The 20 year period of tranquility (1890-1910) -- with England "killing Home Rule with kindness" and Ireland cooperating with England -- proved to be the calm before the storm. In the next dozen years, a series of earth shaking events exploded with bewildering speed: World War I, the Easter Rising, Sinn Fein's revolutionary government, the Anglo-Irish guerilla war, the Treaty granting independence but with partition, and the Irish Civil War.

The era began with the 1910 elections, when neither the Liberal Party nor the Tories won enough seats to form a government without votes from Redmond's Irish party. Once again (as in 1885) a deal was struck. Redmond's Irish party cast their votes in favor of the Liberal, Herbert Asquith, for Prime Minister, and he then was able to form a coalition government. In turn, the new government agreed to force through Parliament a bill giving Ireland a separate Home Rule Parliament in Dublin with relatively modest powers over local issues.

Since the electorate was 75% Catholic, the proposed Home Rule Parliament naturally would be dominated by Catholics. It followed that Irish Protestants, who (on this issue) were called "unionists", continued their passionate resistance to Home Rule, which they characterized as "Rome Rule". Opposition was particularly strong among Ulster Presbyterians, who constituted a majority in the northeast. Legislatively, the overriding priority of unionists was to defeat Home Rule entirely; but among Ulster Presbyterians, there was a fallback position, to exclude Ulster, or some part of it *, through partition. Protestant-unionists found a champion in Edward Carson, a Tory Member of Parliament ("M.P.") from Dublin. Carson's only true goal was to defeat Home Rule entirely, but he urged the exclusion of Ulster as a ploy to split the pro-Home Rule voting bloc. Then Ulster unionists, to protect against legislative failure, formed an armed paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteers, to wage war against the proposed new government unless it excluded Ulster. Naturally, supporters of Home Rule -- with the IRB playing a major role -- formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, to counteract the Ulster Volunteers. Ireland seemed to be drifting towards civil war, and Redmond came under increasing pressure to agree to the exclusion of Ulster from Home Rule.

World War I broke out in August 1914, pitting Germany (and its allies) against Great Britain (and its allies). Britain quickly realized that Irish Home Rule was not its most pressing issue. Home Rule legislation was quickly enacted, and placed on the statute books, but with provisos that the effective date was postponed (1) until after the war, and (2) until after a vote on some form of Ulster opt-out amendment to be drafted later. Redmond's Irish party, and most Irishmen, supported the English war effort, with 150,000 Irishmen voluntarily enlisting in the British army. But a significant minority opposed the war, and soon 15,000 anti-war (and anti-British) troops under Eoin MacNeill, a respected scholar and Gaelic Leaguer, split off from the main body of Irish Volunteers.

Postponement of Home Rule hardened attitudes, and Home Rule supporters began to demand full or nearly full independence, rather than the limited autonomy provided in the 1914 legislation. For the IRB, meanwhile, Britain's war with Germany was the opportunity it had been awaiting for 50 years. The IRB leadership -- including Padraic Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and Eamon Ceannt – decided to mount an armed insurrection, even though it might be doomed to failure. For its troops, the IRB expected to use MacNeill's 15,000 Irish Volunteers, but this plan was seriously flawed because MacNeill, who had long insisted that any rising have good prospects for success, had to be excluded from IRB planning. For additional troops, the IRB formed an alliance with James Connolly's militant Citizen Army, which arose from the 1913 Dublin strike and lockout of 24,000 workers, and which fused Irish nationalism with Marxist concepts of class struggle and workers rights. On behalf of the IRB, Roger Casement traveled to Germany seeking military assistance, but his efforts failed.

The IRB leadership eventually came to realize that their insurrection had no chance of success in military terms. But Pearse, a poet and Gaelic scholar, believed that a rebirth of Irish nationalism required "blood sacrifice," the making of martyrs each generation, and he was willing to give his own life in the insurrection to achieve that end.

Shortly before Easter 1916, the IRB leaders issued orders to the Irish Volunteers to begin the insurrection. When MacNeill learned of the order, he issued an order countermanding it. Thereafter, "Counter-countermanding orders" were issued by the IRB leadership.

