Ireland after 1916 - the rise of Sinn Fein

• 1.Ireland after 1916 Ireland after 1916

2. May, 1916 After the Rising things looked very grim for Nationalists Much of Dublin City had been destroyed Thousands of civilians had been injured and hundreds killed in the fighting Public Sympathy was definitely NOT with the Volunteers people hated them because of the damage done to the country Leaders were imprisoned and/or dead It looked like the dream of an independent Ireland was dead for now But the British made a huge mistake and executed the rebel leaders public sympathy than began to swing behind the rebels 3. David Lloyd George David Lloyd George (a Welshman) became Prime Minister of Britain in late 1916 His main aim was to win World War One In order to gain American support for the War, he freed the people imprisoned after the Rising Why? Because since the Famine many Irish had emigrated to America just like today many Americans had Irish relatives and American politicians wanted to win the Irish American Vote Freeing the Volunteer leaders was a small price to pay if it meant gaining American entry into World War One 4. David Lloyd George 5. New Nationalist Leaders Michael Collins Eamon DeValera Arthur Griffith 6. New Nationalist Leaders Collins: From Cork, a Military Man he fought in the GPO and believed that 1916 was just the first battle in a long war DeValera: Spanish father (hence the odd name) more a politician than a soldier, had a reputation for craftiness. Fought in Bolands Mills during 1916. Wanted to be the main leader of Nationalism. Became leader of Sinn Fein in 1917 Griffith: Another Politician, he developed a reputation for building consensus. Easygoing and wasnt too bothered about being leader he just wanted to play a part in freeing Ireland. All three worked together to build up Sinn Fein 7. What did Sinn Fein Want? Simply Sinn Fein wanted complete independence from Britain for all 32 counties of Ireland No Home Rule, no Northern Ireland still being part of Britain, no being half in and half out of the British Empire total freedom or bust! 8. How to get independence? How to achieve this? Standard military option had been tried (1916). Failed Being elected to the British Parliament in Westminster had also been tried (by Home Rule Party). Failed New Military and Political tactics needed. 9. New Political Tactics Rather than elect MPs to go to the UK Parliament, Sinn Fein wanted to set up an independent Irish Parliament this was called Dil Eireann Irish MPs would in future sit here in DeValeras words We will defeat the British Empire by ignoring it This tactic was completely non-violent so it was hoped that the public would support it. American support was also hoped for if Nationalists could show they were peaceful then it was felt they could get more support. 10. First Dil elected 11. First Dil elected Collins Griffith De Valera 12. Site of First Dail Mansion House 13. Conscription arrives Conscription means being forced to fight in a war it is usually very unpopular (as the Americans found out during the Vietnam War) In 1917 Britain tried to force every Irish man over 18 to fight in World War One in a desperate attempt to finally win after 3 years of war Sinn Fein were totally opposed to conscription and their support grew amongst the Irish Public because of this The Home Rule Party (led by John Redmond) was also opposed but because they had encouraged Irish men to sign up voluntarily in 1914, nobody believed them! 14. Anti Conscription Campaign 15. 1918 Election At the next General Election in 1918, Irish People could vote for three parties Unionist Party, Led by Carson and Craig they won 26 out 0f 105 seats Home Rule Party. Led by John Dillon (Redmond had died) they won 6 out of 105 seats Sinn Fein Party. Led by DeValera they won 73 out of 105 seats End result Sinn Fein were triumphant after the election. Home Rule Party went from 79 to just 6 seats 16. The New Government The New Dail met on 21st January 1919 in Dublin and lasted just three hours. In those three hours: It declared Ireland a Republic It promised a Democratic Programme of Social Reforms It picked people to go to a Peace Conference in Paris to discuss how Europe would recover after World War One Why such a short meeting? Because the British were planning to arrest the Dail Members http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKSFVQxybuo 17. Members of the Government 18. DeValera goes to America Lloyd George didnt want the Sinn Fein reps at the Paris Conference and persuaded other countries to ignore them De Valera thought that the American Government could be persuaded to change the British Governments mind and went to America to do that He failed to achieve his main goal but did manage to raise $4 million to use in the struggle 19. Griffith in control in Devs absence In the absence of DeValera (who had gone to America to look for support for the struggle for Independence) Arthur Griffith was in control It became obvious that a war was about to begin Sinn Fein and its supporters were determined to make their Irish Parliament (The Dil) more important The British Government had no intention of letting Sinn Fein continue doing what they were doing the Police (known then as the Royal Irish Constabulary) began to harass and attack Sinn Fein MPs E.g. A secretary to a Sinn Fein TD was jailed for 2 years for having an out of date dog licence 20. Old Methods vs New Methods Collins knew that the Nationalists could not afford to try something like 1916 again it would just be another failure Peaceful methods not working Sinn Fein had been peacefully setting up a new Irish Parliament but British were attacking Collins thought up of a new method Guerrilla Warfare An army that uses Guerrilla Warfare doesnt have proper uniforms and relies on ambush and retreat rather than attacking and holding territory So an IRA man could ambush the British in the morning and then go to work in the afternoon acting like nothing had happened 21. Guerrilla Warfare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdU8_AWJ1b8&feature=re lated And the British response... