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Irish 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.


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