The Rising was intended to commence on Easter Sunday, and to be nationwide, but due to confusion over the orders and countermanding orders, it began on Easter Monday (April 24, 1916) and was largely confined to Dublin. Proclaiming the existence of an Irish Republic, the rebels, 1600 strong, seized and held a number of public buildings, including the General Post Office on Sackville Street, which became command headquarters. Originally, the British fell back in surprise at such an audacious and obviously doomed rebellion, but they soon brought in reinforcements and methodically began to pound the rebels into submission. The fighting lasted five days, during which British forces suffered about 500 casualties, including 112 dead. The rebels surrendered on April 29.

Irish and British newspapers reported that the Rising had been sponsored by Sinn Fein. This was erroneous. The Rising was sponsored by the IRB, and Sinn Fein had nothing to do with it, although some of the rebels may have been affiliated with Sinn Fein.

Four days later, the executions began, secretly, and after abbreviated and secret trials. By May 10, eleven days after the surrender, 15 of the rebels had been shot, including Pearse, whose execution won him the martyrdom that he had sought, and Connolly, who was tied to a chair because his wounds prevented him from standing before the firing squad. Martial law was imposed, during which a number of innocent civilians were shot, including Francis Skeffington, a lovable character and pacifist who had witnessed a British soldier shoot an unarmed boy, but who otherwise was totally unconnected with the Rising.

Originally, the Rising was highly unpopular with the citizenry. Shoppers derisively jeered the rebels as they were marched off to jail, and newspapers expressed shock, horror and dismay. And with 112 British troops dead, no one could have been surprised by the executions. But then, almost inexplicably, the quick executions, after brief trials without customary legal safeguards or appeals, caused the national mood to swing in favor of the rebels. One key factor was George Bernard Shaw's persuasive observation that the rebels were not traitors to Mother England (as charged in the trials), but rather were "prisoners of war" in a 750 year on-going war against England. Another factor was M.P. John Dillon's address to Parliament commending the rebels for their clean fight and suggesting his support. The heavy handed enforcement of martial law by 40,000 troops, and above all Britain's clumsy threat of involuntary conscription all contributed to the reversal in popular opinion. All of this reminded Irish Catholics that Ireland never wanted anything from England except to be left alone, and now Ireland's best and brightest young men were about to be conscripted as cannon fodder in England's war against the Germans, with whom the Irish had no quarrel. Within six weeks, popular ballads and poems were exalting the executed rebels, particularly Pearse, as "martyred prisoners of war", and pictures of the "martyrs" were hanging in virtually every Catholic pub in Ireland. Participation in the Easter Rising became an unbeatable credential for aspiring politicians, including Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, Cathal Brugha and the celebrated Countess Constance Markievicz ** all of whom participated in the Rising.

All of this worked against Redmond and his Irish Parliamentary party, which was regarded as too accommodating towards the British. The beneficiary was Sinn Fein, which had been a near zero factor in Irish politics until 1916, when the media erroneously gave it credit for sponsoring the Easter Rising. World War I ended in October, 1918, and general elections for the British Parliament were held two months later. Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party, which had monopolized the "Catholic seats" for decades, was directly challenged by Sinn Fein, whose candidates pledged to boycott the British Parliament, and instead to constitute themselves the legislature of a revolutionary Republic of Ireland. When the votes were counted, the Irish Parliamentary party -- formerly the party of Parnell and Redmond -- had won only 6 seats, a humiliating defeat, while Sinn Fein had elected 73 members. (Protestant-unionists took 26 seats.) Many of the victorious Sinn Fein candidates were veterans of the Easter Rising, and indeed 36 of the 73 remained in jail. Most were young, and even some women were elected. Some, including Collins, were members of the IRB, but most were not. Also elected -- a departure from the violent norm -- was Arthur Griffith, the pacifist founder of Sinn Fein, who had taken no part in the Easter Rising.

Honoring their pledge, the successful Sinn Fein candidates met in Dublin in January 1919 and followed an agenda borrowed from the American and French Revolutions. They passed a Declaration of Independence and "ratified" the Republic that had originally been proclaimed at the Easter Rising in 1916. They declared themselves to be the Dail Eireann, and passed resolutions declaring that the Dail Eireann had the exclusive power to make laws binding on the Irish people, and that the British Parliament had no jurisdiction over Ireland. They demanded that England evacuate the entire Ireland. They established Republican courts, which subsequently gained the confidence of the citizenry. The Dail then elected a government, with de Valera as President and Griffith as Vice President. Collins was appointed Minister of Finance, as well as Commander (but not Chief of Staff) of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the name given to the new government's militia, which consisted of former members of the Irish Volunteers; this latter appointment was disingenuous, however, because their Dail's control over the IRA was less than complete.

