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WoI article
On 9 January 2008, the question was asked on the Irish WoI Discussion Page, “Why was there war between Ireland and Britain?”
There needs to be an explanation of this in the introductory paragraphs of the article, down as far as the present “Initial Hostilities” section. Below is a Summary of the political and military developments which are covered in most reference books on the subject. From this Summary I propose to distil a few paragraphs for the beginning of the article which explain “Why was there war between Ireland and Britain?”
The explanation of the origins of the war is: (1) Like many other parts of the British Empire the rule of Ireland by Britain was maintained by force, not consent. (2) An arrangement by which the Irish would consent to union with Britain while exercising limited self-government was destroyed by an armed revolt of Unionists who (3) went on to achieve dominance in the government of Britain and Ireland, so that (4) Irish separatists saw nothing but further defeat in continuing attempts to use the British political system, but who (5) saw opportunities in the international context of the Great War to advance their cause by using a combination of democratic electoral politics and armed resistance to the government forces; to which (6) the British government responded by increasing measures of armed force.
SUMMARY: Irish-British Relations 1910-19: Origins of War of Independence
S: Cathal Brugha, le Seán Ua Ceallaigh (.i. Sceilg), M.H. Macanghoill, Baile Átha Cliath, 1942.
M: The Irish Republic, Dorothy Macardle, 1968 ed.
H: The Irish War of Independence, Michael Hopkinson, 2002.
G: The Four Glorious Years, Frank Gallagher, 2005 ed.
War in Ireland
In 1919-21 a war was fought in Ireland between British forces and the Irish Volunteers, or Irish Republican Army. At the end of this conflict, called the Irish War of Independence, the British Army withdrew from most of Ireland and the Irish Free State was set up.
Following the second general election of 1910 the Liberal Party formed the government of Great Britain and Ireland; British forces were the only armed forces in Ireland; and Irish nationalists were overwhelmingly in support of the Irish Party whose policy was Irish self-government within the British Empire, a policy endorsed by the governing Liberal Party. No further elections were held until December 1918 when, for the first time, a poll or plebiscite took place in Ireland on the issue of full independence from Britain.
In the meantime, several armies came into existence in Ireland; the Conservative and Unionist opposition parties acquired great political power, becoming part of the government of Britain and Ireland in coalition with the Liberal Party in the course of the 1914-18 Great War; and Redmond's Irish Party lost most of its influence on the British government and on the Irish electorate. The Liberal Party went into a decline which ultimately led to its eclipse as a British governing party.
Soon after the general election held in 1918 the British forces came into armed conflict with the IRA (Irish Republican Army), one of the new armies in Ireland.
Constitutional Background
Historically, in 1801 the Kingdom of Ireland was abolished and a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was formed, following the 1798 rebellion against British Rule in Ireland, a rebellion which was influenced and supported by Napoleonic France, with whom Britain was at war.
Through the 19th and early 20th centuries there were political and military movements in Ireland to end the Union between Ireland and Great Britain. Irish separatists believed that Ireland should govern itself, and that British government of Ireland was to blame for catastrophes such as the Great Famine.
These campaigns were not generally supported by the minority Protestant population of Ireland, many of whom were descended from British settlers in Ireland following military conquests by Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries, and who were mainly Unionists – supporters of the Union between Ireland and Britain.
Separatist movements achieved no success in the 19th century. British governments were opposed to Irish separatism as they regarded Ireland as part of British national territory, and feared that hostile European powers from whom Irish separatists sought help would gain an alliance with Ireland, whose strategic position in the Atlantic seaways would then be lost to the British Empire. It was strongly believed that Irish independence would weaken British control of its Empire, and this was regarded as a good reason to use force to prevent it, both before and after the Irish independence movement acquired a democratic mandate in 1918.
From the 1880's, British Liberal Party governments, in alliance with the Irish Parliamentary Party, sought to enact measures of Irish Home Rule, a form of Irish self-government which would give some local autonomy to Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the British Army continuing as a garrison.
The nature of the connection between Ireland and Britain was characterised in a British Parliamentary debate: " 'I would ask, how is Ireland held now?' exclaimed the speaker [John Redmond] rhetorically. 'By force, of course', answered Lord Arthur Hill. 'I thank the honourable member for the word', replied Redmond. 'It is held by force; but does the present [Home Rule] Bill propose to take away that force, which, I presume, means the English army, navy, and police? No; it still leaves these forces under Imperial control.' " (Quoted in John Redmond, Denis Gwynn, p. 77)
The Home Rule development was opposed by Unionists in Ireland, and by the Conservative Party (also known as the Unionist Party) and Liberal Unionists in Great Britain, who sought to preserve the status quo, in which Ireland was governed by a British-appointed Executive body based in Dublin Castle, the main office-holders being the Viceroy or Lord Lieutenant, and the Chief Secretary.
A minority organisation of Irish Republicans sought complete independence from Great Britain. The Irish Republican Brotherhood, an illegal, secret organisation, advocated the use of military methods to achieve independence. Historically, national independence had been won through force of arms by, for instance, the American Colonies, Greece, and Serbia. The Polish Legions were formed by the Polish leader Pilsudski to fight to obtain Polish independence from Russia, Germany and Austria. But even though Pilsudski fought on the side of the defeated Central Powers in the 1914-18 Great War, Poland was granted independence in the post-Great War Peace Conference in Paris.
In contrast, in 1905, after Norway voted for independence from Sweden, Sweden made the necessary constitutional arrangements for Norwegian independence. Prior to 1918 there had never been a plebiscite or poll in Ireland on the issue of independence.
John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Party which won most of the House of Commons seats representing Ireland in the British Parliament, supported the Liberal Party in government while it sought to enact Irish Home Rule, and it was this Home Rule movement which was opposed by Unionists.
