Lecture 10: The War of Independence, Treaty and Civil War

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Lecture 10 The War of Independence, Treaty and
Civil War
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1. War of Independence
2. The Anglo-Irish Treaty
3. The Civil War

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Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921)
Campaign against British forces Mounted by the
Irish Volunteers/IRA Began Jan. 21 1919 9
Volunteers killed two policemen at an ambush in
Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary Approx. 1200 people
lost their lives during the conflict (405
police, 150 military, and an estimated 750 IRA
and civilians.)

• Tactics guerrilla campaign of ambush and
  assassination

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The Soloheadbeg ambush was unpopular with many
members of Sinn Féin The Soloheadbeg incident
may be regarded as an expression of militant
republican frustration with Sinn Féins political
initiatives The Volunteers took action to ensure
that the Sinn Féin leadership did not compromise
the republican demand
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The Guerrilla Offensive Three Broad Phases

• 1. January 1919-March 1920 a low-key campaign
• 2. March 1920-December 1920 confrontational
  approaches
• 3. December 1920-July 1921 intelligence
  gathering and the move to negotiated settlement

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Social class militant republicans

• Defy easy categorisation
• No clear social profile
• The very poor of rural Ireland were not active in
  the IRA nor were the most prosperous
• A middle-class revolution
• 2/3 of the members of the Dáil were urban
  professionals
• Only 1/3 was drawn from agriculture/industry/comme
  rce

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Militant republicans

• Well-educated
• Correlation between IRA militancy and the
  influence of the teaching of the Christian
  Brothers
• Service in the British army. Ex-servicemen like
  Tom Barry proved invaluable to the IRA

Tom Barry
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IRA tactics
Offensive against communication involved cutting
roads off and restricting military and police
patrols to routes offering good ambush
prospects Burning of abandoned police stations
and big houses Assassination in the city,
ambush in rural areas
Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column
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The British Response

• IRA attacks intensified in winter 1919/20
• RIC had been forced to retreat into stronger
  barracks
• RIC had surrendered control of large parts of the
  country

British troops searching a car
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The British Response

• Combination of coercion and conciliation
• Home Rule Bill re-drafted in 1919.
• RIC reinforced Black and Tans and the
  Auxiliaries
• Emergency legislation introduced
• Defence of the Realm Acts superseded by
  Restoration of Order Act in August 1920

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Defence of the Realm Acts (DORA)

• Came into effect during the First World War
• Emergency legislation empowered the government
  to make regulations for public safety
• During the Anglo-Irish War DORA regulations
  widely used to restrict firearms, create Special
  Military Areas and to substitute courts martial
  for jury trial

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Some of the British secret intelligence officers
killed by Collins hit squad on Bloody Sunday,
November 21st 1920
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to realise the full horrors of the night one
has to think of bands of men inflamed with drink
raging about the streets firing rifles wildly,
burning houses here and there and loudly
threatening to come again tonight and complete
their work. Article in Manchester Guardian
following the sack of Balbriggan, 1920
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Government of Ireland Act (1920)

• An attempt to solve the nationalist issue in the
  south and unionist demands in the north
• Resulted in two separate parliaments in Dublin
  and Belfast

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Irish delegation in Hans Place, London on the day
after the signing.
Members of the Irish delegation consisted of
Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, Michael Collins,
Eamonn Duggan and Charles Gavan-Duffy, with
Erskine Childers as principal secretary
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The Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)

• The principal areas of discussion included
• the constitutional position of the new Irish
  state and its relationship with Britain
• 2. The geographical area administered by the
  state
• 3. the implications for the defence of Britain
  arising from the new political arrangements
• 4. the determination of financial obligations.

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I have to communicate with Sir James Craig
tonight. Here are the alternative letters which I
have prepared, one enclosing articles of
agreement reached by his majestys government and
yourselves and the other saying that SF
representatives refuse to come into the empire.
If I send this letter it is war and war within
three days. Which letter am I to send? If the
messenger is to reach Craig in time we must know
your answer by 10pm tonight. You can have until
then, but no longer, to decide whether you will
give peace or war to your country. Llyod
George, Dec 5 1921
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The Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)

• Main defence of the Treaty it was the best
  available compromise
• Collins gives us freedom not the ultimate
  freedom that all nations desire and develop to,
  but the freedom to achieve it.
• Anti-Treatyites Did not deliver a republic. Oath
  of allegiance was an outright betrayal of their
  principles
• 7 January 1922 Treaty ratified by 64 votes to
  57.

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• IRA convention held March 26th 1922 in defiance
  of the government
• Most members of the IRA were opposed to the
  treaty known as the Irregulars
• April 13th 1922 Rory OConnor led a force of
  Irregulars into the Four Courts (above)

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Civil War

• Lull of 6 months between the signing of the
  treaty and the beginning of civil war hostilities
• Civil War began 28 June 1922 when government
  troops attacked headquarters of the Irregulars in
  the Four Courts, Dublin
• Anti-Treaty forces 12,900 men
• Government 9000 semi-trained recruits

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Ending the Civil War

• Lynch irreconcilable chief of staff of the
  Irregulars died on April 10 1923
• An end to the conflict was then possible Aiken
  replaced Lynch
• Unilateral ceasefire 30 April 1923

Liam Lynch, Commanding General of the
anti-Treaty IRA
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A patient being placed in an ambulance

• No register to show how many lives lost in Civil
  War
• 800 national army deaths
• 400 republican deaths