Once armed, small groups of IRA fighters ambushed and assassinated RIC members and British political and military targets. [citation needed] Such action was largely condoned by the unionist leadership and abetted by state forces. Hopkinson, Irish War of Independence, p. 26. [168][169] The "Compensation (Ireland) Commission" worked until March 1926, processing thousands of claims. [159], Irish nationalists have argued that this northern violence represented a pogrom against their community as 58% of the victims were Catholics, even though Catholics were only around 35% of the population. [citation needed], 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 violence in the north fizzled out by late 1922, the last reported killing of the conflict in what was now Northern Ireland took place on 5 October. Irish nationalists opposed this, most of them supporting the all-island Irish Republic. [119] The anti-treaty IRA were supported by the former president of the Republic, Éamon de Valera, and ministers Cathal Brugha and Austin Stack. This would partition Ireland on roughly political and religious lines, to create two self-governing territories—Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland—which would remain part of the United Kingdom. [101] The first IRA volunteer to be executed was Kevin Barry, one of The Forgotten Ten who were buried in unmarked graves in unconsecrated ground inside Mountjoy Prison until 2001. Women and feminists were extremely active in Irish revolutionary causes from 1912 onwards, but ultimately it was the men as revolutionary ‘leaders’ who took all the power, and indeed all the credit, after independence. The insurgents issued the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, proclaiming Ireland's independence as a republic. Since the 1870s, Irish nationalists in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) had been demanding Home Rule, or self-government, from Britain. URL: https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/irish-war-of-independence/ [156], On 21 November 1921 the British army held a memorial service for its dead, of all ranks, of which it counted 162 up to the 1921 Truce and 18 killed afterwards. The 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. An IRA Belfast Brigade report in late May concluded that continuing the offensive was "futile and foolish...the only result of the attack was to place the Catholic population at the mercy of the Specials". It also broke the Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Republic which the Dáil had instated on 20 August 1919. The Great Irish ... the families most in need to aid due to the devastation caused by the war. More than 500 were killed[125] and more than 10,000 became refugees, most of them Catholics. No policeman will get in trouble for shooting any man". It eventually reached £380,000. Much of the nationalist campaign involved popular mobilisation and the creation of a republican "state within a state" in opposition to British rule. [35] The purpose of the Army was to back up the police. In December, the British authorities declared martial law in much of southern Ireland, and the centre of Cork city was burnt out by British forces in reprisal for an ambush. On 22 August 1920, RIC Detective Swanzy was shot dead by Cork IRA men while leaving church in Lisburn, County Antrim. The legacy of this War, which began in 1919 and ended 1921 and its consequences are not confined to this specific time period.It resulted in an immediate Civil War between Irish pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces, which lasted for one violent and bloody year post independence. war-of-independence-top.htmlThe Irish War of Independence was a major event Ireland’s history. [138], Winston Churchill arranged a meeting between Collins and James Craig on 21 January 1922 and the southern boycott of Belfast goods was lifted but then re-imposed after several weeks. Together, both the ship and the workhouse alone held 542 men without trial at the highest internment population level during June 1923. The origins of Irish guerrilla tactics used during the War of Independence (1919-1921) are difficult to determine. [33] Of the RIC's senior officers, 60% were Irish Protestants and the rest Catholic, while 70% of the rank and file of the RIC were Irish Catholic with the rest Protestant. [102] On 1 February, the first execution under martial law of an IRA man took place: Cornelius Murphy, of Millstreet in County Cork, was shot in Cork City. Because of this, plans were drawn up to "bring the war to England". One of which was the Provisional government in which supported the idea of Ireland as a free state, the other side being the Republicans which opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and wanted Ireland to still be part of the United Kingdom. The Irish War of Independence unfolded as a brutal internecine war. This paper will discuss the events of the Irish War of Independence which was caused by British imperial rule over the island. A historian’s view: These volunteer units were given three months’ training and attached to RIC stations around Ireland. [126] The British Army was deployed and the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) was formed to help the police. On the same day the Dail Eireann convened in Dublin, several Republican agents, acting on their own initiative, shot and killed two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officers in County Tipperary. Ireland is a place with a lot of history of fighting for independence. This is widely regarded as the beginning of the War of Independence. Sinn Fein leaders in the new Republican government worked hard through 1919 to bring the IRA under its control. The IRA unit's leader was shot dead and a gun battle broke out, in which four Special Constables were killed. One spy who escaped with his life was F. Digby Hardy, who was exposed by Arthur Griffith before an "IRA" meeting, which in fact consisted of Irish and foreign journalists, and then advised to take the next boat out of Dublin.