Irish Independence

History Paper 2

Nationalism

• No single, original Gaelic/Irish race

• Irish sovereignty

Irish Catholics vs. Ulster Protestants

• Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847)

  • The Liberator

  • Founded the Catholic Association in 1823

    • Supported by Catholic church

  • Catholic Emancipation passed House of Commons in 1829

    • Catholics allowed in parliament

Other factors for growth

• Young Irelanders (1847)

  • Movement led by Charles Gavan Duffy, Thomas Davis, and John Black Dillon

• Called for civil disobedience & an uprising

  • Argued for redistribution of land to peasants

  • Push for violence influenced by revolutions in France, Hungary, Poland, and Italy

Violent

• The Easter Rising (24 April 1916)

• IRB moved to rebellion - argued for democracy but…

• Declared independence & raised Irish tricolor flag over General Post Office building

• Dead, wounded, arrested, deported to English prisons

• Sinn Fein blamed for Rising

• 16 leading figures executed - de Valera escaped

• Sinn Fein began to win elections in 1917 over IPP

Violent

• Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921)

• Irish Republican Army (IRA) led by Collins

  • Funded by de Valera’s work in the US

  • Guerilla tactics & specialized assassination unit

  • Emphatically Catholic

• Zealous minority violence to promote nationalism

  • Against British & non-British citizens

• British Special Forces deployed - “Black & Tans”

  • Harsh tactics/violence pushed many more towards Sinn Fein

• Bloody Sunday - 28 Nov 1920

  • IRA killed 18 Black and Tans

  • Response to killing of 13

• The Irish Civil War (1922-1923)

  • conflict stemming from the Anglo-Irish Treaty

Non-Violent

• Land War - 1879-1882

• Irish Tenant League demanded the “3 F’s”

• Irish National Land League

  • Social pressure via public meetings, rallies, posters, and rent strikes and boycotts

  • Women key to success

• Second Irish Land Act (1881) allowed fixity of tenure

• Irish Land Purchase Acts, 1885-1891

• Land solution allowed for focus on home rule

Non-Violent

• Anglo-Irish Treaty (Dec. 1921)

• Articles of agreement for a Treaty b/n Great Britain & Ireland

• Created the Irish Free State of 26 countries

  • Dominion status on lvl. With Canada, Australia, NZ.

  • Northern Ireland - 6 northeastern counties 

  • Swore oath of loyalty to British crown

• Collins argued as best option

• Narrowly accepted by Dail & confirmed by June 1922 Free State General Election

Leaders

• Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847)

• Michael Collins (1890-1922)

• Eamon de Valera

Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847)

• The Liberator

• Founded the Catholic Association in 1823

• Catholic Emancipation passed House of Commons in 1829

• Became MP in 1830

• Founded Repeal Association in 1840

  • Goal to repeal of Act of Union

  • Supported by Catholic clergy, but not Ulster

• Significance: large-scale, non-violent mobilization could work

Michael Collins (1890-1922)

• Easter Rising (1916): Participated in the Rising and emerged as a leader while imprisoned at Frongoch

• The Anglo-Irish War (1919-1921): guerrilla campaign, eliminated the British agents, effectively undermining the British Force

• Political & Financial Leader: Served as Minister for Finance in the first Dáil, organizing the successful "National Loan" to fund the revolutionary government.

• Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921)

Eamon de Valera

• Political Party: Founded Fianna Fáil in 1926 after leaving Sinn Féin over disputes regarding the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

• Fundraising in America: Between 1919 and 1920, he traveled to the U.S. to seek recognition and funding, successfully raising over $6 million for the Irish Republic.

• Northern Ireland Stance: He opposed the partition of Ireland and strongly favored a united, independent country. However, he maintained Irish neutrality during WWII.

• World War II & Northern Ireland: In 1940, fearing that joining the war would cause a civil war and that the union was not guaranteed.

Internal Factors - Pre Independence

• Social Issues

  • Catholics vs. Protestants: mostly Catholic nationalists sought independence from Britain, while mostly Protestant unionists (primarily in Ulster) wanted to remain within the United Kingdom.

• Economic Issues

  • The Great Potato famine - Long-term causes

    • Massive population growth

    • Textile industry recessions & movement of manufacturing to Ulster

    • Land rents high/absentee landowners in England

    • The Great Potato Famine

      • 1845- blight killed ⅓ of crop

    • PM Robert Peel bought cort from US to stabilize prices

    • PM Lord Russell removed food distribution & public works later in 1846

    • “Black 47” - massive starvation & spread of typhus

    • No government help 1848

• Political Issues

  • Irish Parliamentary Party vs. Sinn Fein

    Irish Parliamentary Party by Charles Parnell (1882): Home Rule with support from Catholic Church, Political Party in House of Commons

    Sinn Fein by Arthur Griffith (1905): Called for independence, IRB/Fenian & Gaelic groups

External Factors - Pre Independence

• Social Factors

  • European nationalist movements inspired Irish identity

• Economic Factors

  • British economic control

    • Economy shaped by British policies, dependence on agriculture

    • Limited industrialization outside Ulster

    • Problems of taxation and finances (inequality) led to the power and interest of rights and liberties among the Irish against continued British control

    • Dependence on British markets

• Political Factors

  • Impact of World War I

    • Britain was distracted, which meant they had weaker control, created opportunities

    • Easter Rising (1916) - the execution of leaders increased support for Irish nationalism

    • Delay of Home Rule led to frustration, which created the rise of radical nationalism

Internal Factors - Post Independence

• Social Factors

  • Divisions from the Civil War (1922-1923)

    • Split b/n pro- and anti-treaty, created long-lasting social tensions

  • Catholic Church influence

    • Emphasized education, languages, family, and social policy

  • Divisions from the Civil War (1922-1923)

  • Identity formation

    • Promotion of the Irish language and culture

      • By 1932, teaching the “national language” had been introduced in the education system

    • Effort to separate from British identity

• Economic Factors

  • Weak, agriculture-based economy

    • Heavy reliance on farming, little industrial growth

  • Widespread poverty and emigration

  • 1923: Land Purchase Act

    • The larger landowners & the cattle farmers benefited the most

  • 1927: The state-sponsored Agricultural Credit Corporation was established to help farmers make improvement by advancing capital with their security for the loans

  • 1927: govt. set up a semi-state company to build a hydroelectrict dam, provided about 4,000 construction workerss

• Political Factors

  • June 1922 - Pro-Treaty Sinn Fein wins the general election, starting the Irish Civil War

  • Ended in victory for the pro-Treaty and establishment of the Irish Free State (IFS) as a dominion within the British Empire and Northern Ireland remained a Protestant-majority part of the UK

External Factors - Post Independence

• Social Factors

  • Emigration

    • Economic hardship pushed many Irish to emigrate

    • Reduced population

  • Widespread poverty

• Economic Factors

  • Reliance on the British market

    • 1924: over 80% of exports went to Britain

    • The lack of sufficient coal and iron reserves and massive competition from British limited industrial expansion

• Political Factors

  • Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) maintained ties with Britain (Dominion status)

  • De Valera removed the oath to the British crown