What were the Irish and British political complexities of the revolution?

by | Aug 4, 2021 | Questions & Answers

That’s a complex question. At the 50,000-foot level, Britain wanted to maintain control of Ireland and its population. They wanted to protect, at the least, their north-eastern Protestant financial base centered in Belfast, at all costs.

The central issue politically was Home Rule for the Irish. By the start of the Great War and after much agitation and debate, the British Parliament under the liberal leadership of Prime Minister Asquith finally passed a third try at a Home Rule Bill called the Government of Ireland Act 1914. This bill would establish a bicameral Irish Parliament in Dublin to deal with most national affairs, but a number of Irish members of parliament would still attend the British parliament. British administration through Dublin Castle would be eliminated, but the British Lord Lieutenant would be retained. This concession was partially like the establishment of a commonwealth nation like Canada had peacefully achieved in 1860.

This Bill was opposed by the House of Lords and Sir Edward Carson and his Ulster Volunteer Force, so Asquith offered to exclude the northern 6 counties temporarily. The upper house still objected, but due to parliamentary procedures they were overruled and the Bill was then given Royal Ascent by King George V.

The southern nationalist Catholic Irish politicians led by John Redmond felt they had achieved a victory, albeit temporarily without the northern counties. Then the World War started and the British Government suspended the implementation of the Home Rule, limited self-government act.

Redmond urged the southern Irish Volunteers to support the war effort with Britain in the hope that this would cement Home Rule when the war ended. Most of the Volunteers signed up to fight on the side of the Allies.

However, after the Easter Rising in 1916, public opinion shifted away from British support toward militant Republicanism and full Irish independence, so Redmond’s party lost its dominance in Irish politics as the Sinn Féin party took control. Redmond died in 1918 and Eamon de Valera, an American by birth emerged as the Republican political leader.

After the prolonged World War at the end of 1918, Ireland, itself was heading into its own War of Independence, insisting on complete independence of the entire country from British control. In the general election, the vast majority of seats were won by the Republican separatist Sinn Féin party. The Government of Ireland Act 1914 was never implemented.

In the midst of the fierce guerrilla Irish War of independence, the British finally passed a fourth Home Rule bill called Government of Ireland Act 1920 which officially partitioned Ireland, North and South.

This further angered the Sinn Féin Republicans to fight on for complete liberation. In July 1921, a ceasefire to the hostilities was established after which the belligerents met in London to negotiate a treaty. Likely realizing that Britain would not agree to total liberation of Ireland, Eamon de Valera sent a delegation led by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffiths to negotiate. As expected, Britain took a hard stand to retain the northern six counties as a part of the UK. The Republican negotiators recognized that reality and agreed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December, thereby establishing a provisional Irish Free State for the southern 26 counties. This treaty did, however, necessitate allegiance to the crown by Irish citizens.

This was politically unacceptable to Eamon de Valera, other Sinn Féin leaders and a large fraction of the Irish Volunteers (IRA), resulting in an Irish Civil War where the Irish Free State was supported by Britain. After almost two years of bitter Irish in-fighting that saw Michael Collins assassinated and the anti-treaty forces military leader Liam Lynch killed, and with the Free State National Army gaining strength, Eamon de Valera called a halt to hostilities in May 1923.

The animosities resulting from these wars set the stage for further political and military conflict later in the 20th century.

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