Supporters of Irish independence had little political support at that stage. In the early twentieth century most people in Ireland believed that it was impossible to overcome British military power. In a speech delivered in the Mansion House, Dublin, on 4 September 1907, Redmond stated: "We demand self-government as a right. … We regard [the Act of Union] as our fathers regarded it before us, as a great criminal act of usurpation carried by violence and fraud. … Resistance to [it is] a sacred duty; and the methods of resistance will remain for us merely a question of expediency. There are men today, perfectly honourable and honest men, for whose convictions I have the utmost respect, who think that the method we ought to adopt is force of arms. Such resistance I say here, as I have said more than once upon the floor of the House of Commons, would be perfectly justifiable if it were possible. But it is not, under present circumstances, possible, and I thank God there are other means at our hands." (Ireland, the Peace Conference and the League of Nations, by L.G. Redmond-Howard, Dublin 1918; re-printed by AHS, 2006, in Six Days of the Irish Republic, p. 217.)
In January 1910 a general election in the United Kingdom produced a hung parliament, with the Liberal Party winning a slightly smaller popular vote, but slightly more parliamentary seats, than their Tory/Liberal Unionist opponents who were then called the Unionist Party.
In the general election of December 1910, there was a similar outcome, but a voting agreement with the Irish Party led by John Redmond enabled the Liberal Party, led by Herbert Asquith, to form a government, in return for an undertaking by the Asquith government that an Irish Home Rule Bill would be enacted in the lifetime of the new government, whose constitutional lifespan was five years; thereby placing Redmond's party of 74 MP's in a powerful position in both Britain and Ireland. Also in Parliament were 8 MP's of the All-for-Ireland League who sought an internal reconciliation with Unionists in Ireland and who did not pledge support to the Liberal Party in government; and 17 Unionists MP's elected in Ireland who opposed Asquith’s government.
The Asquith Liberal Party governed Ireland as well as Britain even though it had not obtained an electoral mandate in Ireland. It had not sought an electoral mandate in Ireland, and did not contest any seats there.
Irish-British Relations 1910-16
A bill for Irish Home Rule, in which the British government would retain overall control of Irish affairs, was presented to the British Parliament by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith on 11 April 1912. {M, p. 79.} In opposition to this, two days earlier (9 April 1912) a parade of 80,000 men in Belfast was reviewed by Bonar Law, the leader of the British Conservative (or Unionist) Party, and by leading Conservatives and Unionists Walter Long and Lord Londonderry. {M, p. 81.} Walter Long was previously Chief Secretary of Ireland and leader of the Unionist Party in Ireland.
At a public meeting in July 1912, Bonar Law declared: "There are things stronger than Parliamentary majorities. I can imagine no length to which Ulster will go, in which I shall not be ready to support them", a statement which Asquith described as a "declaration of war against constitutional government". {M, p. 81.} On 5 October 1912, in a speech at Ladybank, Asquith said: “A more deadly blow has never been dealt [by Opposition leaders Bonar Law, Walter Long and Lord Londonderry] by any body of responsible politicians at the very foundation on which democratic government rests.” {Quoted by GA, p. 24 AHS edition.} On 1 January 1913, Bonar Law declared in the House of Commons: “If you insist on enforcing this [Home Rule] Bill, I shall assist [the people of Ulster] in resisting it.” {GA, p. 26.}
In September 1912 about half a million Unionists in Ulster signed the Ulster Covenant which pledged them to use "all means which may be found necessary to defeat … Home Rule". {M, p. 81.} On 20 September 1912, Sir Edward Carson said in Derry: “Any man who having made this pledge goes back on it, … let him beware!”. {GA, p. 22.}
With the assistance of Field-Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar and Waterford and other British military leaders, the Ulster Volunteers, or Ulster Volunteer Force, was formed from military-age male signatories of the Covenant during 1912 under the command of British Army Major (later General) Sir George Richardson KCB, and on 13 January 1913 this force was formally established by the Unionist political leaders including Sir Edward Carson, a member of the Privy Council or Private Cabinet of political advisers to the King, supported by the Conservative Party and its leadership including Bonar Law. {M, p. 81.}
The British government took no action against the UVF at any time. {M, p. 82.}
In July 1913 the Supreme Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood decided against forming a Volunteer force of their own at that point. {M, p. 87.}
In Mid-August 1913, Edward Carson was invited to meet the German Kaiser. {Belfast Evening Telegraph, 27 August 1913.} Carson remained a member of the Privy Council, which included Bonar Law, Walter Long, F.E. Smith and Lord Londonderry, and most of which supported Carson. {M, p. 86.}
Following a police baton charge of a public meeting during a tram workers’ strike on 31 August 1913 in which two men and a woman were killed, a workers' defence force called the Irish Citizen army was formed in October 1913 by labour leader Jim Larkin and Captain J.R. White, D.S.O., son of Field-Marshal Sir George White. {M, p. 89.}
On 20 September 1913, F.E. Smith (leading Conservative M.P.; appointed Solicitor-General by Prime Minister Asquith in May 1915; later Lord Birkenhead) stated in Ballyclare, Co. Antrim, that if Home Rule was enforced, his party would hold themselves “absolved from all allegiance to the Government, and would say to their followers in England ‘To your tents, O Israel!’" {GA, p. 29.}
On 24 September 1913 the apparatus of the Unionist Provisional Government was set up, with Sir Edward Carson at its head. This was done though no elections were held. County Longford-born General Sir Henry Wilson, Director of Military Operations at the British War Office, promised military support. {GA, p. 30. M, p. 86.}
On November 30 1913, Bonar Law stated in Dublin that his party would support Unionist resistance to Home Rule. {GA, p. 30.}
In October 1913 an academic, Eoin Mac Neill, proposed in a Gaelic League journal that an Irish Nationalist Volunteer force should be formed. Members of the IRB responded by participating in a Provisional Committee, chaired by Eoin Mac Neill, for this purpose. {M, p. 90.}
On 25 November 1913, the inaugural meeting of the Irish Volunteers was held, and their manifesto included the objectives: "To form a citizen army from a population now at the mercy of almost any organised aggression", and "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland". Officers were elected by lower ranks. {M, pp. 90-95.}
On 4 December 1913 the government issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of arms into Ireland. {M, p. 92.}
On 20 March 1914 the British Army was ordered to safeguard arms depots in Ulster from capture by the UVF. Along with other Army Commanders, General Lord John French, who was Chief of the Imperial Staff, Inspector-General of the Army, and ADC General to the King, resigned his commission rather than carry out this order. This action is called the Curragh Mutiny. {M, p. 97.} Earlier in the year the House of Lords had debated the blocking of the annual Army Act, in order to deprive the British Government of its Army. {M, p. 97.}
