" REVOLUTION "
Growing tension and resentment in Ireland over British
rule and the question of Irish independence set in motion a chain of events
that came to be known as the Irish Revolution.Conflicts between nationalists,
who wanted a completely independent Irish republic, and unionists, who wished
to remain under British control, led to the establishment of armed paramilitary
groups in both areas of the island. The threat of civil war between the factions
over the question of Irish independence was imminent. This crisis was temporarily
averted, however, by the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), and representatives
of both groups supported the British war effort against Germany. However, one
splinter group of the nationalist faction refused to join the war effort. Instead,
they initiated the Easter Rebellion of 1916, capturing the city of Dublin and
declaring the independence of Ireland. The rebellion was unsuccessful, primarily
due to limited support from the Irish people. However, Britain's severe reaction,
including the execution of 15 Irish nationalist leaders, outraged the Irish
population and set the stage for the nationalist group Sinn Fein to become the
dominant political party in Ireland. Sinn Fein had been organized several years
before the uprising by Arthur Griffith, a Dublin journalist. Sinn Fein now called
for Ireland, including the northern areas, to become a republic independent
of the United Kingdom. In the 1918 election, Sinn Fein candidates won 73 of
the 106 seats allotted to Ireland in the British Parliament.
In January 1919 the Sinn Fein members of Parliament met in Dublin as the Dáil
Éireann, or national assembly. They proclaimed Ireland's independence
and formed a government with Eamon de Valera as president. There followed guerrilla
attacks by Irish insurgents, later called the Irish Republican Army (IRA), on
British forces, particularly the Black and Tans, an auxiliary British police
force. These attacks and British reprisals became an ugly war in which hundreds
of people were killed.
In December 1920 the British Parliament enacted the Government of Ireland Bill,
providing one parliament for the 6 counties of the Protestant north (Northern
Ireland) and another for the remaining 26 counties. The people of Northern Ireland
accepted this limited home rule and elected a separate parliament in May 1921.
Efforts to implement the new government in the other 26 counties served only
to solidify Sinn Fein's position. The guerrilla war ended with a truce on July
11. Negotiations between representatives of the Dáil and the British
government of Prime Minister David Lloyd George produced a treaty signed on
December 6, 1921, whereby the 26 counties would become the Irish Free State
within the Commonwealth of Nations, with a status equal to that of Canada and
a modified oath of allegiance to the British monarch. The Dáil ratified
the treaty on January 15, 1922, by a vote of 64 to 57, thus ending the Irish
Revolution. Sinn Fein split over the issue of ratification into pro- and anti-Treaty
factions. Those in opposition to the treaty were led by de Valera, who resigned
as president of the Dáil and was replaced by Griffith. Michael Collins,
a pro-Treaty Sinn Fein leader, became chairman of the provisional government.