Transcript Ireland in the 20th Century - Mr Mc Carthy: History
3 rd Year History •
IRELAND IN THE 20
TH
CENTURY
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Governing Ireland in 1900
• Irish MPs and lords in Westminster • Lord Lieutenant represented King • Chief Secretary represented British government
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Nationalists
• Vast majority supported Irish Parliamentary Party (Home Rule Party).
• Led by John Redmond • 84 of 105 seats in 1910 • Home Rule meant a parliament in Dublin to deal with internal affairs • Peaceful means.
• Had support of the Liberal Party.
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IRB
• Secret revolutionary organisation • Responsible for 1867 Fenian Rising • Complete independent Republic • Supported by Irish in USA
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Sinn Féin
• Arthur Griffith 1905 • Dual monarchy • Abstentionist • Tariffs to develop industry • Small until after 1916
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Unionists
• Wanted to stay in UK. No HR. 3 reasons • Felt British • Home rule = Rome rule • Fear of losing trade links • Carson and Craig • Supported by Conservatives (Empire would fall apart)
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Labour Movement
• Poor state of workers in Ireland • James Larkin from Liverpool set up ITGWU • William Martin Murphy and Employers Federation = Lockout • Police, government and Catholic Church supported employers.
• After 5 months workers defeated • ITGWU did not die
• Cultural Nationalism and the Emergence of New Movements •
GAA
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Gaelic League
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Irish Literary Revival
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The Home Rule Bill
• 1910 the Liberal government needed the support of the Home Rule Party (84 seats) • 1911 Liberals passed The Parliament Act. House of Lords could only delay bills for 2 years.
• 1912 Third Home Rule Bill became law.
• • 1914 WW1 broke out.
1916 the Irish didn’t want Home Rule
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Unionist Opposition
• Took different forms • Demonstrations and speeches by Carson and Craig • Solemn League and Covenant • UVF • Larne (35000 rifles) • The Curragh Mutiny
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Nationalist Reaction
• Eoin MacNeill wrote ‘The North Began’ • IVF • IRB involvement • Howth gun running (900 rifles) Asgard • WW1 stopped Civil War
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REACTION TO WORLD WAR 1
• • • • • Unionists joined 36th Ulster Division to show support for the union Redmond’s speech at Woodenbridge split IVF Those who supported Redmond became the National Volunteers and joined the British army Those who supported MacNeill kept IVF name (IRB mainly) 250,000 Irishmen fought in WW1. 30,000 to 40,000 died
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THE 1916 RISING
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Plans for a Rising
IRB ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’ Military Council (Thomas Clarke, Patrick Pearse, Sean McDermott, Thomas Mac Donough, Joseph Plunkett and Eamon Ceannt) James Connolly and the Irish Citizen’s Army persuaded to join.
Roger Casement. 20,000 rifles from Germany on the Aud.
MacNeill would not take part unless they were attacked first. The Castle document was forged. MacNeill was deceived and agreed to allow the IVF take part at Easter
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Plans go wrong
• Aud captured and scuttled. • Casement arrested and hanged.
• MacNeill found out the Castle Document was a forgery and called off manoeuvres on Easter Sunday
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The Rising goes ahead
• Military Council decided to go ahead on Easter Monday.
• Rising confined to Dublin and bound for military failure • • Pearse and the Proclamation 1500 rebels took key buildings in the city (GPO, Boland’s Mills, Jacob’s Factory, The Four Courts) • Failure to take Dublin Castle a big mistake.
• British reinforcements from the Curragh and England.
• The Helga shelled the GPO • Saturday, unconditional surrender
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The Results of the Rising
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5.
500 killed, more injured, much damage Dubliners angry with rebels Martial law (2000 interned) 90 sentenced to death. 15 executed in Kilmainham Jail. Irish minds were changed. Home Rule finished.
Sinn Féin got blamed and became popular. It changed its aim to an Irish Republic. DeValera became its leader.
The Conscription Crisis
• Compulsory military service further boosted Sinn Fein’s popularity
The 1918 General Election
• 73 seats for Sinn Fein • Called their MPs Teachtaí Dála and refused to take seats.
• 1919 Dáil Éireann set up.
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THE INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE
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Sinn Féin and the First Dail
• • • • • • 1919 Mansion House 27 TDs only, jail or on the run First meeting issued: Declaration of Independence A message to the Free Nations of the World A programme to improve living and working conditions
Sinn Féin and the First Dail
• At a later meeting DeValera (rescued) elected president • Collins was Minister for Finance; Markieviec (labour), Griffith (home affairs and vice-president) • The Dail: • Got control of Local gov.
• Set up their own courts • Got loans
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The War of Independence
• Same day of First Dail, Soloheadbeg happened (Breen, Treacy and others). 2 RIC dead, stole gelignite.
• Early stages, RIC main target of guerrilla campaign.
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The War of Independence
• Collins Director of Intelligence. • The Squad. £10,000 reward.
• Flying Columns (Tom Barry, Liam Lynch, Ernie O Malley) victories at Kilmichael and Crossbarry.
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The British Response
• Black and tans • Auxiliaries • Could not cope with guerrilla warfare and carried out reprisals (Cork, Balbriggan, burnings, beatings and murder) • The Government of Ireland Act 1920
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Major incidents of the War of Independence
• • Tomás MacCurtain,s murder Terence MacSwiney’s 74 day hunger strike • Bloody Sunday 21st of Nov 1920. 11 agents killed. 12 in Croke park (Michael Hogan).
• Burning of Customs House (80 of Dublin brigade gone)
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Peace
• People wanted peace. • IRA out of ammo and short of men.
• Bad publicity for British Gov. Costing a lot of money • DeValera and Lloyd George agreed a ceasefire.
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THE IRISH CIVIL WAR
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Divisions
• Pro-Treaty (Regulars or Free State Army) V Anti Treaty (Irregulars or Republicans) • Both sides grabbed barracks as the British left • Irregulars took 4 Courts • Collins won election well. When 4 Courts Irregulars took a Regular general, Collins attacked them. He won easily with British artillary .
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The Munster Republic
• Limerick to Waterford • Collins used ships to surround the irregulars (Anti Treaty) • Irregulars led by Liam Lynch. • Ignored Devs orders
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Death of Collins and Griffith
• August 1922 • Griffith had brain haemorrhage • Beal na mBlath • WT Cosgrave and Kevin O Higgins took over
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Guerilla Warfare
• Did not work well because: • Free State had support of most people • They knew the land as well • Great brutality on both sides • April 1923 Liam Lynch killed. • Frank Aiken and DeV called a ceasefire
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Results
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Death and destruction
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Lost leaders
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Bitterness
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