On 23 March 1914, Bonar Law, Leader of the Conservative Party, declared his support for the Army Mutiny. {M, p. 98.} The British Government assured the Army that it would not again be called upon to act against the UVF. {M, p. 97.}
In March 1914 the Irish Citizen Army was reconstituted by Jim Larkin and Countess Constance Markievicz, who was also involved with the Irish Volunteers. {M, p. 103.}
On April 24 1914, the UVF landed 35,000 Mauser rifles from Germany. This operation is known as the Larne Gun-running. No action was taken by the government against this. The arming of the UVF was accomplished mainly by British army veteran Major Fred Crawford, who was appointed Director of Ordnance of the HQ Staff of the UVF.{M, p. 99}
During summer 1914, the Irish Volunteers organised military training camps. By end of May 1914, Irish Volunteer numbers had increased to about 70,000. {M, p. 101.}
In June 1914, John Redmond sought control of the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers, and this was granted. {M, p. 98.}
On 26 July 1914, the Irish Volunteers smuggled in 900 rifles from Germany. A unit of the British Army was ordered to confront them. The Volunteers were ordered not to fire, but managed to hide the imported rifles. The British Army fired on civilians in Bachelors' Walk, killing three. {M, pp. 105-107.}
At the end of July 1914, Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith made an agreement with Edward Carson and Bonar Law that the implementation of Home Rule would be postponed and its implementation made subject to the passing of an Amending Bill to be drafted in advance of Home Rule. {M, p. 104.}
On 3 August 1914, Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey declared war on Germany. War with Germany had not been an election issue, and there was no specific electoral mandate for it. {M, p. 108.}
On 8 August 1914 the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed. This placed many areas of civilian life under military control. {M, p. 114.}
In August 1914 the IRB, in consultation with labour leader James Connolly and others, decided to prepare a military rising against Britain, with a view to Irish separatist participation in a post-Great War peace conference. {M, p. 116.}
On 18 September 1914, the Home Rule Bill was enacted into law, along with a Suspensory Act by which Home Rule would not be implemented without an Amending Bill. {M, p. 110.}
On 20 September 1914, at a speech in Woodenbridge, Co. Wicklow, John Redmond urged his followers to join the British Army to fight against Germany and its allies. {M, p. 112.} Redmond had no electoral mandate for this, and, when last elected in 1910, had opposed previous Imperial wars.
Following a vote, the Irish Volunteers (now numbering about 180,000) split, the great majority (now called the National Volunteers) supporting Redmond. {M, p. 115.} As members of the British Army, National Volunteers were not allowed to form military units under their own officers. {M, p. 114.}
Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force mostly joined the 36th (Ulster) Division under their own officers. {M, p. 114.}
On 25 October 1914 the first Annual Volunteer Convention of the minority Irish Volunteers was held in Dublin, under Eoin Mac Neill. They declared their aim of replacing Dublin Castle government with an Irish government. Most Irish Volunteer officers were IRB members, taking their orders from IRB members in the leadership, not from Eoin Mac Neill. {{M, p. 115.}
On 27 November 1914 a declaration of support for Irish independence was negotiated with Germany. {M, p. 120.}
[In November 1914, Casement negotiated a declaration by Germany which stated, "The Imperial Government formally declares that under no circumstances would Germany invade Ireland with a view to its conquest or the overthrow of any native institutions in that country. Should the fortune of this great war, that was not of Germany's seeking ever bring in its course German troops to the shores of Ireland, they would land there not as an army of invaders to pillage and destroy but as the forces of a Government that is inspired by goodwill towards a country and people for whom Germany desires only national prosperity and national freedom". He negotiated in Berlin with Arthur Zimmermann then Under Secretary of State in the Foreign Office and with the Imperial Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement)]
In April 1915 UVF leader Major Fred Crawford declared publicly that he was prepared to change his allegiance to the Kaiser if the Home Rule Act was implemented. Despite DORA legislation, no action was taken against him. {M, p. 122.}
On 19 May 1915 the Liberal government was replaced by a coalition government without elections (which were by law due by end of 1915, but which were not held) with Asquith continuing as Prime Minister. The new Cabinet included UVF leaders and supporters Bonar Law, Walter Long, and Edward Carson who was the new Attorney-General. Another UVF supporter in the new coalition government was F.E. Smith (later Lord Birkenhead) who was appointed Solicitor-General. {M, p. 124.}
The Home Rule Act had been due to take effect on 17 September 1915, but was maintained in suspension by means of Orders-in-Council. {M, p. 125.}
In consequence there was increased support for the Irish Volunteers. Irish campaigners against conscription into the British Army were imprisoned under the Defence of the Realm Act. In June 1915 Francis Sheehy-Skeffington went on hunger strike and was released from prison after nine days. {M, pp. 124-5.}
In August 1915 the Irish Volunteers undertook arms training and military manoeuvres. The Irish Volunteers collected money for arms and their numbers continued to increase. {M, pp. 128-9.}
In January 1916, Parliament passed the first conscription laws (compulsory Army service) ever passed in Britain. Ireland was exempt, and despite increasing pressure to extend it, conscription was opposed by all nationalist parties in Ireland. In October 1916, Redmond warned that conscription would be resisted in every village in Ireland, and his National Volunteer forces would be trained in readiness to fight it. (L, p. 129.) On 2 December 1917, speaking in Castlewellan, Co. Down, senior Redmondite MP John Dillon said that Irish conscription meant "seizing young men, scattering them among English regiments, getting them to France, and, if they did not fight there, shooting them". {M, p. 221.}
{At first only single men and childless widowers aged 18 to 41 were called up. By 1918 compulsory service had been extended to include all men aged 18 to 51. More than 2.3 million conscripts were enlisted before the end of the war in November, 1918.}
1916 Rising and Aftermath
On 24 April 1916 about 1,000 of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, under IRB leadership, began a military rebellion, in the name of an Irish Republic, in alliance with Germany. The German General Staff "reckoned on the possibility of a timely end to the war as the outcome of a successful [Irish] rising" (Karl Spindler, The Mystery of the casement Ship, Berlin 1931, p. 265). "The Irish point of view was that if, by a rising, the Irish could establish their status as a nation deprived of lawful statehood, then Germany would afford them a hearing in that capacity at the post-war peace conference – expected to follow a German victory or favourable cease-fire." (Eoin Neeson, Myths of 1916, AHS 2007, p. 84).
