Sovereignty and Partition

SOVEREIGNTY AND PARTITION

1912 TO 1949

CHAPTER 1

IRELAND AT THE START OF THE 20TH CENTURY

1.1Ireland and the UK

A rural country

Direct rule. 103 of 665.

Men over 21 only.

Lord Lieutenant or Viceroy

Chief Secretary a cabinet member.

Under Secretary in Dublin Castle. Could do nothing without approval from Westminster.

RIC and DMP officers English.

1.2Union or Self-government? The Unionist View

Reasons for and against:

• Ethnic identity
• Religion
• Economic considerations (fear of trade barriers)

Differences Between Northern and Southern Unionists

Northern:

• All classes
• Presbyterian
• Orange Order
• Industrialised
• Represented by Ulster Unionist Council

Southern:

• Wealthy minority
• Big business and House of Lords
• C of I
• Represented by Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union

UUC and ILPU joined to form the Unionist Party in 1886 under Ernest Saunderson

1.3Union or Self-government? The Nationalist View

Moderate Nationalism

Nationalist Party (Home Rule)

Redmond, Dillon, and Joe Devlin (Belfast)

80 MPs

Sinn Fein

Griffith’s ‘Resurrection of Hungary’ and Dual Monarchy

Self-sufficiency (protectionism)

Peaceful

Failed due to success of Home Rule

Name was good and became a catchall name for Irish Ireland groups.

1.4 Cultural Nationalism and the Emergence of New Movements

GAA

Gaelic League

Irish Literary Revival

Patrick Pearse

Joined GL at 16

Became editor of ‘An Claidheamh Soluis’

Trained lawyer but became a teacher.

‘Murder machine’

St Enda’s in 1908

Seemed happy with Home Rule for a while.

Went broke and students left.

This and the HR crisis in 1912 seems to have turned him from being a language enthusiast and educationalist

to being a republican separatist

Socialism

Connolly. Citizen’s army

Larkin. Lockout and ITGWU

Feminism

Hannah Sheehy-Skeffington and the Irish Women’s Franchise League. Home Rule party did not like the idea

or the violence.

Countess Markievicz. Soup kitchens in Lockout. With Hobson started Fianna Eireann. Joined Citizen’s army.

CHAPTER 2

THE HOME RULE CRISIS: 1910-1914

2.1 Opening the Way for Home Rule

Redmond, Dillon and Devlin V Carson and Craig

British Reasons against Home Rule:

• Strategic Reasons
• Break-up of the Empire
• Racism

Reasons for:

• Embarrassed by bad government (Famine and poverty)
• Clear will of the majority of the Irish
• Disruption of parliament

Conservatives under Bonar Law were Unionist.

Liberals under Asquith were officially for Home Rule.

Labour for also but small.

1909 Lloyd George’s Budget

1910 Home Rule Party wins balance of power

1911 Parliament Act

1912 Home Rule Act. Westminster still had control of Foreign affairs, foreign trade, army, police, post, the

monarchy and taxation.

2.2 Unionists Oppose Home Rule

September 1912 Solemn League and Covenant.

1913 UVF

2.3 Partition and the Nationalist Response

Craig for and Carson against.

Redmond against but Liberals said talk or no Home Rule.

Secret talks with Carson concluded that in order to avoid civil war, Ulster would be excluded from Home

Rule.

What was Ulster? It was agreed that Antrim, Armagh, Down and Derry were certain but by 1914 the fate

of Tyrone and Fermanagh was undecided.

IRB

Revival by Hobson, MacCullough, MacDiarmada, and Clarke.

1913 Eoin MacNeill’s ‘The North Began’

November. The Irish National Volunteers

Women not allowed so Cumann na mBan set up (Hannah and Countess M)

March 1914 Curragh Mutiny

April Larne

June Redmond took over the Irish Volunteers.

July Howth

July Buckingham Palace Conference. A worried King George V brought all sides together but failed.

CHAPTER 3

IRELAND 1914-1918

CRISIS AND CHANGE

3.1 Opening the Way for Home Rule

Reasons why Redmond at Woodenbridge urged Volunteers to join British Army:

• Catholic Belgium
• To show British fears concerning HR unfounded.
• To win a sympathetic ear in discussions about Tyrone and Fermanagh
• ‘Over by Christmas’.

