The Birth of a Nation, 1912-32

The first point of importance to recall for this period

is that the new Irish state was born in violence.

This may not appear unusual in historical terms,

but in some respects it was a little strange for Ireland.

Up until 1912, Ireland had become increasingly stable.

Many of the conflicts that have generated violence

in the 19th century had largely disappeared.

The most important of these was the land question,

which was mainly resolved by 1912, However, between 1912 and 1922

1st as a result of the demand for home rule and subsequently,

as a result of the war of independence, violence became a central matter

in Irish politics and in Irish life.

In the first instance,

both nationalists and unionists armed themselves for and against home rule,

nationalists were in favour of home rule

and wanted home rule for the entire island.

Unionists, on the other hand, wished to remain in the United Kingdom

and were prepared to fight

to defend that particular right.

So by 1914, you largely had two armed camps within the island, facing with

each other

heavily armed and apparently ready to go to war over there,

incompatible aims and objectives.

1914 postponed that with the beginning of the war,

but it actually increased the militarisation of society

Unionists and nationalists. Both supported

the war effort,

but a minority of nationalists disagreed with this and organised separately

in 1916, these militant radical nationalists attempted an uprising in Dublin,

which lasted a number of days, caused considerable damage and violence and deaths,

but was effectively put down by the British forces.

What followed changed politics considerably.

Uh, many of the leaders of the Rising were executed.

There was a popular reaction against that among nationalists.

But perhaps also importantly,

there was an even greater distancing between unionists

and nationalists as a result of the rising.

Even though the rising didn't have majority support,

it did have considerable sympathy, particularly after the executions.

These violent tendencies increased in 1917 and 1918.

There's a considerable amount of street violence

and eventually a return to physical violence.

By 1919.

Between that time,

the political system in nationalist Ireland changes dramatically.

The old Home Rule party, which had supported the war,

lost considerable support and in its place, the Sinn Fein party,

which had participated in the 1916 rising,

or at least some of its members had participated in the 1916 rising

reorganised itself and in the 1918 election

won virtually every seat in nationalist Ireland.

However, they were not prepared to take their place in West minister.

They withdrew from the British Parliament and attempted to establish

a separate parliament in Ireland under their control and authority.

In early 1919,

the Irish Republican Army began hostilities against British forces once again,

and between 1919 and 1921.

That was even more violence between the insurgents fighting a guerilla campaign

against British official forces and semi

official forces attempting to repress it.

In addition to this,

sectarian politics increased their hostility in Northern Ireland

between Catholics and Protestants.

The Protestants were in the majority again,

wishing to remain in the United Kingdom.

Many of those in the minorities feared

the dominance of the unionists and Protestants,

and considerable tension and hostility arose

from this was also considerable violence,

particularly sectarian violence organised by Protestant

militants against Catholics and nationalists,

so that by 1921

we effectively have had a decade of militarisation of violence,

of tension between the different groups in Ireland.

The war of Independence

had a degree of legitimacy in that the nationalist delegates that had

been elected in 1918 and established that on Irish Parliament in 1919 supported

the IRA in its campaign.

The British state obviously didn't accept this legitimacy,

but an increasing number of Irish nationalists did.

The treaty,

which was negotiated between the British and the Irish nationalists in 1921

led to the establishment of the Irish Free State rather ambiguous,

uh, state in some respects, but an independent state.

Indeed,

it's the first part of the British empire to become separate from the British

Empire since the American colonies defeated Britain in the in the 18th century.

The treaty was significant in that First of all,

the British government accepted the right of the nationalists

to secede from the British state and from the empire

as already mentioned.

This is the first time that there had been a

secession by part of the empire establishing an independent state.

The second important aspect of the treaty,

perhaps indirectly connected with this, is that it

threw up the big question about what was Ireland.

Was Ireland the entire island or was

Ireland different parts of different territories.

The answer to that has taken quite a long time to be resolved.

But at the time,

what is clear is that the partition that was established in 1920 to 1923

which eventually became the boundary between Northern

Ireland and the Irish Free State,

became a real border between two separate

political systems and to separate political cultures.

The treaty led to a split between

the Nationalists. On the one hand, the more moderate sections of the Nationalists

supported the free state, and a majority of the population supported them.

On the other hand, a minority later to be known as the Republicans,

opposed the treaty and were prepared to fight

against the incoming government to defend their position.

Although they were only supported by a minority of the population on this,

the civil war was particularly vicious. Nearly 1000 people died.

The 77 Republicans were executed by the state.

Uh, there were Reprisals on both sides and atrocities on both sides.

The government, however, had the support of the majority of the electorate.

They had.

The majority had the support of the business

community and it had support of the church,

and I think it is arguable that they

had a considerable legitimacy established by this time.

Republicans were interned, um, and deprived of various rights in the short term,

and the movement was largely broken politically.

Importantly, however, in terms of the violence,

the Republicans did not surrender.

As such, they simply bury their arms in the short term and

perhaps also

threatened to come back and fight again.

However,

in the short term 1923 to 1925 the real issue in the new

state was the establishment of public order and the securing of the economy.

The economy had been seriously damaged by the war by the war of Independence,

by the civil war and by the recession that followed in the early 19 twenties.

Ireland was also paying various forms of indemnities

to Britain as a result of the treaty,

and quite a considerable amount of capital left the country.

As a result of this, immigration was high,

particularly among Republicans who felt that they were

under pressure from the forces of the state.