The British government had about 2,500 troops in Dublin, and about 6,000 mobile combat troops in the rest of Ireland. Field-Marshal Lord French, GOC British Home Forces sent additional military units and naval forces to Ireland, bringing their total fighting force in Dublin to about 12,000, with artillery, field-guns and naval bombardment, under the command of Major General Sir John Maxwell, GOC Ireland, who was appointed Military Governor with plenary powers. (Eoin Neeson, Myths of 1916, AHS 2007, pp. 135-6.)
The rebels had no electoral authority in Ireland. The power against which they rebelled had not received any electoral mandate in Ireland. The electoral mandate it had received in Britain in 1910 had expired in 1915 and had not been renewed.
On 29 April 1916 the rebels surrendered. During the week 2-9 May, General Maxwell had about 3,400 people arrested and 183 tried, 90 of whom were sentenced to death. Court martial trials were held in camera, without defence or jury. Fifteen were executed between 3 and 12 May.
In Ireland the executions were widely regarded as a mass lynching of surrendered prisoners of war who had committed no war crimes. In comparison, the 1945 Nuremberg trials put 24 defendants on trial, sentencing 12 of them to death.
On May 12 1916, Prime Minister Asquith visited Dublin, and assured General Maxwell that he had the government's "approval and support" for his measures. {M, p. 179.}
There were no more executions until another leader, Roger Casement, was tried for treason and hanged on 3 August 1916. His prosecution was led by government member F.E. Smith (later Lord Birkenhead) who had supported the Ulster Covenanters and helped them to obtain German arms in 1914. {M, p. 185-6.} Smith threatened to resign from the British government if the death sentence were commuted.
On 27 July 1916, General Maxwell’s military rule was suspended and the previous structure of Dublin Castle government was re-instated in Ireland, with General Maxwell in military command of 40,000 troops, and UVF supporters Sir James Campbell as Attorney-General and Henry Duke as First Secretary. {M, p. 183, p. 187.}
General Maxwell was recalled in November 1916. {M, p. 191.}
Unionist Consolidation of Power and Irish Response
In December 1916 Asquith resigned, and Lloyd George became Prime Minister of the Coalition government. The new Cabinet continued to include UVF sponsors Edward Carson (as First Lord of the Admiralty) and Bonar Law (as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons). Henry Duke remained as First Secretary of Ireland. {M, p. 191.}
By end of December 1916 most of the Irish prisoners from the Rising were released. {M, p. 191.}
Following naval blockade which reduced Germany's food supply, in early 1917 Germany renewed submarine warfare against merchant shipping including American ships supplying Britain, leading to a possibility that the USA would enter the war on the side of Britain.
On 22 January 1917 President Woodrow Wilson announced to the American Congress that a post-war peace settlement should be based on principles of equality of nations and government by the consent of those governed. Resolution of the Irish question was therefore important for British war policy, and Bonar Law declared that Britain was fighting the war for Wilsonian principles of democracy and national self-determination. {M, pp. 195-6.}
Irish separatists also sought American support for their cause. If the USA came into the war on Britain's side, a German victory was less likely and American sponsorship would be necessary to secure Irish entry to the peace conference; and, though Ireland would hardly be admitted if its claim to independence was allowed to lapse, on the other hand, if Ireland were involved in armed conflict with America's war ally Britain, the US would be less sympathetic to the Irish cause. From the release of the Irish prisoners until the ultimate refusal of the USA to back Ireland's claim to present its cause to the peace conference at the end of the war, these factors were important in influencing both the British and Irish to seek political strategies, combined with armed confrontation on both sides. {H, pp. 165-170.}
In February 1917, in a by-election in Roscommon the independence candidate Count Plunkett secured nearly twice as many votes as the Redmondite candidate. Encouraged by this victory, different strands of separatism sought to build a united political movement to replace Redmondism. {M, pp. 199-201.}
In January and February 1917 many independence activists were arrested and deported for offences such as flying the Irish flag and singing "disloyal" songs. {M, p. 197.}
On 6 April 1917 the USA declared war on Germany. No electoral mandate for war existed.