The Irish revolution was now in progress, but who was really in charge? The Dail, which consisted almost entirely of Sinn Fein politicians, had won the hearts and minds of the people, and therefore could not be excluded from further progress of the revolution, but the Dail was not really in charge. The real power resided in the well armed IRA (15,000 active members, perhaps 80,000 standby), which had an independent leadership -- Cathal Brugha (the most hard line Republican of all), Richard Mulcahey, and Michael Collins -- that refused to cede control to either the Dail or the IRB. (Both organizations were influential in the IRA, however.) The IRB, which had triggered everything by sponsoring the Easter Rising, was overwhelmed by the rapid expansion of its own revolution. Although the IRB remained a player, it found itself unable to dictate strategy or events; indeed, when Michael Collins later was ambushed and killed (1922), the IRB slid into oblivion.

The historically important individuals were de Valera and Collins. Eamon de Valera (1882-1975) was born and baptized Catholic in New York of a Spanish father and an Irish mother. He was reared in Bruree, County Limerick, where he was educated in Catholic schools, later graduating from University College, Dublin. A non-influential mathematics teacher before 1916, he gained celebrity in the Easter Rising as the last unit commander to surrender, for which he received the death sentence, later commuted (perhaps because of his apparent American citizenship). He was president of Sinn Fein (1917-27), was elected to the first Dial, and served as President of the provisional government (1919-22), but opposed the 1921 treaty and resigned from office when it was approved. In 1927, after five years out of office, he formed a new political party, Fianna Fail, was elected to the Dail, and after 1932 became Ireland's most beloved elected official, serving as Prime Minister for a total of 21 years.

Michael Collins (1890-1922), eight years younger than de Valera, was born and baptized Catholic in Clonakilty, County Cork. A natural and charismatic leader, he had no formal education after high school, instead working as a clerk in London, where he joined the IRB. He returned to Ireland in 1915 and participated in the Easter Rising, for which he was interned at Frongoch (Wales), where he emerged as the prisoners' leader. Upon his release, he actively participated in all of the organizations that pushed the revolution forward -- IRB, IRA, Sinn Fein -- and became the rising star in each. After de Valera left for America (June 1919) on an 18 month fund raising tour, Collins became the dominant figure in the revolution. At various times, Collins held positions as (1) President of the Supreme Council of the IRB, (2) Commander of the IRA (1919-21), later Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army (1922), (3) Sinn Fein member of the Dail, (4) Minister of Finance of the 1919 provisional government, and (5) cabinet member in first post-treaty government.

Following the Dail's 1919 session, guerilla warfare naturally erupted. (The war euphemistically was called "The Troubles", later the "Tan War".) On one side was the IRA, the militia of the new government, about 15,000 troops strong, and fully supported by the citizenry. The key man for the IRA was Michael Collins, a brilliant commander who set up a remarkable intelligence (and counter-intelligence) operation that enabled the IRA to avoid extinction at the hands of the British. On the other side were special British forces known as the "Auxiliaries" and the "Black and Tan" (after their hybrid uniforms), with some help from the British army, 45,000 strong. Each side perpetrated atrocities, but most of the public attention fell on the Black and Tan, whose leaders apparently believed that very brutal and very public atrocities were the best way to discourage the populace from supporting the rebels. In one incident, they deliberately started a series of fires in Cork, then cut all fire hoses brought out to fight the fire. In another notorious and very public incident, called "Bloody Sunday", the Black and Tan, to retaliate for the execution of 16 spies by Collins' counter intelligence unit, fired automatic weapons and rifles into a crowd at a football game in Dublin, killing 12 innocent spectators and wounding 60.

Bloody Sunday and the other atrocities, coming so soon after the British massacre of at least 379 peaceful demonstrators in Amritsar *** India, triggered worldwide condemnation of the British government, which responded by enacting the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, purporting to establish separate parliaments for "Northern Ireland" and "Southern Ireland", each with extensive home rule powers. Northern Ireland quickly accepted the legislation, and began a series of brutal pogroms against Catholics. On July 10, 1921, Protestant mobs killed 15 Catholics, wounded 68, and burned to the ground 161 Catholic homes, all of which was just a taste of what was yet to come.

