1916 Rising, War of Independance and Anglo-Irish Treaty

IRB Slogan

Britain’s sifficulty is Ireland’s opportunity

Why did the IRB plan the Rising during WW1?

Britain was distracted elsewhere and this was their perfect time to strike

Members of the IRB’s Secret Council

Joseph Plunkett, Padraig Pearse, Thomas Clarke

Why was the Rising decided on Easter Sunday?

Easter was a holiday period, Pearse believed in blood sacrifice, symbolising Christ’s sacrifice on Easter

Blood sacrifice meaning

The rebels would give up their lives for the good of the future of Ireland

Involvement of James Connolly

Irish Citien Army leader

Was also planning a rising

In January 1916 Military council invited him to the rising

Involvement of Eoin Macneill

Irish Volunteer Force leader

Was opposed to the idea of rebellion

Believed fighting was only justified if they were attacked first

Military Council needed him and volunteers

Thye showed him a document saying the British government planned to disarm the IVF

Document was on Dublin Castle paper, became known as the Castle document

Macneill agreed

Later found out document was fake and placed a notice in the Sunday Independant, cancelling the participation of IVF

Roger Casement

Was made to smuggle arms and ammunition onboard the Aud landing in Kerry

Aud was captured by the Biritsh Navy in Tralee Bay on Good Friday

Was sunk by captain and all arms and ammunition was lost

Casement was also captured

Final preparations

Military council went ahead with Rising on Easter Monday, Pearse felt Britain would not expect this after loss of Aud, Many British soldiers had day off = bank holiday

Was now confined to Dublin as only Dublin volunteers could be gathered on such short notice

Pearse hoped people would be inspired

Easter Monday 24th April

- About 1500 Volunteers and members of ICA marched from Liberty hall into various city centre buildings such as GPO, Jabob’s facotry and the Four Courts. Pearse and Connolly occupied Gpo and it became the headquarters. Outside GPo Pearse read the proclamation of the irish republic

25th, 26th

 Britain by now had regrouped, after bringing in extra soldiers from the Curragh barracks in Kildare and from England trough ports like Dun Laoghaire. On Monday, there were only 400 soldiers on duty, on tuesday they outnumbered them by 5000. on wednesday the Helga gunboat sailed along the Liffey and bombed rebel buildings.

Rebel Surrender on the 29th Friday

As the week went on, British gained control, surrounding the rebels. At Mount Street Bridge, 13 rebels held up some 1750 soldiers for hours, killing or wounding 231 before being overwhelmed.

By Friday was clear they had been defeated, City in ruins, rebels surrounded and looting taking place everywhere. Civvilain casualties were 54%, whilst rebels 16%. Pearse surrundered and a nurse named Elizabeth O’ Farrell carried the message.

Why the Rising Failed

Lack of Arms, ammunition, and Irish fighters

Was not the countrywide rebellion that was intended

Rebels based themselves in areas that could be easily surrounded

Consequences of Rising

Over 485 people were killed and at least 2600 injured, including 260 civillians who died, including 40 children

Almost 3000 people sent to prisons e.g Frongoch in Wales, revolutionary ideas spread here and were later called ‘universities of republicism

Between 3rd and 12th May, 90 leaders were sentenced to death.

15 shot in Kilmainham Gaol, including all Miliary Council Leaders

Rising was referred as ‘Sinn Fein Rising’ and so their populairty surged. Sinn Fein was not officially invlolved

Executions turned public opinion in favour of rebels

War of Independance

Began on 21st January 1919

Royal Irish Constabulary was ambushed in Soloheadbeg Tipperary by two IRA men, starting the war

Irish Volunteers had become known as the IRA as to the Dail had declared them the offcial  army of the Irish Republic

IRA methods

Guerilla Warfare - Tactic involving ambushes and hit-and-runs against British (Mainly RIC) RIC barracks were attacked and raided

Michael Collins was Director of Intelligence and set up the Inteligence network which involved spies gathering information. He also set up The Squad, also called 12 Apostles. These were assasins who killed British detectives and spies, these were effective and had a salary

Local units called Flying Columns were set up as IRA numbers increased. They took part in ambushes, raided local police and stations and helped organise the IRA in rural areas.

Methods of the British

Black and Tans- Formed in spring of 1920, made up of ex-British soliders and named for the color of their uniforms

Auxillaries- Ex- army officers, were ruthless, by the end of 1920 Biritsh had 40,000 whilst IRA had 10,000

These groups carried ot terrible reprisals, which were acts of retaliation against local people in revenge for attacks on British organisations, this further increased support for IRA

Key events in the War of Independance

 Bloody Sunday on November 21, 1920 . The Squad killed 14 British intelligence agents, officers and RIC. The Auxillaries entered   Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd, killed 14, including tipp player Michael Hogan

Tomas MacCurtain (Lord Mayor of Cork) was shot dead by British forces on 20th March 1920

His successor, Terence MacSwiney, died from hunger strike in Brixton Prison after 74 days on 25th October 1920

Why did War of Independance end 

 The IRA was running low on ammunition,

the British government were being criticised

Costed the British 20 Milly a year

A ceasefire was called on July 11, 1921 and the War of Independence was over

Treaty - Irish and British delegations

Negotiations began in London

Sinn Fein selected a delegation to represent Ireland in the negotiations. Irish delegation inclued Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, Eamonn Duggan and George Gavan Duffy. De Valera did not go, as he wanted information to be brought back to him before any decisions were made

The British delegation inlcuded David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Lord Birkenhead, Austin Chamberlain. They were very experienced in politics and negotiation, having just negotiated the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI

Wants for both delegations

Irish Delegation wanted : 

A republic completely independant of Britain

No border / partition between north and south

British Delegation wanted : 

To keep Ireland within the British Empire

To protect the Ulster Unionists

Negotiations

Lasted for 2 months, from October to December 1921

They were in regular contact with de Valera at home and the government at home, but were pressured by Lloyd George to accept a deal, with the threat of war if they refused

They believed that Ireland could not continue fighting and had to accept the deal

Terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty

On 6 Decemeber 1921 the ‘Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland’ (The Anglo-Irish treaty) was signed

Ireland would not be a republic but a dominion- a self governing state within the British Empire. It would have its own parliament, with control over things such as education, taxation and foreign policy for example, but the British king would remain head of state

Ireland would be called the Irish Free State

All TDs would have to take an oath of allegiance to the British Crown

Britain would keep 3 naval ports in Ireland - Lough Swilly, Berehaven, Cobh

The Dail Debates

Public opinion on the Anglo-Irish Treaty was divided. The Dail debated the Treaty from December 1921 to January 1922, splitting into pro and anti-Treaty sides

The Treaty debate in the Dail ended on 7 January 1922 with a vote, resulting in the Anglo-Irish Treaty being accepted by 64 votes to 57.

De Valera resigned as President of the Dail and left, along with his supporters. Arthur Griffth was elected President of the Dail in his place. a provsional (temporary) government was set up to put the Treaty in place

Pro Treaty side arguments

Included Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith and W.T Cosgrave

They could not fund a war against Britain any longer

The Treaty could be built on over time and was a stepping stone to full independence

Treaty was an improvement on Home Rule

Treaty guaranteed immediate peace with Britain

Anti Treaty side arguments

Eamon de Valera, Cathal Brugha, Austin Stack

They had not achieved the republic they had fought and died for

They should have achieved better terms

Irish TDs should not have to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown

Treaty left Ireland partitioned.