UNIVERSITE DE LOME 1

FLESH – ENGLISH DEPARTMENT SECOND SEMESTER 2008 - 2009

FIRST YEAR

BRITISH CIVILISATION

THE IRISH
CONFLICT
AND ITS ORIGINS

PRESENTATION

 M. EKPEH NUFUGBE FERA K.A.

 LENGUE Essoyéké
 GNALMBA Komi
 KPELEVI Gomli Kossi
 KPEKPASSI Zoukénim
 2

I. INTRODUCTION : A LITTLE HISTORY OF IRELAND

Ireland was first settled around the year 8000 BC, when hunter-
gatherers came from Great Britain and Europe, possibly by land bridge. They
lived by hunting and fishing for about four thousand years. Around 4000 BC
they began to farm, and the old hunter-gatherer lifestyle gradually died out.
Early Irish society was organized into a number of kingdoms, with a
rich culture, a learned upper class, and artisans who created elaborate and
beautiful metalwork with bronze, iron, and gold.
Irish society was pagan for thousands of years. This changed in the
early fifth century AD, when Christian missionaries, including the legendary
St. Patrick, arrived. Christianity replaced the old pagan religions by the year
600. The early monks introduced the Roman alphabet to what had been
largely an oral culture. They wrote down part of the rich collection of
traditional stories, legends and mythology that might have otherwise been
lost.
Two centuries later, from the early ninth century AD, Vikings invaded
Ireland. These attacks went on for over 100 years. At first the Vikings raided
monasteries and villages. Eventually, they built settlements on the island,
many of which grew into important towns. Irish cities founded by the Viking
invaders include Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, as well as
Limerick, Cork, and Wexford. Irish society eventually assimilated the
descendants of the Vikings.
The Reformation brought this time of relative peace to a brutal end.
Beginning in 1534, military campaigns put down Irish chiefs who would not
submit to the English king. People were massacred. A policy of “plantations”
began: land was confiscated from Catholic Irish landowners, and given to
Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. During the next century and a
half, Catholic Ireland was conquered, and religion became a source of division
and strife, a role it held until recent times. During the 18th century, many
laws were passed that discriminated against Catholics. The native Gaelic
language was banned in schools. By 1778, only five percent of the land was
owned by Catholics. In 1801, the Irish parliament was abolished and Ireland
became part of “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”. Catholics
could not hold parliamentary office until 1829.
Poverty was widespread. For many Irish, potatoes were the most important
food. In 1845, disaster struck: the potato blight. This disease destroyed much
of the potato crop for the next few years. The cause of the blight was not
immediately understood, and the English rulers did little to help the situation.
About a million people died of starvation or disease. Another million emigrated
to escape poverty and starvation. Because of the potato blight, the population
of Ireland fell from more than eight million in 1841 to about six million in
1852. The population continued to decline more slowly until the second half of
the 20 century. Efforts to gain home rule and improve the condition of the
people went on during the 19th century. There were movements for land
reform and movements to make Gaelic the official language of Ireland once
again. There was strong Protestant opposition to these demands. By 1900,
civil war loomed. The Home Rule act was passed in 1914, which would have
given Ireland some autonomy, but it was suspended when the First World War
started. .
 3

II. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1919 – 1921)

A. CAUSES OF THE WAR

After the First World War, in 1919, the powers in Europe sat down to
redraw the boundaries of Europe. Sinn Fein attended these meetings and
attempted to have Ireland included in this redrawing. They argued that
Ireland should be granted independence through the treaty. However the
leaders in Europe largely ignored Sinn Fein and they returned home again
empty- handed.

With the Third Home Rule Bill under discuission now for 7 years, with
no implementation, the IVF decided that they had waited long enough and
that they would have to take action to increase the pace. They also hoped
that by becoming a formidable military force, they could persuade the
government to introduce complete Independence rather than the proposed
Home Rule solution. In 1919 they renamed themselves the Irish Republican
Army (IRA) which really signalled the start of a new phase in their history.
On 21 January 1919, the IRA shot dead 2 Irish policemen in county
Tipperary, and this marked the beginning of what is now known as the War
of Independence.

B. THE WAR
The Catholic church condemned the IRA, and the locals, who knew
exactly who the IRA men involved were, were also appalled. However the
British clamped down hard in response and soon a guerrilla war was
underway in counties Cork and Tipperary. With the post-war British army in
a shambles, they were only willing to send over groups of ex-First World War
solders to fight. The combination of black police uniforms and tan army
outfits gave rise to the term 'Black and Tans' for these men. The 'Black and
Tans' were undisciplined and often shot innocent civilians in reprisal for
attacks on them. These attacks helped to create and then strengthen local
support for the IRA.

In 1920 the IRA, led by a Corkman named Michael Collins, concluded

that the war was not having the desired effect and decided to intensify the
war. On 21 November 1920, the IRA shot dead 11 British agents. In reprisal,
a group of Black and Tans fired randomly into a crowd of civilians at a Gaelic
football match at Croke Park, Dublin. 12 people were killed and the day
became known as Bloody Sunday. (Not to be confused with another Bloody
Sunday much later.) Ten days later the IRA shot dead 17 British soldiers in
county Cork.

