism had a long history, from the Ribbonmen of the late 18th century to the 1798 and 1803 rebellions, the Young Irelander rebellion of 1848 and the Irish Republican Brotherhood of 1865. One of the key leaders of the IRB was Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. His funeral in 1915 became a major national event and brought together many of the key leaders of early 20th century nationalism, from Padraig Pearse to Michael Collins. The acronym IRA was first used by the IRB organization in America (also known as the Fenian Brotherhood). This "Irish Republican Army" of the 1860s comprised the American Fenians' paramilitary forces, organized into a number of regiments. Fenian soldiers wearing IRA insignia fought at the Battle of Ridgeway (June 2, 1866). However the term Irish Republican Army in its modern sense was first used in the second decade of the 20th century from the merger of the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizens Army after the Easter Rising.

Political background

The Government of Ireland Act 1914, more generally known as the Third Home Rule Act, was an Act of Parliament passed by the British Parliament in May 1914 which sought to give Ireland regional self-government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Although it received the Royal Assent in September 1914, its implementation was postponed until after the First World War (at that stage expected to last only a matter of months). However the outbreak of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the unexpected electoral success of Sinn Féin in the 1918 general election made implementation of the Act moot. It was never implemented but was eventually replaced by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which was to give Home Rule separately to six counties in the northeast (Northern Ireland) and to the remaining twenty-six counties (the so-called "Southern Ireland").

Easter Rising

Southern Ireland outside the GPO in 1916.]] Southern Ireland For what was initially a minority of nationalists, the home rule conceded was judged to be too little, too late. In the Easter Rising of 1916, these nationalists staged a rebellion against British rule in Dublin and in some other isolated areas. Weapons had been supplied by Germany, under the auspices of a leading human rights campaigner, Sir Roger Casement. However the plot had been discovered and the weapons were lost when the ship carrying them, the Aud, was scuttled rather than allow the arms to fall into British hands. The rebellion was largely centered on Dublin. The leaders seized the General Post Office (GPO), raising a green flag bearing the legend 'Irish Republic', and proclaiming independence for Ireland, though ironically some republicans in the GPO talked of making Prince Joachim of Prussia the King of Ireland if Germany won the First World War. Although many Irish people today believe that the Rising and its leaders had public support, in reality there were calls for the execution of the ringleaders coming from the major Irish nationalist daily newspaper, the 'Irish Independent' and local authorities. Dubliners not only cooperated with the British troops sent to quell the uprising, but undermined the Republicans as well. Many people spat and threw stones at them as they were marched towards the transport ships that would take them to the Welsh internment camps. However, public opinion gradually shifted, initially over the summary executions of 16 senior leaders—some of whom, such as James Connolly, were too ill to stand—and of other people thought complicit in the rebellion. As one observer described, "the drawn-out process of executing the leaders of the rising... it was like watching blood seep from behind a closed door." Opinion shifted even more in favor of the Republicans in 1917-18 with the Conscription Crisis, when Britain tried to impose conscription on Ireland to bolster its flagging war effort. A small monarchist Irish party, Sinn Féin was widely, but wrongly, credited with orchestrating the Easter Rising, although the group was advocating less-than-full independence at the time. The party's founder and leader, Arthur Griffith, was campaigning for a dual monarchy with Britain, a return to the status quo of the Constitution of 1782, enacted by the Irish Parliament under Henry Grattan's Parliament. The Republican survivors of the Rising, under Eamon de Valera, infiltrated and took over Sinn Féin, leading to a crisis of goals in 1917. In a compromise agreed to at its Ard Fhéis (party conference) Sinn Féin agreed to initially campaign for a republic. Having established one, it would let the electorate decide on whether to have a monarchy or republic; however, if they chose a monarchy, no member of the British House of Windsor was to be eligible for the Irish throne. House of Windsor From 1916 to 1918, the two dominant nationalist movements, Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary Party fought a tough series of battles in by-elections. Neither won a decisive victory; however, the Conscription Crisis tipped the balance in favor of Sinn Féin. The party went on to win a clear majority of seats in the 1918 general election : of the 73 seats in which Sinn Féin were elected, 25 were uncontested.