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOiQRkK1tyg 22. Black and Tans 23. Black and Tans Black Tan 24. Black and Tans As the IRA targeted the police in their war against the British forces, few people wanted to join the police Lloyd George noticed this and recruited ex soldiers who had fought in World War One as policemen with a mission to destroy the IRA Because of the scarcity of Uniforms they had to use a mix of dark green police and khaki army uniforms hence they became known as the Black and Tans Were encouraged to act as if they were outside the law no consequences if they beat/killed innocent civilians 25. Targets Important to note the IRAs main targets at this time were British Spies Black and Tans Royal Irish Constabulary (Police, before the Gardai) Informers (usually Irish) The average British soldier was generally not a target unless he was directly involved in the fighting soldiers on sentry duty were generally ignored 26. 2013 HL Paper 27. Black and Tans meeting Dubliners for the first time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bVyy2m4oSk 28. Result of British Backlash? The British Government had hoped that the Black and Tans would frighten people off supporting the IRA Instead the actions of the Black and Tans made people very angry and those who had not supported the IRA before started supporting them now because they were hitting back at the Black and Tans 29. Terence Mac Swiney & his funeral 30. The war drags on and on By 1921 the war had been dragging on for almost two years and the IRA could not fight for ever Either they fight to the finish (and give the British a victory) or they negotiate (and risk looking weak) Some in the IRA believed they should fight on, others that they should start talking to the British and work out a deal The stage was set for a split in the IRA and Sinn Fein 31. Partition, Treaty and Civil War As the Unionists in the North of Ireland saw the war develop, they knew the British and the IRA would have to talk eventually The Unionists didnt want to take the chance of being in left out of Britain and asked Lloyd George to make a separate mini-country that they would be able to control This mini-country was to become the Northern Ireland we have today 32. The Government of Ireland Act - 1920 Lloyd George got the UK Parliament to pass a law dividing (aka Partioning) Ireland into two parts Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (no Republic of Ireland at this stage) Northern Ireland had its Parliament at Stormont in Belfast Southern Ireland had no official parliament yet as no Sinn Fein MP would attend it Lloyd George hoped that Sinn Fein would be forced to accept the situation as it would be a fait accompli 33. Stormont, Belfast 34. Treaty discussions begin De Valera and the other Sinn Fein leaders knew that the time had come to talk But they knew getting all they wanted would be very hard Discussions on a Treaty between Ireland and Britain began De Valera went to the first set of negotiations but declined to go to the second set of discussions because he didnt want to be associated with any compromise Collins left to bring home the grubby deal Agreement reached in December 1921 35. The Treaty Collins Signature Griffiths Signature 36. What was in the Treaty? (P150) Confirmed the division of Ireland into North and South No Republic instead the South was to be a Dominion of the British Commonwealth The Irish Free State All members of the Dail (TDs) would be required to take an Oath of Allegiance to the British King British Navy was able to use three Irish Ports as it wished two in Cork, one in Donegal Boundary Commission set up to decide where exactly the border ran between South and North 37. The Glass is half full Southern Ireland has its own Army, Police, Government at last Control of our own internal affairs British Army, Black and Tans are gone (from the south) IRA remained undefeated The Treaty gives us the Freedom to achieve Freedom Michael Collins 38. The Glass is half empty Treaty did not give Ireland full freedom Ireland still part of the British Empire Oath of Allegiance to the British King Six Northern Counties still part of Britain Ireland had to pay part of Britains debts for first world war Treaty Ports meant if there was another war in Europe, Ireland could not be neutral De Valera opposed the treaty 39. Treaty Passed by the Dail In Favour 64 TDs Against 57 TDs 40. Civil War on the horizon The Four Courts are Occupied 41. Steps to Civil War DeValera and his supporters (who opposed the Treaty) walked out of the Dail IRA men opposed to the treaty took over the Four Courts in protest at the treaty Reluctance on both sides to actually start fighting 1922 another election Candidates who were Pro-Treaty won a large majority After the election Collins ordered the New Free State Army to attack the IRA in the Four Courts Civil War had begun 42. Pro-Treaty Free State Army attacking the Four Courts 43. Civil War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ayLHPLROg 44. Death of Collins and end of Civil War War dragged on for almost a year, atrocities committed on both sides Republicans shot some Free State prisoners At Ballyseedy in Co. Kerry Republicans were tied together and forced to march across a minefield to clear it Actions like these added to the sense of bitterness on both sides Michael Collins was shot and killed at Beal na Blath (The Mouth of Flowers) in Co. Cork. Finally in May 1923 the IRA agreed to surrender and dump arms the Civil war was over 45. Michael Collins Civil Wars biggest casualty 46. Legacy of Civil War Huge damage caused to the country Ireland was very poor a hard job to rebuild the country Many of the best and brightest (e.g. Collins) were killed Much bitterness Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both grew out of different sides in the Civil War Fianna Fail from the Anti-Treaty side, Fine Gael from the Pro-Treaty side 47. 2011 Higher Level Paper