[81]. It was printed secretly and distributed throughout Ireland, and to international press agencies and US, European and sympathetic British politicians. Following their overwhelming support in Ireland in the 1918 General Election, Sínn Féin refused to take their seats in Westminster and instead set up the first Dáil in Mansion House, Dublin. On 21 January 1919 they formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann) and declared Irish independence. Especially vulnerable, it is argued, were Protestants, ex-soldiers and tramps. Finally on 17 December 1922 The Royal Barracks (now housing collections of the National Museum of Ireland) was transferred to General Richard Mulcahy and the garrison embarked at Dublin Port that evening. The RIC's strength in late 1919 was down to 9,300 but extensive recruitment saw it reach a height of over 14,000 by June 1921, Hopkinson, Charles Townshend, 'The Irish Railway Strike of 1920: Industrial Action and Civil Resistance in the Struggle for Independence,'. Tensions that led to the Irish Civil War were evident by then and evacuation was suspended. The local coroner's inquest refused to return a murder verdict over the soldier and local businessmen who had sat on the jury were targeted in the reprisal. Talks that had looked promising the previous year had petered out in December when David Lloyd George insisted that the IRA first surrender their arms. On 21 January 1919, the IRA shot dead 2 Irish policemen in county Tipperary, and this marked the beginning of what is now known as the War of Independence. In 1919, a war began against the British forces in Ireland. of the Irish War of Independence, the British government refused to recognise the Irish Republic or to admit that a state of war existed between this republic and the UK. The violence in the city took place in bursts, as attacks on both Catholics and Protestants were rapidly followed by reprisals on the other community. During the course of the war, about a quarter of Ireland was put under martial law, mostly in Munster; in the rest of the country British authority was not deemed sufficiently threatened to warrant it. [155], The total number killed in the guerrilla war of 1919–21 between republicans and British forces in what became the Irish Free State came to over 1,400. Authors: Rebekah Poole, Jennifer Llewellyn Most IRA officers on the ground interpreted the Truce merely as a temporary respite and continued recruiting and training volunteers. Irish War of Independence 1919-1921 From the Declaration of Independence issued by the Dáil on 21st January 1919, the Republican movement was now in open defiance of British control over Ireland. [67] The rate of resignation went up and recruitment in Ireland dropped off dramatically. All of these actions provoked retaliatory killings in Belfast. They began to attack the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), the police force in Ireland, because they … This treaty created the Irish Free State, a self-governing British dominion. In addition, 4,500 IRA personnel (or suspected sympathisers) were interned in this time. Irish republicans were only one of many groups in Britain seeking radical change in a Europe in upheaval as a result of the First World War. De Valera and Lloyd George ultimately agreed to a truce that was intended to end the fighting and lay the ground for detailed negotiations. [7][8][9] The conflict also involved civil disobedience, notably the refusal of Irish railwaymen to transport British forces or military supplies. By November about 6,600 soldiers remained in Dublin at 17 locations. [62] The violence used was at first deeply unpopular with Irish people and it took the heavy-handed British response to popularise it among much of the population.[63]. [149], Another feature of the war was the use of propaganda by both sides. 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 British casualties and in money. According to historian Michael Hopkinson, the guerrilla warfare, "was often courageous and effective" (Hopkinson. The treaty caused a hugely divisive split within Ireland, and despite passing in the Dáil, led to the desperate Irish Civil War between those in favour of the treaty and those who wished to continue fighting to ensure complete and total independence for the entire island of Ireland. It represents a hard-fought freedom that was well deserved. There were also support organisations Cumann na mBan (the IRA women's group) and Fianna Éireann (youth movement), who carried weapons and intelligence for IRA men and secured food and lodgings for them. After the ceasefire, violence in Belfast and fighting in border areas of Northern Ireland continued, and the IRA launched