The emergence of the IRA after the Easter Rising

The first steps towards reorganizing the defeated Irish Volunteers was taken in 27 October 1917 when a convention took place in Dublin. This convention, which subsequently became known as a IRA convention, was called to coincide with the Sinn Féin ard fheis. Nearly 250 people attended the convention; internment prevented many more from attending. In fact, the Royal Irish Constabulary estimated that 162 companies of volunteers were active in the country, although other sources suggest a higher figure of 390. The proceedings were presided over by Eamon de Valera, who had been elected President of Sinn Féin the previous day. Also on the platform was Cathal Brugha and many others who were prominent in the reorganising of the Volunteers in the previous few months, many of them ex-prisoners. De Valera was elected president. A national executive was also elected, composed of provincial representatives (including Dublin). In addition, a number of directors were elected to head the various IRA departments. Those elected were: Michael Collins (Director for Organisation); Diarmuid Lynch (Director for Communications); Michael Staines (Director for Supply); Rory O'Connor (Director of Engineering). Seán McGarry was voted General Secretary, while Cathal Brugha was made Chairman of the Resident Executive, which in effect made him Chief of Staff. The other elected members were: M. W. O'Reilly (Dublin); Austin Stack (Kerry); Con Collins (Limerick); Seán MacEntee (Belfast); Joe O'Doherty (Donegal); Paul Galligan (Cavan); Eoin O'Duffy (Monaghan); Seamus Doyle (Wexford); Peadar Bracken (Offaly); Larry Lardner (Galway); Dick Walsh (Mayo) and another member from Connacht. There were six co-options to make-up the full number when the directors were named from within their ranks. The six were all Dublin men: Eamonn Duggan; Gearóid O'Sullivan; Fintan Murphy; Diarmuid O'Hegarty; Dick McKee and Paddy Ryan. Of the 26 elected, six were also members of the Sinn Féin National Executive, with Eamonn de Valera president of both. Eleven of the 26 were elected Teachta Dála in the 1918 general election and 13 in the May 1921 election.

Dáil Éireann

Sinn Féin MPs elected in 1918 fulfilled their election promise not to take their seats in Westminster but instead set up an independent 'Assembly of Ireland', or 'Dáil Éireann', in Gaelic. On January 21st, 1919, this new, unofficial parliament assembled in the Mansion House in Dublin. As its first acts, the Dáil elected a prime minister (Priomh Aire), Cathal Brugha, and inaugurated a ministry called the Aireacht.

The battle for control of the IRA

Aireacht The new leadership of the Irish Republic worried that the IRA would not accept its authority, given that the Volunteers, under their own constitution, was bound to obey their own executive and no under body. The fear was increased when, on the very day the new national parliament was meeting, 21 January 1919 the IRA, acting on their own initiative, killed two Royal Irish Constabulary constables (James McDonnell and Patrick O'Connell) by Seán Tracy and Dan Breen while the South Tipperary IRA volunteer unit were seizing a quantity of gelignite. Technically, the men involved were considered to be in a serious breach of IRA discipline and were liable to be court-martialled, but it was considered more politically expedient to hold them up as examples of a rejuvenated militarism. The conflict soon escalated into guerrilla warfare by what were then known as the Flying Columns in remote areas. Attacks on remote Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks continued throughout 1919 and 1920, forcing the police to consolidate defensively in the larger towns, effectively placing large areas of the countryside in the hands of the Republicans. Royal Irish Constabulary helped redefine the relationship between the Aireacht and the IRA.]] Moves to make the IRA the army of the Dáil and not its rival had begun before the January attack, and were stepped up. On 31 January the IRA organ, An t-Óglách published a list of principles agreed between two representatives of the Áireacht, acting Príomh Aire Cathal Brugha and Richard Mulcahy and the Executive. It made first mention of the organisation treating "the armed forces of the enemy — whether soldiers or policemen — exactly as a national army would treat the members of an invading army". An article in An tÓglách stated that "The Irish Government claims the same power and authority as any other lawfully constituted Government; it sanctions the employment by the Irish Volunteers of the most drastic measures against the enemies of Ireland . . . England must be given the choice of evacuating the country or holding it by foreign garrison, with a perpetual state of war in existence." In the statement the new relationship between the Aireacht and the IRA was defined clearly.
- The Government was defined as possessing the same power and authority as a normal government.
- It, and not the IRA, sanctions the IRA campaign;
- It explicitly spoke of a state of war.