On 9 May 1917 in a by-election in South Longford, an imprisoned Volunteer narrowly defeated the Redmondite candidate. The Redmondite leaders John Dillon and Joe Devlin declared the election issue was Home Rule versus an Irish Republic outside the Empire, and whether there would be Irish Home Rule or a hopeless fight for an Irish Republic. {M, p. 201.}
On 16 May 1917 the Coalition Prime Minister Lloyd George offered a proposal for Home Rule which was rejected by Redmond. Lloyd George then proposed an Irish Convention charged with producing proposals for the future government of Ireland within the British Empire. {M, p. 203.} Redmond and the Irish Unionists agreed to participate. The All-for-Ireland League declared that the Convention had no hope of success and abstained. The remaining Irish political parties (Sinn Féin, Labour), rejected the proposal for a Convention because Irish independence was not an option to be considered by the Convention. Also, the government did not commit itself to implement the proposals of the Convention. {M, p. 201.}
On 10 June 1917 RIC Inspector Mills was killed, the first government casualty since the Rising. Mills was killed in a riot resulting from the arrest of Roscommon MP Count Plunkett while he was addressing a public meeting demanding the release of the Republican prisoners. {S, p. .}
On 15 June 1917 the release of all Volunteers still in prison was announced. Upon his release, Volunteer leader Eamonn de Valera sent a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson declaring that "No people must be forced under a sovereignty under which it does not wish to live". {M, p. 208.}
In July 1917 de Valera contested a by-election in East Clare, stating that he was "standing for the Easter Week Proclamation of Independence", based on the "Allied principles" in the Great War. His opponent declared that "Clare voters did not want to see their sons shot down in a futile and insane attempt to establish an Irish republic". De Valera received 5,000 votes to his opponent's 2,000. The Dublin Evening Mail declared that de Valera's "sweeping victory" was an endorsement of his programme "of frank republicanism, of complete separation from Britain, to be won, if occasion arises, by force of arms." A Redmondite MP, Laurence Ginnell, resigned his Parliamentary seat and joined the independence movement. {M, pp. 209-210.}
The recently released Republican prisoner and newly elected abstensionist MP De Valera, in Volunteer uniform, reviewed units of uniformed Volunteers in military array, and continued these military reviews over the following months. On 30 July 1917, a Government Order under DORA prohibited the wearing of uniforms and the carrying of anything capable of being used as a weapon. At his next public meeting, de Valera advised Volunteers to wear uniforms and carry hurling sticks. {M, p. 211.}
Speaking in Dublin, de Valera declared that in order to be heard at the Peace Conference, Ireland must first claim complete independence. {M, p. 211.}
In Ballybunion Daniel Scanlan was shot dead when the RIC fired on civilians. No RIC man was charged with this. {M, p. 211.}
On 27 August 1917, de Valera stated at a meeting in Hospital, Co. Limerick, that Republican strategy was "to make English rule impossible in Ireland".
From August 1917 to June 1918, six more by-elections were held in Kilkenny City, Armagh, Waterford City, East Tyrone, Offaly and East Cavan. The Armagh, Waterford and Tyrone elections were won by the Redmondite candidates, and the others were won by Republicans. {L, pp. ???}
In the course of these elections, newspapers and meetings supporting Republicans were banned and suppressed, and there were many arrests. Arms were seized from Volunteers, but not from the UVF. In August 1917 eighty four Republicans were arrested. On 25 September 1917 one of these, Thomas Ashe, died from force-feeding while on hunger strike for Prisoner of War status. {M, pp. 212-214.}
On 23 October 1917, addressing the House of Commons, Prime Minister Lloyd George stated that de Valera's considered policy was "sovereign [Irish] independence, which [Britain] could not possibly accept … under any circumstances". {M, p. 220.}
Electoral Response: the Sinn Féin Party
On 25 October 1917 a National Council including of Arthur Griffith's Sinn Féin Party, IRB members and Volunteers adopted unanimously a new Constitution for Sinn Féin containing the following Preamble: "[Sinn Féin] shall, in the name of the Sovereign Irish people: (a) Deny the right and oppose the will of the British Parliament and British Crown or any other foreign government to legislate for Ireland; (b) Make use of any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise." The aim of Sinn Féin was declared to be the "securing of international recognition of Ireland as an independent Irish Republic, and exposing the pretence that England governed Ireland by consent rather than force". De Valera was elected President of Sinn Féin. {M, p. 217-219.}
On 19 November 1917 the Third Annual Convention of the Volunteers elected de Valera as President, while remaining a separate organisation from Sinn Féin, of which de Valera was also now President. De Valera's political strategy was to achieve Irish representation in the post-war Peace Conference while seeking to make British government in Ireland impossible. Volunteers were expected to refrain from initiating armed conflict, and to involve themselves in consistent, non-violent resistance to British rule. {M, p. 220, p. 223.}
In accordance with this, Volunteer discipline was fairly consistently maintained over the succeeding months during which there were many arrests, baton/bayonet charges, hunger strikes, use of “Cat & Mouse” Act by the government, and growing numbers of casualties. {M, pp. 223-227.}
On the British side, the Irish Convention continued its deliberations. On 13 November 1917, in a letter to Prime Minister Lloyd George, Redmond stated that the failure of the Irish Convention would mean "governing Ireland at the point of a bayonet … you will be forced to appoint a military governor" {M, p. 222.} [just as General Maxwell was appointed Military Governor or lynch-gang master when the 1916 Rising took place]. The Convention reported on 5 April 1918; its main report was signed by a minority of its members. {M, p. 230.}
In 1918 civil conflict continued: baton/bayonet charges, arrests under DORA and 1887 Crimes Act, hunger strikes, banning meetings, destruction of musical instruments (which could be used to play seditious music). In April 1918 several newspapers were suppressed and overseas circulation of others was banned. On 28 March 1918, Thomas Russell was bayoneted to death by soldiers. On 16 April 1918 an RIC barracks in Kerry was raided for arms and two Volunteers were shot dead. These were the first Volunteers to be killed in arms raids. Though no Volunteer reprisals were officially authorised, on 14 June 1918 two RIC men were fired on in Tralee and one was wounded. {M, p. 227.}
On 6 March 1918 John Redmond died. In the by-election held on 22 March 1918 his parliamentary seat in Waterford City was retained by his Irish Party. John Dillon was appointed leader of the Party. {M, p. 229-230.}
On 16 March 1918 the RIC were ordered to smash musical instruments to prevent the playing of "seditious music". The order was carried out. {M, p. 226.}
In April 1918 a critical point in the Great War was reached when a German offensive began. On 16 April 1918 a Conscription Act was passed, under which conscription could be put into effect in Ireland at any time by Order-in-Council. {M, p. 232.} Co. Longford-born UVF supporter General Sir Henry Wilson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Great War military adviser to Lloyd George, declared that he was "not afraid to take one hundred or one hundred and fifty thousand recalcitrant Irishmen" for the British Army.