a failed Northern offensive in May 1922. [25][26] Sinn Féin won 91% of the seats outside of Ulster on 46.9% of votes cast but was in a minority in Ulster, where unionists were in a majority. Date published: August 14, 2018 The British cabinet had not sought the war that had developed since 1919. Although some republican leaders, notably Éamon de Valera, favoured classic conventional warfare 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 as they had led to the military débacle of 1916. Left with no other const… In 1917 the IRB was renamed the IRA and in 1919, the fighting started. By 1921 one of its members, Winston Churchill, reflected: What was the alternative? The IRA benefitted 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". [33] Of the 17,000 policemen in Ireland, 513 were killed by the IRA between 1919 and 1921 while 682 were wounded. This pattern of killings and reprisals escalated in the second half of 1920 and in 1921. A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes… The Great Famine The Lockout The 1916 Rising World War I Irish War of Independence 20.08.1845. While it was not clear in the beginning of 1919 that the Dáil ever intended to gain independence by military means, and war was not explicitly threatened in Sinn Féin's 1918 manifesto,[47][48] an incident occurred on 21 January 1919, the same day as the First Dáil convened. It was a conflict based between two opposing Irish nationalists. The Anglo-Irish Treaty that ended the War of Independence then created the Irish Free State in the south, giving it dominion status within the British Empire. IRA leader Michael Collins, a brilliant tactician, ordered raids on RIC headquarters across Ireland in order to seize weapons for his men. Nor did attacks on the RIC or British Army cease altogether. The Auxiliary Division had a reputation just as bad as the Tans for their mistreatment of the civilian population but tended to be more effective and more willing to take on the IRA. The Dublin Brigade carried out 107 attacks in the city in May and 93 in June, showing a falloff in activity, but not a dramatic one. [22] By now, support for the British war effort was waning, and Irish public opinion was shocked and outraged by some of the actions committed by British troops, particularly the murder of Francis Sheehy-Skeffington and the imposition of wartime martial law.[23]. There were reports of Black and Tans using threats, beatings and even torture when interrogating suspected Republicans. It was agreed that British troops would remain confined to their barracks. The conflict in the north-east had a sectarian aspect. It was to plunge one small corner of the empire into an iron repression, which could not be carried out without an admixture of murder and counter-murder.... Only national self-preservation could have excused such a policy, and no reasonable man could allege that self-preservation was involved. This war was called the War of Independence. In 1920 London responded to the worsening situation in Ireland by recruiting ex-military personnel to join the RIC as special constables. The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war, fought not on battlefields but in cities, towns and among civilian populations. Hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of damage was caused. Cumann na mBan engaged in undercover work to set back the British war effort. For most of the conflict, IRA activity was concentrated in Munster and Dublin, with only isolated active IRA units elsewhere, such as in County Roscommon, north County Longford and western County Mayo. Several thousand Catholics fled the violence and sought refuge in Glasgow and Dublin. By mid-1921, British morale was at its lowest. In revenge, local Loyalists burned Catholic residential areas of Lisburn – destroying over 300 homes. The post-ceasefire talks led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. Collins' Squad began killing RIC intelligence officers in July 1919. It also united Ireland’s disparate Nationalist groups. Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 While the Irish Nationalists were united during the Irish War of Independence, the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty split the party in two. [143] The cycle of sectarian atrocities against civilians however continued into June 1922. Even still today, it can be confusing which parts of Ireland are independent and which remain under the rule of the British monarchy. [134] In May James Craig came to Dublin to meet the British Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord FitzAlan, and was smuggled by the IRA through Dublin to meet Éamon de Valera. (Hopkinson, Irish War of Independence pp. The conflict had reached a stalemate. Those killed were named in captured British files as informers before the Truce signed the previous July. Organized in Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army between 1918 and 1921 , the Anglo-Irish Treaty offered Ireland a great deal more of independence than Home Rule would have. These actions marked a significant escalation of the conflict. It had been hard pressed by the deployment of more regular British soldiers to Ireland and by the lack of arms and ammunition. Dan Breen, who took part in the attack, later explained: “The only way to start a war was to kill someone, and we wanted to start a war.” Historian of the period Alan Parkinson has suggested that the term 'pogrom' is 'unhelpful and misleading in explaining the events of the period' as the violence was not state directed or one sided. Swanzy was later tracked down and killed in Lisburn, County Antrim. An even larger amount, totalling over $5 million, was raised in the United States by Irish Americans and sent to Ireland to finance the Republic. The Trades Council's special Strike Committee controlled the city for fourteen days in an episode that is known as the Limerick Soviet.