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 11^th 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