The Oath to the Irish Republic

Richard Mulcahy As part of the ongoing strategy to take control of the IRA, Brugha proposed to Dáil Éireann on 20 August 1919 that the Volunteers were to be asked, at this next convention, to swear allegiance to the Dáil. He further proposed that members of the Dáil themselves should swear the same oath. On the 25 August Collins wrote to the Príomh Aire, Eamon de Valera, to inform him "the Volunteer affair is now fixed". However, a power stuggle continued between Brugha and Collins, both cabinet ministers, over who had the greater influence. Brugha was nominally the superior as Minister for Defence, but Collins's powerbase came from his position as Director of Organisation of the IRA and as his key powerbase as a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB. De Valera too resented Collins's clear power and influence, which he saw as coming from the secretive IRB than from his position as a Teachta Dála (TD) and minister in the Aireacht.

The full scale war

The Irish War of Independence was a brutal and bloody affair, with violence and acts of extreme brutality on both sides. The British sent hundreds of World War I veterans to assist the RIC. The veterans at first wore a combination of black police uniforms and tan army uniforms (because of shortages), which, according to one etymology, inspired the nickname Black and Tans. The brutality of the 'Black and Tans' is now legendary, although the most excessive repression attributed to the Crown's forces was often that of the Auxiliary Division of the Constabulary. One of the strongest critics of the Black and Tans was King George V of the United Kingdom. When the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney lay dying on hunger strike the King personally intervened to try to get MacSwiney's release from gaol. hunger strike Other critics of British policy included Sir Samuel Hoare, a future British cabinet minister, who said :If what is now going on in the Austrian Empire, all England would be ringing with denunciation of the tyranny of the Hapsburgs and of denying people the right to rule themselves. The IRA was also involved in the destruction of many stately homes in Munster. These belonged to prominent Loyalists who were aiding the Crown forces, and were burnt to discourage the British policy of destroying the homes of Republicans, suspected and actual. Many historic buildings in Ireland were destroyed during the war, most famously the Custom House in Dublin, which was disastrously attacked on de Valera's insistence, to the horror of the more militarily experienced Collins. As he feared, the destruction proved a pyrrhic victory for the Republic, with so many IRA men killed or captured that the IRA in Dublin was almost wiped out overnight. This was also a period of social upheaval in Ireland, with frequent strikes as well as other manifestations of class conflict. In this regard, the IRA acted to a large degree as an agent of social control and stability, driven by the need to preserve cross-class unity in the national struggle , and on occasion being used to break strikes . By June 1921, Collins's assessment was that the IRA was within weeks, possibly even days, of collapse, with few weapons left. However events took an unusual turn which astonished him.

The King's Speech

David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister at the time, found himself under increasing pressure (both international and from within Britain) to try to salvage something from the situation. This was a complete reversal of his earlier position. He had consistently referred to the IRA as a "murder gang" up until then. An unexpected olive branch came from King George V, who, supported by South African statesman General Jan Smuts, managed to get the British government to accept a radical re-draft of his proposed speech to the Northern Ireland parliament, meeting in Belfast City Hall in June 1921. The King had often protested about the methods employed by Crown forces to Lloyd George.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty

Belfast The speech, which called for reconciliation on all sides, changed the mood and enabled the British and Irish Republican governments to agree a truce. Negotiations on an Anglo-Irish Treaty took place in late 1921 in London. The Irish delegation was led by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, as de Valera — now 'President of the Republic' — insisted that as head of state he could not attend, as King George was not leading the British delegation. Under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, Ireland was partitioned, creating Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. Under the terms of the Anglo-Irish agreement of 6 December 1921, which ended the war (1919-1921), Northern Ireland was given the option of withdrawing from the new state, the Irish Free State, and remaining part of the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland parliament chose to do so. An Irish Boundary Commission was then set up to review the border. Irish leaders expected that it would so reduce Northern Ireland's size, by transferring nationalist areas to the Irish Free State, as to make it economically unviable. Contrary to myth, partition was important but not the key breaking point between pro and anti-Treaty campaigners; both sides expected the Boundary Commission to emasculate Northern Ireland.