[69]. Also he argues that 'co-ordination of the murder campaign was not executed by the official administration for the area and many killings appeared to have been done in a random and reactive fashion'. While officially they were part of the RIC, in reality they were a paramilitary force. Three Special Constables were also killed in the shootings.[145]. [154] They declared that his comments "put HMG (His Majesty's Government) and the Irish murder gang on a footing of equality".[154]. The Dáil reaffirmed the 1916 Proclamation with the Irish Declaration of Independence,[28] and issued a Message to the Free Nations of the World, which stated that there was an "existing state of war, between Ireland and England". On 19 June a week of inter-sectarian rioting and sniping started in Derry, resulting in 18 deaths. [142] The largest single clash came in June, when British troops used artillery to dislodge an IRA unit from the village of Pettigo, killing seven, wounding six and taking four prisoners. Swanzy had been blamed by an inquest jury for the killing of Cork Mayor Tomás Mac Curtain. Much of the IRA's popularity arose from the excessive reaction of the British forces to IRA activity. For all of the above reasons, this day became known as Bloody Sunday. [104] Also, for all their effectiveness at guerrilla warfare, they had, as Richard Mulcahy recalled, "as yet not been able to drive the enemy out of anything but a fairly good sized police barracks".[105]. [59][60], Volunteers began to attack British government property, carry out raids for arms and funds and target and kill prominent members of the British administration. At their first meeting, 21st January 1919, they passed the Irish Declaration of Independence that stated Ireland was an independent republic. This further alienated Irish nationalists and produced mass demonstrations during the Conscription Crisis of 1918. Religion has hugely affected Irish history. After a lull in violence in the north over the new year, killings there intensified again in the spring of 1921. A mainly-Protestant special constabulary was formed, and loyalist paramilitaries were active. During the Anglo-Irish War (Irish War of Independence, 1919–21) the IRA, under the leadership of Michael Collins, employed guerrilla tactics—including ambushes, raids, and sabotage—to force the British government to negotiate. The RIC numbered 9,700 men stationed in 1,500 barracks throughout Ireland. [58] Then on 11 March, Dáil Éireann President Éamon de Valera called for acceptance of a "state of war with England". [citation needed], The civil war ended in mid-1923 in defeat for the anti-treaty side.[122]. Just two days later, on 21 March, the Kerry IRA attacked a train at the Headford junction near Killarney. Fears of informers after such failed ambushes often led to a spate of IRA shootings of informers, real and imagined. Their deaths are a reminder that the War of Independence was itself a civil war between those sworn to uphold British rule in Ireland and those sworn to overthrow it. Some RIC men co-operated with the IRA through fear or sympathy, supplying the organisation with valuable information. The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain—the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries—who became notorious for ill-discipline and reprisal attacks on civilians,[5] some of which were authorised by the British government. In this way, 20 people died in street fighting and assassinations in north and west Belfast over 29 August to 1 September 1921 and another 30 from 21 to 25 November. People were instead encouraged to subscribe to Collins' "National Loan", set up to raise funds for the young government and its army. This act has been interpreted by historians as a choice by Prime Minister David Lloyd George to put down the rebellion in Ireland rather than negotiate with the republican leadership. [136], Moreover, despite the Dáil's acceptance of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in January 1922, which confirmed the future existence of Northern Ireland, there were clashes between the IRA and British forces along the new border from early 1922. Before the Easter Rising of 1916, many Irish nationalist women were brought together through organisations fighting for women's suffrage, such as the Irish Women's Franchise League. The Chief of Staff of the IRA was Richard Mulcahy, who was responsible for organising and directing IRA units around the country. [13], The demand for Home Rule was eventually granted by the British Government in 1912,[14] immediately prompting a prolonged crisis within the United Kingdom as Ulster unionists formed an armed organisation – the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) – to resist this measure of devolution, at least in territory they could control. 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