Although the 1916 Easter Rising was quashed by the British military, this had no effect on the Irish drive for independence, as the British treatment of the leading rebels galvanised more support for freedom from British rule amongst the civilian population.
The General Election in Ireland, 1918
There was a general election throughout Britain in December 1918, and in Ireland the nationalist Sinn Fein party won 73 seats, displacing the more moderate party that had been in power since the 1880s. Sinn Fein refused to sit in Westminster and formed their own Parliament in Dublin called Dáil Éirann. They first met officially in January 1919, on the very same day and not connected to the meeting of parliament, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) men were shot dead in an ambush in County Tipperary by the Irish Volunteers. Ministers in London believed the Sinn Fein party were behind the killings although there is no evidence to suggest they were. More ambushes took place on RIC barracks in rural areas by the Volunteers to obtain arms for their organisation.
The War Begins in 1919
The initial raid in County Tipperary was the event which began the Irish War of Independence which was a guerrilla war as the Volunteers mainly wore civilian clothes and blended into the population. It was later in 1919 that the Volunteers reformed their group into the Irish Republican Army, and onwards were known as the IRA. In towns, the RIC conducted many raids and arrested many people suspected of being in the IRA, but for the British this was counter-productive as not only did it alienate the Irish people from the British, arrested suspects tended to become more radicalised whilst in prison. The war was tit-for-tat violence between the IRA and the British forces with regular reprisals and revenge attacks. The activities of the IRA were on a local level rather than a national movement, although particular areas such as Cork saw more violence than others.
The War Intensifies in 1920
In 1920 the violence in Ireland escalates and members of the IRA begin to organise better, with many of them leaving their communities, enabling them to travel round the country. Republican prisoners incarcerated in Dublin began a hunger strike to highlight their cause and to persuade British PM David Lloyd-George to recognise them as political prisoners. To control the situation in Ireland the British sent over an auxiliary force which became known as the ‘Black and Tans’ because of their uniforms. Amongst the Irish population this force became known for its brutality and violence.
Bloody Sunday November 1920
Sunday 21st November 1920 became such a notorious day of violence it became known as Bloody Sunday. It began with the IRA killing over a dozen people suspected of being British Intelligence, later, two IRA men in custody were shot dead as they apparently tried to escape. At a football match in Dublin the same day, British attempts at searching the crowd for weapons resulted in the Black and Tans killing twelve people after opening fire. The events gave the IRA further justification for their cause as violent reprisals on both sides escalated.
The War Ends in 1921 and Ireland is Divided
In July 1921 a truce in introduced between the Irish and British forces after months of stalemate. In October 1921, a Republican delegation travels to London to negotiate terms with the British. In December, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, the terms of which created the Irish Free State – made up from 26 of 32 counties – roughly what is the Republic of Ireland today. The treaty did give autonomy but made the Irish Free State part of the British Commonwealth and its citizens had to swear allegiance to the Crown.
The terms of the treaty caused deeper schisms in Ireland, even within the Sinn Fein party and Republican Ireland as a whole, leading to more violence in the following years.
Sources:
English, Richard. Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Fiona Allison - I have a combined honours degree in English Lit with 20th Century European History and Politcs. I work as an editorial assisstant on a ...
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