Dail Eireann refused to accept the new legislation, but did agree to a cease fire in 1921, after which British Prime Minister David Lloyd George invited de Valera to participate in negotiations for a treaty. De Valera, as President, appointed Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins to lead the negotiating team. Details of the negotiations are not fully known, but Griffith and Collins returned with a treaty, subject to approval of the Dail, that partitioned Ireland into two entities: (1) A 26 county self-governing dominion, called the Irish Free State, which had nearly full independence from England, and (2) An entity consisting of 6 counties carved out of Ulster, formally named Northern Ireland, which remained a part of Great Britain, but which (ironically, because Ulster so vigorously opposed "home rule") was given its separate parliament. Since areas near the border were heavily Catholic, a Commission was established to recommend adjustments to the boundary.

The treaty quickly became the most controversial issue in the history of Ireland. The treaty granted the 26 counties greater independence than Ireland had enjoyed in over 700 years, and most impartial observers regarded it as a stepping stone to full independence within a generation or two. Compared to the modest Home Rule Act of 1914, the treaty was a gigantic step forward for Republicans. But the true hard liners -- including the IRA's Cathal Brugha -- found three fatal flaws: (1) It excluded six counties in Ulster, thereby abandoning Catholics and nationalists in that part of Ireland; (2) It did not establish a truly independent Republic, only a semi-autonomous state in which Britain controlled harbors in times of emergency; and (3) It required an oath of fidelity to the Crown from elected officials. President de Valera was furious over the treaty, partly because of its terms (he hated the oath) and partly because it was signed without his explicit approval. He led the opposition in the Dail.

After months of bitter debate, on January 7, 1922, the treaty passed the Dail on a close vote (64-57), and a provisional "Free State" government was formed to implement the treaty. But the controversy raged on. De Valera resigned rather than serve in the provisional government, which he considered illegitimate. He was replaced by Griffith. Shortly after the vote, Sinn Fein split into two warring factions.

The pro-treaty faction, led by Griffith and Collins, acknowledged that the treaty was less than perfection, but argued that it was the best settlement possible, one that was a stepping stone to a true republic in the foreseeable future. They also argued that the Boundary Commission would reduce Northern Ireland to a small, probably non-viable, entity. The pro-treaty faction was supported by the citizenry, which wanted to end the hostilities and knew that no amount of fighting could reverse attitudes in Ulster.

The anti-treaty faction, led by de Valera, Brugha and most of the IRA leadership, felt honor-bound to accept nothing less than a genuine "republic" which at most was "externally associated" with Britain. In addition, de Valera's Republicans refused to sit in the Dail because of the required oath of fidelity to the British crown.

Some IRA units supported the treaty and transformed themselves into the army of the new Irish Free State, giving up the name IRA. Other IRA units were anti-treaty, and under Brugha continued to function under the name IRA. They promptly commandeered the Four Courts building as IRA headquarters.

Five months later, another election was held and the pro-treaty faction received a safe majority (58 to 36). They immediately formed a permanent "Irish Free State" government. Initially, the government was headed by Griffith, but within two months he died of natural causes and was replaced by William Cosgrave (1880-1965). But successful anti-treaty candidates refused to take the hated oath or participate in the Dail. The Irish Parliamentary party -- the party of Parnell and Redmond -- received so few votes it ceased operations.

The Irish Civil War began almost immediately. Using artillery borrowed from Britain, the Free State government, which proved to be highly authoritarian, bombarded IRA headquarters (the Four Courts building) with artillery fire, killing Cathal Brugha in the process. Then, with military assistance from Britain, it brutally and methodically set about destroying the rebellious opposition. The government used the same tactics that had been most effective against them when they were rebels. It executed 77 anti-treaty advocates, some with cause and some without. It burned down homes and imprisoned over 11,000 anti-treaty citizens. Eventually, the numerically superior Free State Army overwhelmed the IRA.

The Civil War ended on May 24, 1923, although de Valera, as political leader of the anti-treaty faction, refused to give Cosgrave's government the satisfaction of a formal surrender. Instead, he simply sent a message to the IRA troops and other supporters that further resistance was futile and the effort was being abandoned.

