Anglo-Irish Truce

July11, 2021, is the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Truce and the end of the Irish ‘War of Independence’. During the following months, negotiations led to the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, which provided for an Irish Free State in southern Ireland as a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth, with the monarch as Head of State, and members of parliament obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. Some believe that it established the partition of the country, but that had already happened in May 1921.

After Britain crushed the Easter 1916 Rising, they decided to punish those involved. A total of 3,430 men and 79 women were arrested, including almost 2,000 who were not involved. Some of those arrested were released after questioning; others were tried by court martial and 90 sentenced to death, with the remainder interned. Fifteen insurgents, including the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, were executed from May 3 to 12. On May 12, the British Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, arrived in Ireland and stopped the executions. He had become alarmed by the public reaction, especially in the United States, where support for the Great War was essential for Britain. The initial reaction to the Rising in Ireland was widespread hostility, with public opinion strongly against the rebels, but that changed quickly following the executions. Political opinion in nationalist Ireland started to change from a desire for Home Rule to complete separation from Britain. This sentiment came to be expressed in support for Sinn Féin (We, Ourselves), a nationalist political party founded in 1905 to promote self-reliance. The party won a series of by-elections. Following heavy losses in the First World War during the Spring Offensive of 1918, an act was passed making provision to impose conscription in Ireland, but that was opposed by all shades of Irish nationalism. Compulsory conscription for Ireland was abandoned in favour of a recruitment campaign. Sinn Féin earned wide support for its trenchant opposition to conscription.

Following the end of the war, a general election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was called for December 14, 1918, using the first past the post system. It was an election for the soul of nationalist Ireland, between Sinn Féin on a separatist mission and the Irish Parliamentary Party supporting Home Rule within the union (the latter had won 80 of the 105 Irish seats at Westminster at the 1910 general election. The election result was a landslide victory for Sinn Féin around the country, the party winning 46.9 per cent of the vote and seventy-three seats out of one hundred and five, with the Irish Parliamentary Party reduced to six seats; the Unionists won 22 seats with 25 per cent of the vote. The election was a big endorsement for Sinn Féin, which they hailed as a mandate for separation.

The newly elected Sinn Féin members of parliament, following their pledges of abstention, refused to take their seats in Westminster. Instead, they arranged to have invitations sent to members elected for all constituencies to attend “the first session of the assembly of Ireland” in the Mansion House in Dublin on January 21, 1919. Twenty-seven, all from Sinn Féin, attended and established the first Dáil Éireann (Parliament of Ireland) as it was called (thirty-four others were still in prison and a further eight were unable to attend). The new assembly was not recognised by Britain, or the elected Unionists, or by the survivors of the Irish Parliamentary Party. The Dáil became a self-declared national parliament, with a government starting a new alternative administration while seeking legitimacy. A number of meetings of the First Dáil took place before it was suppressed by the British Government in September 1919, despite it been elected by the people, and after this it tried to operate underground.

After two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) were shot dead in County Tipperary on January 21, 1919, a bitter Anglo-Irish war commenced, known in Irish history as ‘the War of Independence 1919-1921’. There were numerous small scale incidents in 1919 and during the early part of 1920, chiefly arms seizures and attacks on members of the RIC. The Volunteers had approximately 15,000 members, but active membership was about 5,000; they became the Irish Republican Army (IRA) after taking an oath of allegiance to Dáil Éireann on August 20, 1919. Many women undertook a variety of supportive roles with great courage and, in many cases, at big personal sacrifices. In local elections on January 15, 1920, Sinn Féin won control of 28 of the 33 county councils and of 72 corporations and town councils. The Sinn Féin controlled councils became affiliated to the Dáil.

Clashes between the IRA and Crown forces were sporadic at the start, but they developed into a bitter guerrilla war during 1920, especially towards the end of the year. The RIC become very demoralised and weakened following the resignation of many members arising from fear of attack. They were augmented from March 25 by about 10,000 police and ex-soldiers from the First World War known as ‘Black and Tans’, and later by about 2,000 Auxiliaries, mostly ex-officers. Both forces earned a terrible reputation for brutality. The IRA were organised into flying columns, groups of armed volunteers for specific assignments against the Crown forces. Terrible deeds were committed on both sides, with attacks, reprisals, beatings, and burning property, which terrified ordinary people.

By 1920, there was no way that the aspirations of nationalists and unionists could be reconciled in a united self-governing country. The unionists had refused from 1886 to accept a Dublin Home Rule Parliament, and secret discussions started to take place in 1914 to exclude a portion of Ulster as a temporary measure. After trying to get agreement, the British passed the Government of Ireland Act of December 1920, providing for the creation of two Home Rule parliaments, one for six counties of Northern Ireland and the other for the remaining twenty-six counties. The act came into effect on May 3, 1921, and resulted in the partition of Ireland. An election was held for the Northern Ireland parliament on May 24, 1921, and Unionists won 40 of the 52 seats. King George V opened the Northern Ireland parliament on June 22, 1921. The act was rejected in the south, where the guerrilla war was underway. Many believed that partition was only a temporary expedient, but that was not to be.

An unsuccessful attempt was undertaken in December 1920 to end hostilities, but the war intensified during the first six months of 1921. In opening the Northern Ireland parliament, King George V appealed for forbearance and conciliation in Southern Ireland. The war in Ireland was generating terrible opprobrium in Britain and the USA. Public opinion in southern Ireland was also growing tired of the continuing violence. After two and a half years of bitter fighting, secret negotiations took place, which led to a Truce agreement on July 9, 1921, which came into effect on July 11. During this war, it is estimated that over 2,000 were killed, including about 750 civilians. Over 4,000 had been detained without trial, and these were released after the Truce to great rejoicing. Today, these events are remembered in a respectful non-partisan manner to promote peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland, and between Britain and Ireland in a spirit of friendship and inclusivity.

Exploring Mayo by Bernard O’Hara is now available Worldwide as an eBook for the amazon Kindle application.

The print version of Bernard O’Hara’s book Exploring Mayo can be obtained by contacting www.mayobooks.ie.

www.mayobooks.ie also sell the print versions of Killasser - Heritage of a Mayo Parish , Anseo and Davitt.

Bernard O'Hara's book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble

It is also available as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).

An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).