Independence gave the new state the opportunity to

establish a specific political and cultural identity,

and this was seen as significant again by a considerable amount of the population.

The emphasis was on Catholicism and on nationalism and what we see

happening in the course of the 19 twenties under the Free State,

even though this some of their policies would have

been criticised as not Catholic and not nationalist enough,

is the

creation of a state that was increasingly different from

the state that had been part of Britain.

So Ireland became less British, became more Irish, and in becoming more Irish,

it became more Catholic and more nationalist.

And in doing that, it also drove the division between north and south further apart.

Another important feature of the 19 twenties is that Ireland secured

its Democratic credibility over a decade and a half of struggle.

This again may appear surprising, given the fact that Ireland was born in violence,

was born in civil war,

and the forces that fought the civil war remained

divided for at least a decade after 1923.

In comparative terms,

the Irish Free State is unusual.

It is one of the very,

very few successor states that is states that became

independent around 1918 1919 that remain democratic by 1939.

Ireland did have some advantages.

It was part of the British system it had engaged with

parliamentary democracy in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The land question had been resolved,

and that was often a destabilising problem in other countries,

and the Catholic Church was in favour of stability.

But in many other ways, Ireland was surprising.

The democratic.

First of all, it was a Catholic country,

and Catholicism and democracy did not go very well.

Uh, in the interwar period,

most states that became independent at that

were Catholic ceased to be democratic by 1939

as well as this.

Countries that have experienced civil war and countries that had lost territory as

a result of military conflict tended not to continue to be democratic.

So if we compare Ireland with a Poland or the

Baltic states or other parts of Central and Eastern Europe,

all of these states ceased to be democratic

by 1939 whereas Ireland maintained its democratic credentials,

why was this?

I think there's a number of reasons for the first

is basically the toughness of the Irish Free State.

The Irish Free State itself decided that it was not

going to allow the militarism of the I r A.

To dominate the politics of the state.

So they set up various institutions,

police and secret service and military to prevent a

data or prevent indeed an uprising on the part of the military's.

And that certainly helped.

As I said already,

the role of the church should not be underestimated as a stabilising factor.

Although conservative,

the church largely accepted the political and parliamentary democracy as the

normal way of deciding issues in the main not always,

but in the main as well as that.

A majority of Irish people supported parliamentary democracy,

and that tends to be a positive feature of this. The real issue

that challenge democracy until the early 19 therapies is that the

Republican opposition was what might be called a disloyal opposition.

And what that meant was they did not accept the legitimacy of the state.

It wasn't just that they disagreed with the policies of the state.

It was that they considered the state should not exist in its present form,

and Republicans in particular and the I R A.

From the 19 twenties through to the 19 nineties continue to maintain

this position that the Irish state was not a really legitimate state,

that the only real legitimate state was the one that had existed briefly.

Uh, in the period between 1919 and 1921

that changed somewhat. In 1927

the new political party was established by Republicans led by Ayman de Valera,

who had been who had fought in 1916 and had been sentenced to death from a fall.

Attempted to bring together

the Republican critics of the Free state.

Uh, but they, too, did not accept the legitimacy of the state at this time.

They were highly critical of the state.

They use Parliament, uh, to destabilise the state in many ways,

by criticising the state and criticising the police and criticising some.

What are what are sometimes seen as quite strong,

strong handed actions on the part of the police against Republicans and and others.

So although final fall entered, parliament reluctantly entered parliament,

and but they did not accept the legitimacy of parliament or the

legitimacy of the government in the early years of their existence.

So write up to, let's say, the early 19 thirties.

There was a big question mark about whether Republicans, whether in terms of FEMA,

fall as a new political party or the older

type of Republicans around Sinn Fein and the IRA,

whether they would accept the continuing existence of the state.

As it happens,

the years immediately before the 1932 election are quite crucial here.

First of all,

find a fall gets used to the fact of working in within the parliamentary system.

It believes it can gain a majority, although members of the party

did express the view that parliamentary politics were simply

the extension of their militarism by other means.

So the danger there was if they didn't get what they wanted in parliamentary form,

they may return to violence.

The government, on the other hand,

believed that there was a major conspiracy on the part

of left wing and Republican elements to undermine the state.

There's a fear that communism was expanding in

various ways and other types of radicalism.

This was condemned by the church,

but it was also condemned by the state in that

they introduced special legislation which allow them to intern,

Republicans and other radicals largely at will.

Uh, effectively.

The rule of law was postponed in the short end,

medium term for for these individuals who are arrested, um,

and put before special courts.

So what you've seen even as late as the early 19 thirties is.

While the parliamentary system was functioning reasonably well,

the state was functioning reasonably well.

There was still a very large question mark

about whether Ireland could sustain its democratic credentials

in this module.

We've traced the history of Ireland from the origins of the

home rule crisis in 1912 through the militarisation of Irish society.

Between then and 1920 to 1923 we have looked at the 1916,

rising the War of Independence, the Civil War.

We've also traced the attempts by the new state to establish a

broadly Catholic and nationalist cultural structure

within which the society could function.

By the end of the 19 twenties and the early 19 thirties,

Ireland was still faced with serious problems.

Some had been resolved, but many were not.

Perhaps the most important one was what would happen if the government changed,

and if the Republican final fall party came to power,

we will now turn to look at what happens in 1932 and beyond when

de Valera forms his first government