The IRA and the Treaty

The IRA leadership was deeply divided over the decision by the Dáil to ratify the Treaty. Of the General Headquarters (GHQ) staff, nine members were in favour of the Treaty while four opposed it.
- Pro-Treaty were Richard Mulcahy (Chief of Staff); Eoin O'Duffy (Deputy Chief of Staff); J.J. O'Connell (Assistant Chief of Staff); Gearóid O'Sullivan (Adjutant General); Sean McMahon (Quartermaster General); Michael Collins (Director of Intelligence); Diarmuid O'Hegarty (Director of Organisation); Emmet Dalton (Director of Training); Piaras Beaslai (Director of Publicity).
- Anti- Treaty were Rory O'Connor (Director of Engineering); Liam Mellows (Director of Purchases); Seán Russell (Director of Munitions) and Seamus O'Donovan (Director of Chemicals). Austin Stack, whose position on the GHQ staff was ambiguous after Brugha tried to foist him on GHQ, was also anti-Treaty. On 10 January, at least three anti-Treaty members of the IRA GHQ (one account claims four); six divisional commanders and the officers commanding of the two Dublin brigades meet to formulate their anti-Treaty strategy. They argued that the IRA's allegiance was to the Dáil of the Irish Republic and the decision of the Dáil to accept the Treaty meant that the IRA no longer owed that body its allegiance. They called for the IRA to withdraw from the authority of the Dáil and to entrust the IRA Executive with control over the army. The following day, this group issued Mulcahy with a letter requesting that an Army Convention be held on 5 February to discuss these proposals. The letter is signed by GHQ staff Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellows, Seán Russell, and Seamus O’Donovan, as well as Oscar Traynor, Liam Lynch and other IRA commandants. On 13 January, Mulcahy replied to the anti-Treaty IRA officers to state that he would not call a convention without the authority of Dáil Eireann as the Government of the Republic. On same day, Rory O’Connor wrote to Eoin O’Duffy stating that a convention would be called regardless. O'Connor added that O’Duffy’s orders would only be obeyed by the anti-Treaty section provided they were countersigned by himself. On 16 January, the first IRA division – the 2nd Southern Division – repudiated the authority of the GHQ. On 18 January, Richard Mulcahy chaired a meeting of the GHQ Staff, divisional commandants and some brigade commandants. It agreed to hold an Army Convention within two months and that, in a meantime, a 'watchdog' committee would be set up with representatives from both sides. This committee did not meet often, however. A month later, on 18 February, Liam Forde, O/C of the IRA Mid-Limerick Brigade, issued a proclamation stating that: "We no longer recognise the authority of the present head of the army, and renew our allegiance to the existing Irish Republic". This was the first unit of the IRA to break with the pro-Treaty government. On 24 February, the 'watchdog' committee established a month earlier met. Rory O'Connor requested Mulcahy to secure Dáil approval to hold an army convention on 26th March. Three days later on 27 February, the Dáil Cabinet sanctioned the Minister of Defence's request to hold an Army Convention. This decision was duly announced by IRA chief of staff, Eoin O’Duffy, who requested brigade conventions to assemble to elect delegates. On 5 March, a stand-off developed between pro- and anti-IRA forces in Limerick over who would take control of a military barracks vacated by the departing British troops. A compromise was reached around the 12/13 March. Clearly concerned at developments in Ireland, and in Limerick in particular, on 14 March Winston Churchill wrote to Michael Collins, warning him that: "An adverse decision by the convention of the Irish Republican Army (so called) would, however, be a very grave event at the present juncture. I presume you are quite sure there is no danger of this". The following day, 15 March, the Dáil cabinet decided to prohibit the holding of the Army Convention scheduled to take place on 26 March. Amateur historian Dorothy Macardle claims that the banning of the convention arose because "Mulcahy realised that 70 to 80 