206,000 joined up.

UVF joined the 36th Ulster Division and were slaughtered at the Somme.

Irish National Volunteers split up between the 10th and 16th. Did not have their own officers. Great losses

at Gallipoli and in France.

Irishmen joined because:

• Redmond and Carson told them
• Idealism
• Money
• Nationalism or Unionism

Economic Effects

Boom for farmers, shipbuilding and linen.

Emigration to UK banned.

Unemployment, so wages did not go up and opportunities for women did not increase either.

Reasons for Redmond’s decline in popularity

• HR won
• Ulster nationalism felt betrayed by partition.
• Failure to get an Irish Brigade
• War not over by Christmas

3.2 Planning a Rebellion

Split in the Irish National Volunteers.

10000 of 180000 under MacNeill became the Irish Volunteers They paraded with rifles.

Redmond knew MacNeill would not rebel unless the British tried to disarm them. He told Augustine Birrell

(Chief Secretary) that they were harmless and to let them alone.

IRB divided

Hobson wanted no rebellion without the consent of the majority of the Irish people.

MacDiarmada and Clarke forced him off the Supreme Council.

They set up a Military committee joined by Pearse, Plunkett, McDonagh and Ceannt.

Casement

Sent to Germany to get troops, arms, and Irish POWs.

So few POWs were interested the Germans sent 20,000 captured rifles and 10 machine guns but no troops.

Casement came home on a submarine to stop the rebellion as he felt it had no chance but was captured on Banna Strand.

The British thought he was the main leader and the rebellion would not go ahead.

Plans

Obsessed with secrecy, so numbers were always going to be small.

To put up a good fight always seemed to be the aim.

Clarke and MacDiarmada hoped to win.

Pearse, Connolly, MacDonogh and Plunkett on for a ‘Blood Sacrifice’

‘The Mother’ and ‘The Fool’

War up to WW1 was romantic and honourable death admired.

Connolly, a socialist, was not trusted and not told until he threatened to go it alone.

The Aud

Arrived as planned on Friday but the plans had changed to Sunday and they had no radio.

Captured and scuttled.

Castle Document

Forged. Leaders to be arrested. MacNeill ordered rising for Sunday.

He found out and heard of the Aud and called it off.

3.3The Rising and the Aftermath.

Easter Monday. Bank holiday. Fairyhouse.

Pearse and Proclamation.

Connolly, once a soldier, in charge of military operations.

Confusion limited rising to Dublin and Thomas Ashe in Ashbourne.

GPO, Four Courts, South Dublin Union, St. Stephen’s Green, Boland’s Mill and Jacobs Factory.

Failure to take Dublin Castle important.

Cumann na mBan were nurses, secretaries and couriers.

Tuesday, General Maxwell put in charge.

Helga.

GPO on fire.

Mount St Bridge.

Saturday surrender unconditionally.

450 dead. Most civilians. City ablaze.

Rebels needed protection.

It took a week for people to realise what it was all about.

Reaction and Changing of minds.

British and Unionists saw it as a stab in the back

Dillon warned Redmond who warned Asquith not to overreact, but Maxwell given a free hand.

3000 arrested.

88 death sentences.

Shootings in batches over 6 days.

William Pearse and Connolly created sympathy.

Bowen Colthurst

Dillon rushed to House of Commons and stopped the killings but the damage was done.

The rest got life.

Lloyd George’s Part

Became PM in 1916.

He persuaded Redmond to accept a temporary 6 counties but told Carson it was permanent.

Nationalists furious with partition.

1917 DLG proposed Conscription. This really helped SF.

3.4The Victory of Sinn Fein

To win public opinion in the USA, DLG released the prisoners from Frongoch.

This included Collins and Griffith.

‘Sinn Feiner’ had come to mean anyone who was nationalist but not a Home Ruler.

Griffith had not even taken part. He had offered but Pearse sent him home to work on propaganda.

Ashe died on hunger strike and Collins became President of the IRB.

Count Plunkett’s victory in the North Roscommon bye-election showed the IRB that politics could be useful.

1917 DeValera won east Clare.

Griffith stepped aside and the new Sinn Fein emerged.

Abstention and a republic was its aim.

DLG set up ‘The Irish Convention’ to sort out differences between Unionist and Nationalists but SF would

not attend and it failed.