Along with the All-for-Ireland League, John Dillon withdrew the Irish Parliamentary Party to Ireland to organise resistance to conscription. {M, p. 232.} The Party withdrew its candidate from the Offaly by-election in April, granting the uncontested seat to Sinn Féin. {L, p. ???}
On 12 April 1918 Dublin Castle declared that there was a "German Plot" afoot in Ireland. {M, p. 236.}
On 25 April 1918 the meaning of "persons of hostile origin" in DORA was extended, from citizens of countries with which Britain was at war, to include persons born in Ireland. {M, p. 236.}
Resistance to Military Repression
In response to the Conscription crisis, on 18 April 1918 the Lord Mayor of Dublin organised a conference in the Mansion House of representatives of the Irish Party, Sinn Féin, Labour and the All-for-Ireland-League. A joint statement was signed by these, declaring that the Conscription Act was a Declaration of War on Ireland. {M, p. 233.}
The Catholic bishops’ Conference at Maynooth declared that “the Irish people have a right to resist [conscription] by every means that are consonant with the law of God”. {M, p. 234.} In response UVF supporting Cabinet Minister Walter Long declared that “the [Catholic] hierarchy [had] declared war on the British government”. {L, p. 141.}
On Sunday 21 April 1918 an Anti-Conscription Pledge was signed throughout Ireland: "Denying the right of the British Government to enforce compulsory service in this country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist Conscription by the most effective means at our disposal." {M, p. 234.}
On 24 April 1918 a General Strike was held to resist Conscription. {M, p. 234.}
At the end of April 1918, Cathal Brugha (future Defence Minister in the Irish government elected in November 1918) moved to London in order to organise the assassination of leading members of the British government in the House of Commons if and when conscription was ordered for Ireland. {S, pp 57-62.}
On 10 May 1918 Lord John French was appointed Lord Lieutenant and General Governor of Ireland, as military Viceroy at the head of a quasi-military government. General French was a member of an aristocratic Loyalist family in Ireland, and was a leader of the Curragh Mutiny, supported by General Sir Henry Wilson. After being removed from command of the British Army in France in 1915, in favour of General Haig, Lord French was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the United Kingdom. French declared that "if they leave me alone I can do what is necessary". {M, p. 235.} French took steps to send an extra 12,000 troops to Ireland (25,000 were already there) and planned to establish four “entrenched air camps” which could be used to bomb Sinn Féiners.
In mid-May 1918 more than 100 members of Sinn Féin, including de Valera, Griffith and Markievicz, were imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial under the Defence of the Realm Act. {M, p. 236.}
Lord French issued a proclamation declaring that the arrests were on the grounds of conspiracy and treasonable communication with "the German enemy", and commanding "all loyal subjects of His Majesty" to aid the "drastic measures" which would be employed in "crushing the said conspiracy". No evidence of the alleged conspiracy or German Plot was produced. {M, p. 236.}
On 21 June 1921, the imprisoned Griffith was elected MP in a by-election in east Cavan, defeating the Redmondite candidate by 3785 votes to 2581. {M, p. 237.}
On 5 July 1918 the quasi-military government of Lord French banned all meetings and assemblies throughout Ireland. In the course of the month there were 11 baton and bayonet charges by government forces. {M, p. 239.}
On 4 August 1918, about 1,500 illegal hurling matches were held. On 15 August 1918 hundreds of illegal public meetings were held and there were many arrests. {M, p. 239.}
Throughout this period there were many prison conflicts involving Republicans. The number of Irish Volunteers had risen to about 100,000. {M, pp. 240-1.}
On 15 October 1918 Parliament re-opened. Irish Conscription was expected. In a letter to General Sir Henry Wilson, Prime Minister Lloyd George declared that conscription would be enforced if there was no Armistice. {M, p. 242.}
In the Volunteer journal 'An t-Óglach' edited by Piaras Béaslaí, Volunteer Ernest Blythe wrote, from jail in England, that "anyone, civilian or soldier, who assists [in conscription] should be killed … as opportunity arises".{M, p. 242.}
In October 1918 the Electoral Register was revised to include women over thirty years of age. The Irish constituencies had been reorganised in a way which could enable more Unionists to be elected. {M, p. 243.}
On 11 November 1918 an Armistice was declared in the Great War.
Eclipse of Asquith Liberalism: Electoral Mandate for Irish Independence
On 25 November 1918 Parliament was dissolved. Elections were scheduled for 14 December 1918.
The incumbent All-for-Ireland MP's issued a statement of support for Sinn Féin, and ceded their seats to Sinn Féin.