per cent of the IRA was against the Treaty and he feared that the Convention could have been used to establish a military dictatorship". However, issuing a summons under the title Republican Military Council, 50 IRA senior officers including 4 GHQ staff, 5 divisional commanders and a number of brigade commandants, decided to go ahead with Convention. On 22 March, Rory O'Connor holds what was to become an infamous press conference at the headquarters of the republican party (Cumann na Poblachta) in Suffolk Street, Dublin. He declares that the army is "in a dilemma, having the choice of supporting its oath to the Republic or still giving allegiance to the Dáil, which, it considers, has abandoned the Republic. The contention of the army", he says, "is that the Dáil did a thing that it had no right to do." When asked if he would obey President Arthur Griffith, he said he would not as he had violated his oath. When asked if the army would forcibly prevent an election being held, O'Connor stated: "It will have the power to do so." He went on to say that "the holding of the Convention means that we repudiate the Dáil … We will set up an Executive which will issue orders to the IRA all over the country." In reply to the question on whether it can be taken that we are going to have a military dictatorship, O’Connor said: "You can take it that way if you like." On 23 March, Richard Mulcahy (Minister of Defence), in a letter to General O'Duffy, orders the suspension of any officer or man who takes part in the "sectional" Convention. On 26 March, a Convention of (predominantly) anti-Treaty delegates met in the Mansion House, Dublin with between 220 and 223 delegates present. The convention past a resolution saying that the Army "shall be maintained as the Army of the Irish Republic under an Executive appointed by the Convention". A temporary Executive of 16 members was elected headed by Liam Lynch and including Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellows and Ernie O’Malley. The convention adjourns until 9 April. On 28 March, the (anti-Treaty) IRA Executive issued statement stating that Minister of Defence (Mulcahy) and the Chief-of-Staff (O’Duffy) no longer exercised any control over the IRA. In addition, it ordered an end to the recruitment to the new military and police forces of the Provisional Government. Furthermore, it instructed all IRA units to reaffirm their allegiance to the Irish Republic on 2 April. On 9 April, the (anti-Treaty) Army Convention reconvened in Dublin. It adopted a new constitution and elected a new 16-member Executive composed the following members: Liam Lynch (Cork), Frank Barrett (Clare), Liam Deasy (Cork), Tom Hales (Cork), Tom Maguire (Mayo), Joseph McKelvey (Tyrone), Liam Mellows (Galway), Rory O'Connor (Dublin?), Peadar O'Donnell (Donegal), Florrie O'Donoghue (Cork), Sean O'Hegarty (Cork), Ernie O'Malley (Dublin), Seamus Robinson (Tipperary), Joe O'Connor (?), Sean Moylan (Cork), and P.J. Ruttledge (Mayo). When the Executive met, it elected Liam Lynch as new IRA chief of staff, Ernie O'Malley as assistant chief of staff, and appointed a seven-member Army Council. Barry's Hotel in Gardiner Row was made (anti-Treaty) IRA headquarters. The pro-treaty IRA soon became the nucleus of the new (regular) Irish National Army created by Collins and Richard Mulcahy. British pressure, and tensions between the pro- and anti-Treaty factions of the IRA, led to a bloody civil war, ending in the defeat of the anti-Treaty faction. On May 24, 1923 Frank Aiken, the (anti-treaty) IRA chief-of-staff, called a cease-fire. Many left political activity altogether, but a minority continued to insist that the new Irish Free State, created by the "illegitimate" Treaty, was an illegimate state. They asserted that their "IRA Army Executive" was the real government of a still-existing Irish Republic. Subsequent organisations that have used the name claim lineage from that group, which is covered in full at Irish Republican Army (1922-1969). For information on later organisations using the name Irish Republican Army, see the table below. For a genealogy of organisations using the name IRA after 1922, see List of IRAs