1918 Conscription bill passed and support for SF increased.

1918 the ‘German Plot’ to import arms led to the arrest of 73 SF including DeV. More support.

This also left the more militant in control.

The 1918 General Election

In Britain DLG’s coalition government succeeded but depended on Conservatives and this affected DLG’s

decisions regarding Ireland.

Redmond was dead so John Dillon was leader.

SF members were young and well organised.

Their leaders in jail, meetings banned all added to support.

The executions, the ‘German Plot’ and conscription helped.

They promised a republic without any talk of fighting.

Women over 30 could now vote if they or their husbands paid rates.

Sinn Fein won 73 and Home Rule won 6.

Markievicz was the first woman elected to the House of Commons Unionists increased their seats from 19

to 26.

The Irish people had voted for a republic. For some, like Griffith, this meant more independence than home

rule. To Collins and DeV this meant a completely separate state. This ambiguity helped contribute to Civil War.

CHAPTER 4

REVOLUTION AND PARTITION

1919-1921

4.1 The Government of Dáil Éireann

January 1919 First Dail

HR or Unionists did not attend.

Only 27 attended as most of the rest were in jail over the ‘German Plot’.

Collins and Boland helping Dev escape from Lincoln Jail.

• Repeated the Declaration of the Republic (Proclamation)
• Message to the Free Nations of the World. Rejected by W Wilson who did not want to offend GB.
• Passed the Democratic Programme. This was a promise to implement educational and social reform.

Largely to reward the Labour Party for not contesting the election.

April Dail Government formed

DeV president.

Collins Finance

Brugha Defence

Markievicz Labour

W T Cosgrave Local Government

Young, inexperienced, no civil service, no police or army. Few took them seriously.

June 1919 to December 1920 DeV in the USA

Got involved in quarrels between leading Irish-Americans.

Failed to get recognition from either big party.

Got a lot of money

At Home

Griffith was Acting President. He set up an effective court system where local priests, doctors or teachers

acted as judges. Punishments were beatings, banishment and execution.

Did a lot to make the new government acceptable.

Collins sold government bonds while on the run.

Cosgrave made sure SF controlled most councils and tried to end corruption.

Sean T O Kelly in Paris after the Peace Conference and worked to win recognition.

4.2 The War of Independence

Griffith and many SF rank and file thought passive resistance might work.

Collins, Brugha, Mulcahy and many local commanders prepared for war.

The Irish Volunteers were organised into battalions.

Mulcahy was Chief-of-Staff and Collins Director of Intelligence.

15,000 were willing to fight. Guns were smuggled, stolen and bought from British soldiers.

Changed their name to IRA after the first Dail.

January 1919: Soloheadbeg

Same day as the First Dail but the Dail never approved it.

IRA paid little attention to their political wing.

Mulcahy and Collins tended to ignore Brugha the Minister for Defence.

Collin’s Spy Network

Maids, porters, civil servants, police passed information to Collins.

He warned the G-division to stop spying. Some did not so he formed ‘The Squad’. One was killed and the

rest eased off.

Alan Bell, employed to trace Dail bank accounts, was shot.

Around the Country

Some IRA commanders were very active.

Sean Treacy, Tom Barry, Michael Brennan in Clare and Sean MacEoin in Longford.

1919 attacks on small RIC barracks.

The RIC moved to fortified barracks in large towns. These too were attacked.

Many began to leave the RIC.

DLG

Had to keep Conservative views on Unionism in mind so he decided to:

• Defeat the IRA so he could be in a strong bargaining position.
• Partition so Unionists would get control in Ulster.

He put a more hard-line regime in Dublin Castle.

He made Sir Hamar Greenwood Chief Secretary, General Macready in charge of the army and General Tudor

in charge of the Police.

He recruited police in Britain, as he did not want to call it a war.

Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. Brave, ruthless and undisciplined.

IRA went on the run and formed ‘flying columns’. These men were paid and trained.

Reprisal

Looting, burning, and shooting.

Increase in support for IRA.

Bad press in GB and abroad.

March 1920 Tomás MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of Cork shot.

His successor Terence MacSwiney died on hunger strike after 73 days. Big funeral.

Kevin Barry hanged.

21st November 1920 Bloody Sunday

14 most from ‘Cairo Gang’ shot by the Squad with help from the country.