The Redmondite Irish Party won 6 seats and Unionists won 26 seats. Sinn Féin contested 105 seats and won 73. http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/gdala.htm
The mandate conferred by the election result was for an independent Irish republic. The first two items of the Sinn Féin Manifesto are from the preamble to the Sinn Féin Constitution of 1917: "Sinn Féin aims at securing the establishment of [the] Republic: 1. By withdrawing the Irish Representation from the British Parliament and by denying the right and opposing the will of the British Government or any other foreign Government to legislate for Ireland. 2. By making use of any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise. 3. By the establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies as the supreme national authority to speak and act in the name of the Irish people, and to develop Ireland's social, political and industrial life, for the welfare of the whole people of Ireland. 4. By appealing to the Peace Conference for the establishment of Ireland as an Independent Nation. At that conference the future of the Nations of the world will be settled on the principle of government by consent of the governed. Ireland's claim to the application of that principle in her favour is not based on any accidental situation arising from the war. It is older than many if not all of the present belligerents. … " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_Féin_Manifesto_1918
The widely published version was as follows, with the sections censored by Dublin Castle indicated by “neat black rows” which served to draw attention to the censored items {G, p. 48.}: “Sinn Féin aims at securing the establishment of [the] Republic: 1. By withdrawing the Irish Representation from the British Parliament and by denying the right [gap: censored/extent: 4 words] of the British Government [gap: censored/extent: 5 words] to legislate for Ireland. 2. [gap: censored/extent: 26 words] 3. By the establishment of a constituent assembly comprising persons chosen by Irish constituencies as the supreme national authority to speak and act in the name of the Irish people, and to develop Ireland's social, political and industrial life, for the welfare of the whole people of Ireland. 4. By appealing to the Peace Conference for the establishment of Ireland as an Independent Nation. At that conference the future of the Nations of the world will be settled on the principle of government by consent of the governed. Ireland's claim to the application of that principle in her favour is not based on any accidental situation arising from the war. It is older than many if not all of the present belligerents. [gap: censored/extent: 105 words] …” http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E900010/index.html
In Britain, the Liberal Party of Herbert Asquith was routed and Bonar Law’s Conservative and Unionist Party, in coalition with a further section of the Liberals under Lloyd George, won an overwhelming victory, but in Ireland did not seek or receive a mandate for government of Ireland. By the 1922 general election, Bonar Law had consolidated his dominant electoral position in Britain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1918
In July 1919, Lord French claimed that 9 out of 10 Irishmen preferred to remain in union with Great Britain. De Valera replied that French was ignoring the results of the 1918 election, during which Lord French had arrested several hundred Republican leaders including five successive Sinn Féin Directors of Elections, and had raided the Sinn Féin election headquarters about six times, confiscating their election literature. (New York Times 8 July 1919.)
Most of those elected for Sinn Féin were in prison. On 7 January 1919 26 Sinn Féin representatives met in Dublin’s Mansion House and made arrangements to convene an independent Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann, in accordance with their election manifesto and as mandated by the election results. {M, p. 251.}
On 10 January 1919 the new British Cabinet met, and Lloyd George was appointed Prime Minister of Britain and Ireland. Included in the Cabinet were UVF supporters Walter Long (First Lord of the Admiralty), F.E. Smith (now Lord Birkenhead and Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Bonar Law (Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons). Ian McPherson was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland, and General Lord French continued as Lord Lieutenant and General Governor of Ireland. {M, pp. 251-2.}
On 20 January 1919 the Irish Privy Council of the British Government decided by a majority of one vote not to prohibit Dáil Éireann. {M, p. 251.}
On 21 January 1919 Dáil Éireann convened for the first time. In public session observed by visitors and journalists from many countries, and in accordance with their democratic mandate, the assembly ratified the establishment of an independent Irish declared on Easter Monday 24 April 1916, and declared that foreign government in Ireland was an invasion of Irish national right which they would not tolerate, and demanded the evacuation of the country by the English garrison. The members pledged themselves to put this Declaration of Independence into operation “by every means” in [their] power. {M, p. 253.}
The Dáil appointed three delegates to the Peace Conference: Eamonn de Valera (President of Sinn Féin and of the Volunteers), Arthur Griffith, and Count Plunkett. {M, p. 253.}
A “Message to the Free Nations of the World” was read and adopted. This requested international recognition and stated principles of foreign policy. It declared that “the existing state of war, between Ireland and England, [could] never be ended until Ireland [was] definitely evacuated by the armed forces of England”. {H, p. 209.}
A Democratic Programme of economic and social development was adopted.
Collapse of Peace Conference Strategy: Armed Resistance
On 22 January 1919 the Dáil met in private session to elect a Government. De Valera was still in prison, and Cathal Brugha was elected Acting President. {M, p. 256.} As the Peace Conference delegates were in prison, Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh was sent as delegate to the Peace Conference in Paris. President Woodrow Wilson refused support to Irish representation, and there were no replies to letters sent on 22 February and 31 March 1919, by Ó Ceallaigh to Georges Clemenceau, President of the Peace Conference. {M, pp. 259-261.}
In January 1919 the Volunteer Executive met and, on 31 January 1919, published in the Volunteer journal, An t-Óglach, principles for the guidance of Volunteers. These noted that Dáil Éireann, in its Message to the Free Nations of the World, had declared that “a state of war exists”, and that this justified the Irish Volunteers in “treating the armed forces of the enemy – whether soldiers or policemen – exactly as a National army would treat the members of an invading army”. {M, p. 269.}
An article in the following issue of An t-Óglach declared: “The Irish Government claims the same power and authority as any other lawfully constituted Government; it sanctions the employment by the Irish Volunteers of the most drastic measures against the enemies of Ireland. … England must be given the choice of evacuating the country or holding it by foreign garrison, with a perpetual state of war in existence.” {M, p. 269.}
Prior to this, on 21 January 1919, the same day that the Message to the Free Nations was adopted by Dáil Éireann, two RIC men were shot dead by Volunteers seizing explosives in Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary, when, after being challenged, they raised their rifles and aimed them at the Volunteers. This action is regarded as the start of the Irish War of Independence. {M, p. 268.}
On 3 February 1919, de Valera escaped from jail. A public welcome was prepared in Dublin, but when the Dublin Castle government prepared to suppress it by force, de Valera cancelled it. {M, p. 262.}
On 1 April 1919, Dáil Éireann met and elected de Valera as Príomh-Aire, First Minister or President of the Dáil. {M, p. 263.} At that point he was leader of Sinn Féin, the Volunteers and the Dáil.