Footnotes

# Dorothy MacCardle, The Irish Republic (Corgi, 1968) p.267. # ibid p.269. # ibid p.269. # ibid p.282. # ibid. p.293. #The Church of Ireland Gazette recorded numerous instances of Unionists and Loyalists being shot, burnt or forced from their homes during the early 1920s. In Co Cork between 1920 and 1923 the IRA shot over 200 civilians of whom over 70 (or 36%) were Protestants: five times the percentage of Protestants in the civilian population. This was due to the historical inclination of Protestants towards loyalty to Britain. A convention of Irish Protestant Churches in Dublin in May 1922 signed a resolution placing "on record" that "hostility to Protestants by reason of their religion has been almost, if not wholly, unknown in the twenty-six counties in which Protestants are in the minority." #"The Politics of Illusion: Republicanism and Socialism in Modern Ireland", Henry Patterson, Hutchinson Radius, 1989: pp. 14-15 ISBN 0091741394 # Communism in Modern Ireland: The Pursuit of the Workers' Republic since 1916, Mike Milotte, Dublin, 1984, pp. 56-57 #Jan Smuts was one of the best Boer commanders of the Second Boer War. In 1914 at the start of World War I the Boer "bitter enders" rose against the government in the Boer Revolt and allied themselves with their old supporter Germany. General Smuts played an important part in crushing the rebellion. The South African establishment, of which Smuts was a part, in contrast to the British establishment in 1916, was lenient to the leaders of the revolt, who were fined and spent two years in prison. After this revolt and lenient treatment the "bitter enders" contented themselves with working within the system. It was his experience of the Boer British rapprochement which he was able to bring to the attention of the British government as an alternative to confrontation.

Sources

- Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins (Hutchinson, 1990) ISBN 0091741068
- Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles (Arrow, 1995, 1996) ISBN 1357108642
- F.S.L. Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine
- Dorothy MacCardle, The Irish Republic (Corgi, 1968) ISBN 55207862X
- Aengus Ó Snodaigh, [http://republican-news.org/archive/2000/May11/11hist.html IRA Convention meets], An Phoblacht/Republican News, 11 May 2000.
- Seamus Fox, [http://webpages.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/index.htm Chronology of Irish History 1919-1923].

External links

- [http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/mil/html/mh_025100_irishrepubli.htm Reader's Companion to Military History - Irish Republican Army (IRA)]
- Category:National liberation movements ja:IRA

First Dáil

The First Dáil (Irish: An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann". The establishment of the First Dáil occurred on the same day as the outbreak of the Anglo-Irish War. After elections in 1921 the First Dáil was succeeded by the Second Dáil of 1921–1922. 1922, Cathal Brugha, Arthur Griffith, Eamon de Valera, Count Plunkett, Eoin MacNeill, W.T. Cosgrave, Kevin O'Higgins (third row, right)]]

General election of 1918

Main article: 1918 general election in Ireland In 1918 the whole of Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom and was represented in the British Parliament by 105 MPs. From 1882–1918 most Irish MPs were members of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) which favoured limited home rule for Ireland, achieved by a peaceful campaign for reform. This tactic managed to get a home rule law on the statute book but the implementation of this law was shelved with the outbreak of the First World War. In the meantime the more radical Sinn Féin party grew in strength. Sinn Féin's founder, Arthur Griffith, believed that nationalists should emulate the means by which Hungarian nationalists had achieved partial independence from Austria. In 1867, led by Ferenc Deák, Hungarian representatives had boycotted the Imperial parliament in Vienna and unilaterally established their own legislature in Budapest. The Austrian government had eventually become reconciled to this new state of affairs which became known as an Ausgleich or "compromise". Members of Sinn Féin also, however, supported achieving separation from Britain by means of an armed uprising if necessary. Between the Easter Rising of 1916 and the 1918 general election Sinn Féin's popularity was increased dramatically by the execution of most of the leaders of the 1916 rebels and by a clumsy attempt to introduce military conscription in Ireland. The party was also aided by the 1918 Representation of the People Act which increased the Irish electorate from around 700,000 to about two million. Voting in most constituencies occurred on 14th December and elections were held almost entirely under the traditional 'first-past-the-post' system¹. In total Sinn Féin won 73 out of the 105 Irish seats in the Westminster parliament. Unionists won 26 seats, all but three of which were in the six counties that today form Northern Ireland, and the IPP won six, all but one in Ulster. Twenty-five of the elected Sinn Féin candidates were unopposed and therefore returned without a ballot. Because of the large number of candidates elected unopposed, and despite evidence of intimidation and electoral fraud on the part of Sinn Féin supporters, the elections were seen as a landslide victory for the party. Once elected the Sinn Féin MPs chose to follow through with their plan of abstention from the Westminster parliament and instead assembled as a revolutionary parliament they called "Dáil Éireann": the Irish for "Assembly of Ireland". Unionists and members of the IPP refused to recognise the Dáil, and three Sinn Féin candidates had been elected in two different constituencies, so the First Dáil consisted of a total of seventy Deputies or "TDs" ². Some were absent from the inaugaral meeting as they were on the run from the British.