Meanwhile, despite the conflict, the government decided to press

ahead with Home Rule and passed the Government of Ireland Act in 1920.
This gave Ireland 2 Parliaments (each with a Prime Minister), one for the
Unionists and one for the Nationalists, but kept both Parliaments
answerable to the overall UK parliament in London. Six counties
(Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Antrim, Down and Armagh) were to be
under the Unionist Parliament, and the citizens there agreed to the creation
of 'Northern Ireland' by way of a referrendum. The first elections for the
Northern Ireland parliament were held in May 1921 and the Unionists got 40
 4

of the 52 seats. It first met in Belfast in June 1921. The new Northern
Ireland Prime-Minister was the Ulster Unionist leader, Sir James Craig.

The elections were held for the Nationalist Parliament in Dublin in May
1921 also, and Sinn Féin (under Eammon de Valera) took 124 seats with the
remaining 4 being taken by Unionist candidates. However Sinn Féin refused
to recognise the Parliament and instead continued to meet in Dail Eireann.
The 4 Unionists were the only ones who attended the new Parliament. The
IRA, under Collins, continued to fight on for more independence, and made
regular attacks on Protestants in Northern Ireland too. Finally stalemate was
reached and a truce was signed between the IRA and the British on 11 July
1921. After 4 months of negotiations a treaty was hammered out which
Michael Collins signed on behalf of the IRA. However he did not fully consult
his colleagues, many of whom were horrified that he had accepted partition.
This is why he is now regarded by some as a traitor and this probably
contributed to his assassination a short time later.

C. THE TREATY : END OF THE WAR

The 'Anglo-Irish Treaty', which was agreed between Collins and the
British government, replaced the Dublin Home-Rule Parliament which had
been created by the Government of Ireland Act. The new Act created an
Ireland which was much more independent than it would have been under
pure Home Rule, and certainly much more independent than the bit of
Ireland ruled by the Northern Ireland government. The new country was to
be called the 'Irish Free State' and would have its own army, although it
would remain within the British Commonwealth. This is a similar status to
that which Canada has today. Britain would also have a representative in
Ireland and would keep some naval bases in Irish waters. The treaty also set
up a Boundary Commission which was to fine-tune the border to take
account of Unionist/Nationalist communities close to it. The Sinn Fein
leader, Eamonn de Valera, became the first Prime Minister of the Irish Free
State.

The UK was renamed 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland' to reflect the change. To oversee that the 2 Irish states got
along, a Council of Ireland was set up to manage relations. The British
believed that the 2 Parliaments would soon settle their differences and agree
to unite, and the Council of Ireland was to oversee this reunification as well.
However, in the end, the Council of Ireland never met.
 5

III. THE CIVIL WAR (28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923)

A. THE ORIGINS
The Irish Civil War was one of the many conflicts that followed in the
wake of the First World War. It took place in Ireland where the treaty of
peace signed at the end of the war if independence was not enough powerful
to maintain opposite parts in a continual condition of peace.
The Irish National Army: the forces of the irish free sate (Which was for the
treaty) and the Irish republican Army IRA which was against this treaty,
started to threat each other and finally the situation became out of any
control.
B. THE WAR

In early 1922, British troops began to pull out from Ireland, handing over
their garrisons to the Irish Volunteers. The Tipperary Military Barracks was
vacated at this time. These were now split into those who supported the
Treaty- now called Free State Soldiers under the leadership of Michael
Collins. Other former Irish Volunteers who opposed The Treaty, now became
known as The Irregulars.
In March 1922, the anti-treaty forces seized The Four Courts and other
buildings in Dublin. On 27 June 1922, The Free State Army bombarded The
Four Courts and its defenders were forced to surrender. De Valera now
joined the anti-treaty forces. The Civil War had begun and was to last over
a year.
The anti-treaty forces held most of Munster, including County Tipperary,
but were heavily outnumbered. The war became one of guerrilla conflict; of
ambushes, raids and counter-raids. Michael Collins was killed in an ambush
at Beal na Blath, County Cork on 22 August 1922.
Arthur Griffith, head of the Provisional Government had died ten days
earlier. W.T. Cosgrave now became head of the Provisional Government.

By mid-1923, over eleven thousand people were interned by the Provisional

Government and hundreds were dead. Finally, in May 1923, the anti-treaty
leaders, Eamonn De Valera and Frank Aiken, advised their supporters to
dump their weapons as continued resistance was impossible. This directive
signalled the end of The Civil War.

C. THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR

It is estimated that 4,000 people died in the ten months of the Civil War,
about two times the number that died during the War of Independence.
Damage to infrastructure exceeded €4 billion (about 24 Billion CFA) in
present-day terms. It nearly inflicted a fatal blow on the Irish economy. The
Civil War divided families, pitching brother against brother, father against
son and husbands against wives. It became a very divisive factor in Irish
politics. The two biggest political parties in the Republic of Ireland were born
from this struggle, de Valera's Fianna Fáil being the anti-treaty party and
Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedheal the pro-treaty faction.
 6

CONCLUSION

Economically, things slowly began to look up for the Irish after the
establishment of the Irish Republic. The economy began to grow in the late
1950s. The population began to increase for the first time since the potato
blight, but even today, at about 6 million, it has not yet re-attained its 1841
level.
Ireland joined the EEC (now the European Union) in 1973. Membership
did much to improve the Irish economy, both through direct aid and by
increasing foreign investment there. The Irish economy boomed in the 1990s,
so much so that Ireland was nicknamed “the Celtic Tiger”. After centuries of
poverty and suffering, Ireland is now a prosperous, modern country with
much to offer the world.