QUERY RECEIVED:

“EXPLAIN WHAT CAUSED THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.”

RESPONSE:

British colonisation of Ireland from the 16th century resulted in the displacement of Irish landowners in the regions of Ulster and Munster by predominantly Scottish and English settlers. This occurred in the period following the splintering of the Christian religion into multiple denominations in Britain, which meant the land-owning class in Ulster was primarily Protestant while the existing Irish population was predominantly Catholic. Later invasions and land confiscations by the British resulted in British ownership of land throughout the rest of Ireland. The new land-owning class was divided between absentee landlords based in England and loyal to Britain, and Anglo-Irish based in Ireland who gradually came to identify more with the Irish than English.

The overall effect over time was the development of demographic differences between Ulster and the rest of Ireland, with a majority of the Ulster population identifying as British and Protestant, and the majority of those outside of Ulster identifying as Irish and Catholic.

Oppression and inequality intensified Irish antagonism towards Britain. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649-1653 resulted in almost half of Ireland’s population being killed or exiled into indentured servitude in the Americas. Penal Laws that followed further suppressed Irish people, removed the rights of Irish Catholics to participate in government, and concentrated power among people loyal to Britain. Famines in the 18th and 19th century killed large proportions of the population and forced the emigration of large numbers of others. An effect of this was that by the 19th century, there were increasing attempts through both political means and violent rebellion to achieve greater independence from Britain.

The movement for what was described as ‘Home Rule’, or autonomous government by Irish people, gained momentum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This led to tension between nationalists (who sought self-government) and unionists (who sought to remain under British government). The British Parliament passed legislation enabling Home Rule in 1914 but its implementation was delayed by the First World War and disagreement between parties on the terms for Ulster being excluded.

An attempt at revolution by nationalists in 1916 known as the Easter Rising was unsuccessful, but the violent suppression by British authorities and the execution of the militants increased resentment towards the British. This was exacerbated by the British government’s attempt to institute military conscription of Irish men to fight in the war on behalf of Britain.

As a result the Sinn Fein, the political party aligning with the Easter Rising rebels, won a decisive victory in elections to the British Parliament. These elected members refused to take their seats in the British Parliament, instead declaring Ireland an independent republic. This initiated the Irish War of Independence, which was waged by the Irish Republican Army on behalf of the newly declared republic against the British.