Mansion House meeting

The first meeting of Dáil Éireann occurred on 21st January, 1919 in the Round Room of the Mansion House: the residence of the Lord Mayor in Dublin. At this first, highly symbolic meeting the proceedings of the Dáil were conducted largely through Irish. The Dáil elected Cathal Brugha as its Ceann Comhairle (chairman or speaker). A number of short documents were then adopted. These were the:
- Dáil Constitution - a brief, provisional constitution.
- Declaration of Independence
- Message to the Free Nations of the World
- Democratic Programme - a tract espousing certain principles of socialism The Declaration of Independence asserted that the Dáil was the parliament of a sovereign state called the "Irish Republic", and so the Dáil established a cabinet called the Ministry or "Aireacht", and a elected a prime minister known both as the "Príomh Aire" and the "President of Dáil Éireann". The first, temporary president was Cathal Brugha. He was succeeded, in April, by Éamon de Valera.

Anglo-Irish War

On precisely the same day as the Dáil's first meeting two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were ambushed and killed at Soloheadbeg, in Tipperary, by members of the Irish Volunteers. This incident had not been ordered by the Dáil but the course of events soon drove the Dáil to recognise the Volunteers as the army of the Irish Republic and the ambush as an act of war against Great Britain. The Volunteers therefore changed their name, in August, to the Irish Republican Army, and swore allegiance to both the Republic and the Dáil. The dual nature of this oath did not become apparent until much later. The Soloheadbeg incident is thus regarded as the opening act of the Anglo-Irish War. From its first meeting the Dáil also set about attempting to secure de facto authority for the Irish Republic throughout the country. This included the establishment of a parallel judicial system known as the Dáil Courts. Shortly after its establishment the Dáil was declared illegal by the British authorities and thereafter met only intermittently and at various locations. The First Dáil held its last meeting on 10th May, 1921. After elections on 24th May the Dáil was succeeded by the Second Dáil which sat for the first time on 16th August.

Legacy

The First Dáil and the general election of 1918 have come to occupy a central place in Irish republican mythology. The 1918 general election was the last occasion on which the entire island of Ireland voted in a single election held on a single day until elections to the European Parliament over sixty years later. The landslide victory for Sinn Féin was seen as an overwhelming endorsement of the principle of a united independent Ireland. Until recently republican paramilitary groups, such the Provisional IRA, often claimed that their campaigns derived legitimacy from this 1918 mandate, and some still do. Today the name Dáil Éireann is used for the lower house of the modern Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland. Many commentators, including, recently, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, have suggested that despite the ambitious aspirations of the First Dáil, Irish independence only "really" began in 1922 with the foundation of the Irish Free State. Nonetheless, successive Dála (plural for Dáil) continue to be numbered from the "First Dáil" convened in 1919. The current Dáil, elected in 2002, is, as a result, the "Twenty-ninth Dáil".

Prominent members

- Eamon de Valera
- Michael Collins
- W.T. Cosgrave
- Count Plunkett
- Eoin MacNeill
- Arthur Griffith
- Cathal Brugha
- Kevin O'Higgins
- Constance Markievicz

Footnotes

# The exception to the use of this system were the constituencies of Dublin University and Cork City. The two Unionist representatives returned for the University of Dublin (Trinity College) were elected under the Single Transferable Vote, and the two Sinn Féin candidates elected for Cork City were returned under the Bloc voting system. # The three members elected for two constituencies were Arthur Griffith, Eamon de Valera and Liam Mellows.

