Anglo-Irish War
General election 1918
- Sinn Fein went from just 7 seats to holding majority in Ireland with 73
- The Irish Nationalists fell to just 6 seats and were forgotten
- The Sinn Fein members refused to take up seats in Westminster and set up their own parliament in Dublin, Dail Eireann
The Government of Ireland act 1920
- The Dail Eireann refused to cooperate with British administration
- By the end of 1919, Lloyd George proposed a new solution, the government of Ireland act
- It proposed
- Ireland was to be partitioned
- Separate seats in Dublin and Belfast, with 28 and 52 respectively
- 42 Irish MPs would continue to attend Westminster
- British government still retained control over foreign affairs, defence and monetary matters
- A council of Ireland with 20 members each from Dublin and Belfast
- The bill was dismissed by Sinn Fein and accepted reluctantly by Unionists
Anglo-Irish war 1921-22
- Sinn Fein’s military wing the Irish Volunteers reformed as the IRA
- These were determined to wage a guerrilla war against the British administration
- Around 3000 activists were against around 40,000 British troops including the ‘Black and Tans’ a group of non-commissioned soldiers
- The war was marked by acts of deliberate cruelty and atrocities by both sides
- The Black and Tans became hated in Ireland for their violent methods
- Burning villages and terror drove the Irish into supporting the IRA
- The IRA disguised as civilians were impossible to detect and this led to appalling reprisals by the British
- On 11th July 1921 Lloyd George was convinced that a settlement had to be reached and called a truce
Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921
- Lloyd George managed to convince the Irish to sign the Treaty
- He declared that if this meeting failed he would be forced to resign and Bonar Law would take office who would be far stricter
- On 6th December 1921 the treaty was signed
- Southern Ireland became the Irish Free State and was given dominion status
- It had its own parliament, but remained part of the British Empire
- 6 Ulster provinces formed Northern Ireland and remained part of UK
The treaty
- Conservatives were appalled that Ireland had been handed over to common gunmen
- However, they were relived Ulster had been preserved
- The treaty split the IRA, many believing they had been betrayed by their leaders who had promised an Irish Republic
- The treaty failed to bring an end to the troubles but gave some breathing space for future negotiations
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