Croke Park 12 killed.

That evening 3 was shot in Dublin Castle.

28 November Kilmichael.

Tom Barry. Did they shoot after surrender? One survived.

11 December after another ambush, Cork was burned.

Martial law declared in some counties.

IRA under Pressure

In 1921 many IRA in jail.

Many civilians getting shot.

People were giving information and were shot.

Some Protestants were shot for no other reason.

Brugha did not approve of IRA tactics and may have been jealous of Collins.

Collins and Mulcahy regarded him as a part-timer.

DeV, who returned in December, sided with Brugha who wanted more open battles.

This led to the Customs House fiasco.

4.3 Partitioning Ireland

Unionists horrified at SF victory in 1918 and strengthened their determination.

IRA sectarian violence confirmed their fears.

Dev got it wrong when he believed that once we got independence the Unionists would fall into line.

1920 IRA attacks on RIC in the North led to sectarian violence. Catholics run out of the shipyards. Houses

burned. 500 killed over the next few years.

‘Special Constables’ were set up and given a free hand.

As a protest the Dail had a ‘Belfast Boycott’ of northern goods. This convinced unionists that the south would

try to ruin their economy.

Carson and Craig did not want 9 counties in case they lost a majority. 6 would give them 65%.

The Government of Ireland Act 1920

• 2 states both with HR
• Westminster would control foreign affairs, post, coinage, tax and the army.
• Both would send MPs to Westminster.
• A Council of Ireland would handle affairs common to both like trade and fisheries.

May 1921 elections Unionists won 40 of 52 seats.

SF used it to elect a second Dail. No one contested the seats and no one voted.

Truce

Bad publicity for Black and Tans.

June 1921 GeorgeV pleaded for peace.

IRA out of ammunition and many in jail.

The people were tired of war and might start to turn against them.

A truce was agreed. Prisoners were released and the IRA was allowed keep their guns.

DLG was treating the IRA like an army.

Now a republic could not be won.

CHAPTER 5

FROM TREATY TO CIVIL WAR

5.1 Negotiations July to October 1921. Case Study

By agreeing to talk, both sides would have to compromise.

DLG’s coalition government meant he was answerable to Conservatives.

Dev was answerable to pacifists like Griffith and hardliners like Brugha.

July 1921 Dev meets DLG in London

DLG offered Dominion Status for the 26 counties only with exceptions:

• GB could move troops into Ireland at times of war
• No interference with trade with GB.

Dev rejected these, talks ended, and he went home.

However by letter and telegram they agreed to form delegations.

The Irish Delegation

Dev said he would not go because:

• He could control militants at home
• Delegates had to refer to him so they would not sign anything under pressure.

Some say:

• Others to take the blame
• If he signed he had to support it.

Militants like Brugha and Stack refused to go so they were never going to accept compromise.

Dev tried to balance between hardliner and moderate.

Collins went very reluctantly.

Griffith was the leader.

Robert Barton was a strict republican as was Childers who was to be secretary.

George Gavan Duffy and Eamonn Duggan were lawyers.

The Dáil voted them as ‘plenipotentiaries’ (could sign on their behalf)

Dev instructed them to offer ‘external association’ instead of partition.

‘External Association’ meant that we would leave the Empire and become a republic. Then we would make

an alliance with the Empire and the king would be the head of that alliance.

This was rejected as unionists already had their parliament and the whole idea was too convoluted to explain

to the British people.

The British Delegation

The Liberals were represented by DLG and Winston Churchill.

The Conservatives by Lord Birkenhead and Austin Chamberlain.

Their brief was to protect Ulster’s position and keep Ireland in the Empire.

5.2 Negotiations October to December. Case Study (ctd)

An Uneven Match

• Leadership and experience
• Location of the talks
• Imbalance of power. Big army in Ireland and IRA in trouble. Millions had already died for the Empire.

Early on it became clear that sovereignty and partition would be the stumbling blocks.

There were tensions between Griffith and Childers who was pushing for a republic even though Childers was

only the secretary.

From then on Griffith and Collins met privately with DLG. The others broke into sub-committees to discuss

various issues.

Partition

DLG promised to make Craig accept an all-Ireland parliament in return for a letter from Griffith agreeing to

the Crown as the head of an association of states of the Commonwealth. DLG promised to resign if he could