Week 6 - Irish Independence
The war of Independence between 1919 and 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the British Security Forces of Ireland was sparked following the landslide victory of Sinn Fein into power in Ireland, and their declaration of Independence from Britain with a newly formed breakaway government (Dail Eireann) and the shooting dead of two members of the British Organised Armed Police Force (Royal Irish Constabulary) by the IRA.
The fighting between the British Forces and the Irish Republican groups was focused around guerrilla warfare, including the capturing of weapons, freeing of prisoners and ambushing barracks and patrols. While around 300 people had been killed in the conflict up to late 1920, Bloody Sunday, on 21st November 1920 marks the escalation of the troubles. 14 British intelligence operatives were assassinated in Dublin in the morning, followed by a retaliation in the afternoon where the RIC opened fire on a crown at a football match in the city killing 14 civilians and wounding 65. This major event sparked further violence and conflict.
On the 11th July 1921 both sides agreed to a truce followed by cease-fire talks. On 6th December 1921 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed ending British Rule in 26 counties of Ireland with 6 northeastern counties remaining under British rule.
Research the Black n Tans (RIC) and the IRA. Find out about some of the conflict between them.
It also decided that the Proclamation should be read to the public outside Dublin’s General Post Office (after it had been occupied by the rebels), by the President of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic. At the meeting this post was offered to Thomas Clarke in recognition of his services to the republican cause. He declined but as a tribute to his past sacrifices, his signature was given pride of place at the head of the list of seven names who had signed the document. It was then agreed that Pearse should act as president. He had the presence and the requisite oratorical gifts. As arranged, at 12:45 on Easter Monday, Pearse accompanied by an armed guard stood on the step outside the GPO and read the Proclamation. Though the occasion was momentous, the crowd who gathered there was sparse and uncomprehending. There were a few cheers but no enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteThe Proclamation stated that: ‘the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom … in arms … six times during the past 300 years’. This implied that the present action was not a sudden, opportunist outbreak but part of a long-established nationalist tradition. The historical tradition the rebels identified with was the republican one. The document uses the term ‘republic’ on five occasions. Its signatories would have had difficulty agreeing on a definition of the term, nonetheless it is what the leaders declared in 1916 and what they fought and died for. Their actions and sacrifice helped implant this as a future national aspiration of the Irish People.
It suggested that the Rising was not just a political event but also foreshadowed social and economic change. It provided a vision of a free Irish state which would oversee the welfare of all its citizens. The republic would guarantee ‘religious and civil liberty, equal rights and opportunities’ and would ‘pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation … cherishing all the children of the nation equally’. This section shows the influence of Connolly’s socialist principles. It held the brightest hope for the future but also the seeds of the deepest disappointment. In the years that followed, national energies focussed on the struggle for political independence; questions of social, civil and economic reform received scant and secondary attention
One of the most controversial lines of the Proclamation was “our gallant allies in Europe”- a reference to the Germans who had promised arms for the revolution. However, at this time many Irishmen were away fighting against the Germans during WW1 thus the message would have been taken badly as many were losing people to the war of which the Proclamation is claiming they’re fighting on the wrong side.
For a number of years, the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) had been a target for the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) and then the IRA (Irish Republican Army, formerly the IRB). RIC barracks were frequently attacked and members of the RIC were murdered. Therefore, recruitment to the RIC started to be hit and the RIC found it difficult to carry out its duties effectively, especially in the remote rural areas of southern Ireland. Such as Wexford, Galway, Meath and Louth. Members of the RIC were constantly plagued with the feeling of never knowing if you were going to be the next target. In 1919, the British government advertised for men who were up to “Face a rough and dangerous task”. At the end of the war many ex-servicemen were up for this as there was high unemployment in ex-servicemen, but for many the main attraction of it was not pride or honour but a wage. The men were paid 10 shillings a day and got 3 months training before they were sent to Ireland. It quickly became apparent that there were not enough uniforms to go around they wore a mixture of uniforms, it was a mixture of Khaki British Army uniform and Rifle Green British Army RIC uniform. This gave them the nickname the ‘Black and Tans’. They were not a supplement to the RIC but simply a special reserve force. However, they lacked the self-discipline that would have been found in the Western Front. Many Black and Tan units all but terrorised local Communities. They Burned, Killed, Pillaged, their ferocity was unrivalled. The Catholic cardinal of the day called them "a horde of savages, some of them simply brigands, burglars and thieves". General Frank Crozier resigned in 1921 because they had been "used to murder, rob, loot, and burn up the innocent because they could not catch the few guilty on the run". The most infamous attack on the public came in November 1920. Many people had packed into Croke Park, Dublin, to watch a football match. In retaliation for the murder of fourteen undercover detectives by the IRA, the Black and Tans opened fire on the crowd, killing twelve people. eighteen members of the ‘Auxies’ (a separate part of the Black and Tans) were killed in Kilmichael, County Cork. The ‘Auxies’ took their revenge for this by burning down the centre of Cork and parading around after this event with burnt cork in their caps. It seemed that violence only led to more violence. Their opponents the Irish Republican Army (IRA) recognised by the First Dáil as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic in April 1921 they fought the Irish War of Independence. It split into 2 the pro-Treaty forces and anti-Treaty forces.
ReplyDeleteThe Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla conflict between the British state and its forces in Ireland and Irish republican guerrillas in the Irish Volunteers or Irish Republican Army. The war is usually said to have run between 1919 and 1921, but violence both preceded these dates and continued afterwards. On the same day that the Dáil first met, two RIC constables were shot dead by Irish Volunteers under Dan Breen at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary and the explosives they were carrying seized. This is commonly presented as the opening shots of the war but there had been deaths in 1918 and only 17 more people were killed in 1919. In Dublin, Michael Collins, the IRA Director of Intelligence formed a ‘Squad’ to assassinate detectives who coordinated the arrest of republican activists. Late in the year his men attempted to kill John French, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In early 1920 the violence intensified, a majority of the Sinn Fein political leadership had been arrested. A series of attacks on rural police barracks ensued in 1920 as a result of this the RIC withdrew from its smaller stations into more fortified barracks in the towns. The IRA saw this as an opportunity and subsequently, they systematically burned the abandoned posts on the night of Easter Sunday 1920. By the summer of 1920 many RIC men had asked for resignation. In other parts of the country the RIC responded to attacks on them by assassinating republicans.
ReplyDeleteThis triggered a grave escalation between the RIC and the IRA. The new forces such as the Black and Tans had carried out atrocities on the innocent civilian population in retaliation of IRA attacks on them. The IRA in their response formed Flying Columns which in some areas of the country became more ruthless but efficient at guerrilla warfare. However, the autumn and winter of 1920 saw a new level of ruthlessness altogether. On the 21st of November IRA units in the capital launched an assassination attack on a large scale on British Intelligence officers, this attack killed 14, 8 were Intelligence officers. Along with the attack in Croke Park by the Black and Tans, this day was known as Bloody Sunday. By the end of 1920 around 300 people had been killed there were attempts for a truce but it was not success. In the 1st half of 1921 near 1000 people were killed in the fighting, the fighting was at its most intense in the north e.g. Dublin and Belfast. In the summer of 1921 the IRA were short of weapons and ammunition and personnel. The fighting was brought to an end on July the 11th 1921 between the British and Irish Republicans so that a political settlement could begin. The political results of the war of independence were that there was a creation of an independent Irish Free State (would turn to a Republic) and Northern Ireland remained part of the UK.