External link

- [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/en.toc.dail.html Historical Dáil debates] from official [http://www.oireachtas.ie Oireachtas website]. Category:History of Ireland 1801-1922

January

January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. January begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Capricorn and ends in the sign of Aquarius. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Sagittarius and ends in the constellation of Capricornus. January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. The original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months (304 days). The Romans originally considered winter a monthless period. Circa 700 BCE Romulus' successor, King Numa Pompilius, added the months of January and February allowing the calendar to equal a standard lunar year (364 days). A Roman superstition against even numbers resulted in the addition of one day thus equalling 365 days. Although March was originally the first month, January usurped that position because that was when consuls were usually chosen. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month) and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month). In old Japanese calendar, the month is called Mutsuki (睦月). The second day of the month is known as Hatsuyume (初夢) and the 7th day as Nanakusa (七草). In Finnish, the month is called tammikuu, meaning "month of the oak". Finnish The first Monday in January is known as Handsel Monday in Scotland and northern England. In England, the agricultural year began with Plough Sunday on the Sunday after Epiphany. The Coming of age day in Japan is the second Monday of January, for those becoming 20 years old in the new calendar year. It is a national holiday. The day has existed since 1948, but fell on January 15 until 1999, when it was moved by the Japanese government in an attempt to lift the economy by making more holidays consecutive. In the pagan wheel of the year, January ends at or near to Imbolc in the northern hemisphere and Lughnasadh in the southern hemisphere.

July

July is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. July begins (astrologically) with the sun in the sign of Cancer and ends in the sign of Leo. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Gemini and ends in the constellation of Cancer. July was renamed for Julius Caesar; previously, it was called Quintilis in Latin, since it was the fifth month in the Roman calendar which started in March. It also was named because it was the month that Caesar was born. Because of its origin, until the 18th century this month's name was pronounced the same way as the name "Julie". In old Japanese calendar, the month is called fumi zuki (文月). In the pagan wheel of the year July ends at or near to Lughnasadh in the northern hemisphere and Imbolc in the southern hemisphere. Imbolc

Other names

- In the Irish Calendar the month is called Iúil and is the third and last month of the Summer season.
- In Finnish, the month is called heinäkuu, meaning "month of hay".

Trivia

- July begins on the same day of the week as April every year and also January in leap years.
- July's flower is the water lily.
- July's birthstone is the ruby.

1916

1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar)

Events

January-February

- January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. Impressionist Monet paints 'Water Lilies'.
- January 5 - Heavy rain - allegedly caused by rainmaker Charles Hatfield - begins; it will cause flooding around San Diego, California
- January 8 - Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli
- January 13/14 - A heavy storm sweeps through the Zuiderzee in the Netherlands, causing extensive damage. This storm helped the Dutch parliament to decide to build the Afsluitdijk and build polders in the current IJsselmeer.
- January 17 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed
- January 18 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near Baxter, Stone County, Missouri.
- January 23 to 24 In Browning, Montana, the temperature drops from +6.7°C to -48.8°C (44°F to -56°F) in one day, the greatest change ever on record for a 24-hour period.
- January 24 - In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax void
- January 28 - Louis D. Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
- January 29 - World War I: Paris is bombed by German zeppelins for the first time.
- February 2 - Blizzard in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- February 3 - Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada are burned down.
- February 9 - 6.00 PM - Tristan Tzara "founds" Dadaism (according to Hans Arp
- February 11 - Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control.
- February 11 - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert
- February 21 - World War I: In France the Battle of Verdun begins.

March-June

- March 1 - Liberal British Columbia Premier Harlan Carey Brewster term in office ends
- March 6 - Sydney conservatorium of music in Australia accepts first students
- March 8-9 night - Mexican Revolution - Pancho Villa leads 1,500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 17. Garrison of US 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.
- March 15 - President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border border to pursue Pancho Villa; 13th Cavalry regiment enters Mexican territory.
- March 16 - US 7th and 10th cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing crosses the border to join the hunt of Villa
- March 19 - First United States air combat mission in history as eight US planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa
- March 22 - Marriage of Edith Bratt and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. They would serve as the inspiration for the fictional characters Lúthien and Beren.
- April 24 - April 30 - Easter Rising in Ireland
- April 27 - Battle of Hulluch in World War One, 47th Brigade, 16th Irish Division decimated in one of the most heavily-concentrated gas attacks of the war
- May 5 - United States Marines invade the Dominican Republic.
- May 20 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
- May 21 - Sir Ernest Shackleton and two of his companions reach a whaling station to get help for the rest of the crew of Endurance.
- May 21 - Britain initiates daylight saving time.
- May 31 - June 1 - Battle of Jutland
- June 5 - Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
- June 5 - HMS Hampshire sinks off the Orkneys, Scotland, with Lord Kitchener aboard
- June 15 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the