On 10 April 1919, in a public session of Dáil Éireann, de Valera stated: “There is in Ireland at this moment only one lawful authority and that authority is the elected Government of the Irish Republic. … Towards the persons of those who hold dominion among us by military force we shall conduct ourselves with all needful forbearance [but] we acknowledge no right of theirs. Such use of their laws as we shall make will be dictated solely by necessity, and only in so far as we deem them for the public good. … The Ministry of National Defence is, of course, in close association with the voluntary military forces which are the foundation of the National Army.” {M, pp. 265-6.}
On 20 August 1919, the Dáil adopted an Oath of Allegiance to be subscribed to by all members of the Dáil and by all Volunteers: “I, A.B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I do not and shall not yield a voluntary support to any pretended Government, authority or power within Ireland hostile and inimical thereto, and I do further swear (or affirm) that to the best of my knowledge and ability I will support and defend the Irish Republic and the Government of the Irish Republic, which is Dáil Éireann, against all enemies, foreign and domestic …” {M, p. 281.}
The Volunteers, previously an independent organisation, accepted this, and from that point the Volunteer Executive was an advisory body to the Dáil’s Minister for Defence, Cathal Brugha. {M, p. 282.}
On 10 September 1919 Dáil Éireann was declared to be illegal. {M, p. 284.}
Re-writing Introductory Paragraphs of the WoI Article
To replace the existing introductory paragraphs of the article, a few new paragraphs are needed to deal with: The underlying issues between Ireland and Britain which led to war and separation; the proliferation of Armies in Ireland: 1912 RIC + BA; 1915: RIC + BA, UVF, NV, IV, CA; the implications, for both sides, of the Great War and Peace Conference; the eclipse of the political parties of Redmond and Asquith; the attitude of the British Government to Irish independence; the involvement of Ulster Loyalists and their supporters in the Irish policy of the British Coalition Governments and their control of the Dublin Castle Executive, its armed forces, and its violent repression in Ireland.
A few relevant extracts from the summary above should do it.
Some Points about the Dáil and the War
There were different trends of thought in the independence movement. Some saw the Dáil as potentially a weak link in the face of the overwhelming reality of British intransigence and military power. {M, p. 282.}
On the other hand, de Valera saw the Volunteers as the basis of a national Army which was politically necessary to give substance and credibility in arms to Ireland’s claim to independence (- what is the significance of a government without an army, or an army without a government? – what is the point of an electoral mandate if no attempt is made to implement it? – what is the point of democracy if electoral mandates are not honoured?), but which lacked the military capacity to overcome British armed force without benefit of an overseas alliance. When he was elected MP for Clare he said, like Redmond on 4 September 1907, that “if Irishmen had only a ghost of a chance they would fight for the independence of Ireland” {M, p. 211}, the implication being that their chances on their own were slight, since, as Volunteer President, he did not order them to take the field against the British forces. If the independence movement as a whole was made to depend exclusively on Volunteer success against the British forces, then early military defeat of untried and untested citizen Volunteers entailed premature political defeat of the independence movement as a whole.
This was explicitly stated in Dáil debates:
Extract from Dáil transcripts of 25 January 1921: http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.C.192101250029.html De Valera: “[The war] was a contest between might and right. The enemy had got superior forces and equipment, and all Ireland had was the power of moral resistance. … Their policy should be to stick [fight] on, to show no change on the outside as far as possible, and at the same time to make the burden on the people as light as they could. This policy might necessitate a lightening off of their attacks on the enemy. The change was so slight it could best be initiated by the machinery of administration rather than by public proclamations or acts.”
Extract from Dáil transcripts of 11 March 1921: http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/DT/D.F.C.192103110061.html “The PRESIDENT [de Valera], in opening a discussion on the formal acceptance of a state of war with England, said he felt in America and since he came home that the Dáil was hardly acting fairly by the army in not publicly taking full responsibility for all its acts. He mentioned this view to the Minister of Defence, and his criticism was that to accept war now in any more formal way than they had done, could be misrepresented as an admission that they were not carrying it on in a regular manner heretofore. They could get over that difficulty by stating in the preamble the circumstances of the situation. He discussed the arguments for and against formal acceptance and said it was a very serious decision to take, and he would like the meeting to consider it carefully. If the acceptance were agreed to they could instruct their Consuls abroad to look for belligerent rights. His opinion was they should agree to the acceptance of a state of war. It meant every member would take an equal responsibility. J.N. DOLAN (Leitrim) speaking in favour of the Declaration, said it was up to the Dáil to put the matter beyond yea or nay. It should have been done long ago. He advised caution in the wording to show that this was not a new declaration. L. MELLOWES (Galway, East and Meath, North) thought it was a question of accepting rather than declaring war. ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR DEFENCE Richard (General) Mulcahy was of opinion that nothing had been lost because a declaration of this kind was not made before now. The army got a chance to show it could fight and could keep fighting in its own way. They knew now they could make this declaration and not have to withdraw it at short notice. J. MACENTEE (Monaghan, South) was in favour of making the Declaration but pointed out that it would have the effect of ranging all elements in England against them. If the Coalition Government collapsed, the situation here might improve as matters stood at present. MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS Arthur Griffith said he thought the Dáil should accept the army as being the Army of the Republic which came under their control in January, 1919. It was a legacy from the men who fought in 1916, and the development of it and the way it conducted itself ever since they gave it assistance, was a credit to them. The least the Dáil might do for it was to accept responsibility for all its acts.”
The Dáil’s Acceptance of a State of War on 11 March 1921 was a re-affirmation of the acceptance of a state of war expressed in the Dáil’s Message to the Free Nations of the World on 21 January 1919, and acknowledged on behalf of the Volunteers on 31 January 1919, as described in the Summary above.
Unionist armed revolt, acceded to by the British government, defeated Redmond’s Home Rule strategy. The Unionist-dominated British government sought to overcome both Sinn Féin’s electoral strategy and its Peace Conference strategy. In the end it was the international political effect on Britain of the Dáil’s international appeal, an effect resulting from successive Sinn Féin election victories 1917-21 and by the Volunteers’ dogged defence of the Dáil and its work in Ireland, that eventually succeeded in bringing the British government to negotiate with the democratically elected authority in Ireland – negotiations which should have started in January 1919 at the very latest, if Britain had actually believed its own Great War propaganda about democracy.
Regarding the article: What must be dealt with is why the war happened, not why it shouldn’t have happened – which is what a lot of the discussion has focused on, but from a different PoV to the one in the previous paragraph.