Slides for third year Irish History on Ireland after 1916

1. Ireland after 1916
Ireland after 1916

2. May, 1916
After the Rising things looked very grim for Nationalists
Much of Dublin City had been destroyed
Thousands of civilians had been injured and hundreds killed in the
fighting
Public Sympathy was definitely NOT with the Volunteers – people hated
them because of the damage done to the country
Leaders were imprisoned and/or dead
It looked like the dream of an independent Ireland was dead
for now…
But the British made a huge mistake and executed the rebel
leaders – public sympathy than began to swing behind the
rebels

3. David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George (a Welshman) became Prime Minister of
Britain in late 1916
His main aim was to win World War One
In order to gain American support for the War, he freed the
people imprisoned after the Rising
Why?
Because since the Famine many Irish had emigrated to America –
just like today many Americans had Irish relatives and American
politicians wanted to win the “Irish American Vote”
Freeing the Volunteer leaders was a small price to pay if it meant
gaining American entry into World War One

4. David Lloyd George

5. New Nationalist Leaders
Michael Collins Eamon DeValera Arthur Griffith

6. New Nationalist Leaders
Collins: From Cork, a “Military Man” – he fought in the GPO
and believed that 1916 was just the first battle in a long war
DeValera: Spanish father (hence the odd name) – more a
politician than a soldier, had a reputation for craftiness. Fought
in Boland’s Mills during 1916. Wanted to be the main leader of
Nationalism. Became leader of Sinn Fein in 1917
Griffith: Another Politician, he developed a reputation for
building consensus. Easygoing and wasn’t too bothered about
being leader – he just wanted to play a part in freeing Ireland.
All three worked together to build up Sinn Fein

7. What did Sinn Fein Want?
Simply – Sinn Fein wanted complete independence from
Britain for all 32 counties of Ireland
No Home Rule, no Northern Ireland still being part of Britain,
no being half in and half out of the British Empire – total
freedom or bust!

8. How to get independence?
How to achieve this?
Standard military option had been tried (1916). Failed
Being elected to the British Parliament in Westminster had also
been tried (by Home Rule Party). Failed
New Military and Political tactics needed….

9. New Political Tactics
Rather than elect MPs to go to the UK Parliament, Sinn Fein
wanted to set up an independent Irish Parliament – this was
called “Dáil Eireann”
Irish MPs would in future sit here – in DeValera’s words – “We
will defeat the British Empire by ignoring it”
This tactic was completely non-violent so it was hoped that the
public would support it.
American support was also hoped for – if Nationalists could
show they were peaceful then it was felt they could get more
support.

10. First Dáil elected

11. First Dáil elected
Collins Griffith
De Valera

12. Site of First Dail – Mansion House

13. Conscription arrives…
Conscription means being forced to fight in a war – it is usually
very unpopular (as the Americans found out during the
Vietnam War)
In 1917 Britain tried to force every Irish man over 18 to fight in
World War One in a desperate attempt to finally win after 3
years of war
Sinn Fein were totally opposed to conscription and their
support grew amongst the Irish Public because of this
The Home Rule Party (led by John Redmond) was also opposed
but because they had encouraged Irish men to sign up
voluntarily in 1914, nobody believed them!

14. Anti Conscription Campaign

15. 1918 Election
At the next General Election in 1918, Irish People could vote
for three parties
Unionist Party, Led by Carson and Craig – they won 26 out
0f 105 seats
Home Rule Party. Led by John Dillon (Redmond had died) –
they won 6 out of 105 seats
Sinn Fein Party. Led by DeValera – they won 73 out of 105
seats
End result – Sinn Fein were triumphant after the election.
Home Rule Party went from 79 to just 6 seats

16. The New Government
The New Dail met on 21st January 1919 in Dublin and lasted
just three hours. In those three hours:
It declared Ireland a Republic
It promised a Democratic Programme of Social Reforms
It picked people to go to a Peace Conference in Paris to discuss
how Europe would recover after World War One
Why such a short meeting?
Because the British were planning to arrest the Dail
Members
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKSFVQxybuo

17. Members of the Government

18. DeValera goes to America
Lloyd George didn’t want the Sinn Fein reps at the Paris
Conference and persuaded other countries to ignore them
De Valera thought that the American Government could be
persuaded to change the British Government’s mind and went
to America to do that
He failed to achieve his main goal but did manage to raise $4
million to use in the struggle

19. Griffith in control in Dev’s absence
In the absence of DeValera (who had gone to America to look
for support for the struggle for Independence) Arthur Griffith
was in control
It became obvious that a war was about to begin – Sinn Fein
and it’s supporters were determined to make their Irish
Parliament (The Dáil) more important
The British Government had no intention of letting Sinn Fein
continue doing what they were doing – the Police (known then
as the Royal Irish Constabulary) began to harass and attack
Sinn Fein MPs
E.g. A secretary to a Sinn Fein TD was jailed for 2 years for
having an out of date dog licence

20. Old Methods vs New Methods
Collins knew that the Nationalists could not afford to try
something like 1916 again – it would just be another failure
Peaceful methods not working – Sinn Fein had been peacefully
setting up a new Irish Parliament but British were attacking
Collins thought up of a new method – Guerrilla Warfare
An army that uses Guerrilla Warfare doesn’t have proper
uniforms and relies on ambush and retreat rather than
attacking and holding territory
So an IRA man could ambush the British in the morning and
then go to work in the afternoon acting like nothing had
happened