During the war, Michael Collins was ambushed and killed. It was a devastating blow for the IRB, since Collins was the last of their members to remain a power in Cosgrave's government. The IRB never regained its influence in Irish affairs. More importantly, Collins' death enabled de Valera to eventually become the virtually undisputed political leader of the new state, and to impose (with scant interference) his vision on Ireland.

Beginning in mid-1923, the duly elected government of the new "Irish Free State" -- so named under the 1922 constitution framed by the pro-treaty side -- finally was in a position to function. By now, Cosgrave had reorganized his pro treaty supporters into a new political party, Cumann na nGaedheal, which subsequently (after merger with the quasi-Fascist "Blue Shirts") became Fine Gael. The anti-treaty Republicans -- the IRA and its political wing, Sinn Fein -- put armed hostilities behind them for the duration, but continued to elect Sinn Fein members who refused to take the hated oath or participate in the Dail. Despite the difficulties of governing a state whose very legitimacy was rejected by the major opposition party, the Cosgrave government set up a well-functioning administration that passed some modest reforms. It did suffer one major embarrassment, however. In 1925, on the eve of the Boundary Commission report, word leaked that the Commission had recommended only minor changes, mostly favoring the North; with the entire island on the verge of riot, the three governments formally agreed that the original boundary should remain in place.

In 1927, de Valera reconciled his conscience to taking the oath while denying that he was doing any such thing. De Valera and his supporters, who constituted almost half of the anti-treaty faction, split from the main body of Republicans, which still was operating under the names IRA and Sinn Fein. De Valera formed a new political party, Fianna Fail, and was elected to the Dail. After the 1932 election, Cosgrave's Fine Gael party lacked the votes to form a government, and a coalition government comprised of Fianna Fail and Labor was formed with de Valera as prime minister. Most anti-treaty Republicans eventually joined de Valera and supported the Free State, while the IRA and Sinn Fein were reduced to tiny dissident elements. De Valera became Ireland's most beloved and enduring elected official, serving as prime minister from 1932 until 1948, and again in 1951 through 1954 and 1957 through 1959, 21 years in all.


PART 12 FOOTNOTES:

*  The historic province of Ulster encompassed an area which in 1914 was divided into nine counties. Four counties were overwhelmingly (about 70%) Protestant and three heavily Catholic. Two counties had small but clear Catholic majorities. Northern Irish "unionists" originally sought all nine counties, but this was rejected by Britain because the Protestant voting majority was too small (about 53%) to be secure. Some members of Parliament advocated inclusion of only the four Protestant counties, but this was rejected because the geographical area was deemed too small for the statelet to be viable. Eventually a unionist-British consensus developed for a six county statelet which included the four Protestant counties (Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Londonderry) plus the two counties with only small Catholic majorities (Tyrone and Fermanagh). This gave the new statelet maximum geographical area while maintaining a safe 2 to 1 Protestant voting majority. Among the many controversial aspects of partition, the inclusion of Tyrone and Fermanagh was perhaps the most controversial.

**  The rebellious daughter of a Protestant Ascendancy family, the affluent Gore-Booths of Sligo, Markievicz (1868-1927) was born in London and educated at elite schools in Paris, where she developed a life long compassion for the poor. A striking beauty, she offended Ascendancy sensibilities by marrying a Catholic count from Poland and converting to Catholicism. She was attracted to politics by the women's suffrage issue and Maude Gonne's Irish women's movement, but soon embraced Irish independence. She became an officer in Connolly's radical Citizens Army, and although she was frustrated by Griffith's pacifism, she also joined Sinn Fein. She participated in the Easter Rising, for which she received the death sentence, which was commuted because of her gender, infuriating her. In 1918, from her jail cell, she became the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, but like all Sinn Fein candidates, she pledged not to take her seat, opting instead for the Dail Eireann. She was twice appointed Minister of Labor in the new government, but when the Irish Civil War broke out, she resigned and joined the IRA/anti-treaty side. She dedicated her later years to helping the poor.

***  According to the British count, 379 Indians were killed, and 1200 wounded, on April 13, 1919, when British troops under General Reginald Dyer fired on peaceful demonstrators protesting British legislation giving emergency powers to the British colonial government. The Indian government claims a much higher number of casualties. At the subsequent hearings, General Dyer showed no remorse, testifying that stern measures of this type were necessary to maintain order in the colonies.