21. Guerrilla Warfare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdU8_AWJ1b8&feature=re
lated
And the British response...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOiQRkK1tyg

22. Black and Tans

23. Black and Tans
“Black”
“Tan”

24. Black and Tans
As the IRA targeted the police in their war against the British
forces, few people wanted to join the police
Lloyd George noticed this and recruited ex soldiers who had
fought in World War One as policemen with a mission to
destroy the IRA
Because of the scarcity of Uniforms they had to use a mix of
dark green police and khaki army uniforms – hence they
became known as the “Black and Tans”
Were encouraged to act as if they were outside the law – no
consequences if they beat/killed innocent civilians

25. Targets
Important to note – the IRA’s main targets at this time
were
British Spies
Black and Tans
Royal Irish Constabulary (Police, before the Gardai)
Informers (usually Irish)
The average British soldier was generally not a target
unless he was directly involved in the fighting – soldiers
on sentry duty were generally ignored

28. 2013 HL Paper

29. Black and Tans meeting Dubliners
for the first time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bVyy2m4oSk

30. Result of British Backlash?
The British Government had hoped that the Black and Tans
would frighten people off supporting the IRA
Instead the actions of the Black and Tans made people very
angry and those who had not supported the IRA before started
supporting them now because they were hitting back at the
Black and Tans

31. Terence Mac Swiney & his funeral

32. The war drags on and on…
By 1921 the war had been dragging on for almost two years
and the IRA could not fight for ever
Either they fight to the finish (and give the British a victory) or
they negotiate (and risk looking weak)
Some in the IRA believed they should fight on, others that they
should start talking to the British and work out a deal
The stage was set for a split in the IRA and Sinn Fein…

33. Partition, Treaty and Civil War
As the Unionists in the North of Ireland saw the war develop,
they knew the British and the IRA would have to talk
eventually
The Unionists didn’t want to take the chance of being in left
out of Britain and asked Lloyd George to make a separate
“mini-country” that they would be able to control
This “mini-country” was to become the
Northern Ireland we have today

34. The Government of Ireland Act -
1920
Lloyd George got the UK Parliament to pass a law dividing (aka
Partioning) Ireland into two parts – Northern Ireland and
Southern Ireland (no Republic of Ireland at this stage)
Northern Ireland had it’s Parliament at Stormont in Belfast
Southern Ireland had no official parliament yet as no Sinn Fein
MP would attend it
Lloyd George hoped that Sinn Fein would be forced to accept
the situation as it would be a fait accompli

35. Stormont, Belfast

36. Treaty discussions begin
De Valera and the other Sinn Fein leaders knew that the time
had come to talk
But they knew getting all they wanted would be very hard…
Discussions on a Treaty between Ireland and Britain began…
De Valera went to the first set of negotiations but declined to
go to the second set of discussions because he didn’t want to
be associated with any compromise
Collins left to bring home the “grubby deal”
Agreement reached in December 1921

37. The Treaty
Collins’ Signature
Griffith’s Signature

38. What was in the Treaty? (P150)
Confirmed the division of Ireland into North and South
No Republic – instead the South was to be a Dominion of the
British Commonwealth – The “Irish Free State”
All members of the Dail (TDs) would be required to take an
Oath of Allegiance to the British King
British Navy was able to use three Irish Ports as it wished –
two in Cork, one in Donegal
Boundary Commission set up to decide where exactly the
border ran between South and North

39. The Glass is half full
Southern Ireland has it’s own Army, Police, Government at last
Control of our own internal affairs
British Army, Black and Tans are gone (from the south)
IRA remained undefeated
“The Treaty gives us the Freedom to achieve Freedom” –
Michael Collins

40. The Glass is half empty
Treaty did not give Ireland full freedom
Ireland still part of the British Empire
Oath of Allegiance to the British King
Six Northern Counties still part of Britain
Ireland had to pay part of Britain’s debts for first world war
Treaty Ports meant if there was another war in Europe, Ireland
could not be neutral
De Valera opposed the treaty

41. Treaty Passed by the Dail
In Favour 64 TDs
Against 57 TDs

42. Civil War on the horizon –
The Four Courts are Occupied

43. Steps to Civil War
DeValera and his supporters (who opposed the Treaty) walked
out of the Dail
IRA men opposed to the treaty took over the Four Courts in
protest at the treaty
Reluctance on both sides to actually start fighting
1922 – another election – Candidates who were Pro-Treaty
won a large majority
After the election Collins ordered the New Free State Army to
attack the IRA in the Four Courts
Civil War had begun

44. Pro-Treaty Free State Army
attacking the Four Courts

45. Civil War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ayLHPLROg

46. Death of Collins and end of Civil
War
War dragged on for almost a year, atrocities committed on
both sides
Republicans shot some Free State prisoners
At Ballyseedy in Co. Kerry Republicans were tied together and
forced to march across a minefield to clear it
Actions like these added to the sense of bitterness on both
sides
Michael Collins was shot and killed at Beal na Blath (The
Mouth of Flowers) in Co. Cork.
Finally in May 1923 the IRA agreed to surrender and dump
arms – the Civil war was over

47. Michael Collins – Civil War’s
biggest casualty

48. Legacy of Civil War
Huge damage caused to the country
Ireland was very poor– a hard job to rebuild the country
Many of the best and brightest (e.g. Collins) were killed
Much bitterness
Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both grew out of different sides in
the Civil War – Fianna Fail from the Anti-Treaty side, Fine Gael
from the Pro-Treaty side

49. 2011 Higher Level Paper