The History of The Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-military Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and its paramilitary forces the Auxiliaries and Ulster Special Constabulary (USC). It was part of the Irish revolutionary period. In April 1916, Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising against British rule and proclaimed an Irish Republic. Although it was crushed after a week of fighting, the Rising and the British response led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In the December 1918 election, republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory in Ireland. On 21 January 1919 they formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann) and declared Irish independence. That day, two RIC officers were killed in the Soloheadbeg ambush by IRA volunteers acting on their own initiative. The conflict developed gradually. For most of 1919, IRA activity involved capturing weaponry and freeing republican prisoners, while the Dáil set about building a state. In September, the British government outlawed the Dáil and Sinn Féin and the conflict intensified. The IRA began ambushing RIC and British Army patrols, attacking their barracks and forcing isolated barracks to be abandoned. The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain—the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries—who became notorious for ill-discipline and reprisal attacks on civilians, some of which were authorised by the British government. Thus the conflict is sometimes called the "Black and Tan War". The conflict also involved civil disobedience, notably the refusal of Irish railwaymen to transport British forces or military supplies. In mid-1920, republicans won control of most county councils, and British authority collapsed in most of the south and west, forcing the British government to introduce emergency powers. About 300 people had been killed by late 1920, but the conflict escalated in November. On Bloody Sunday in Dublin, 21 November 1920, fourteen British intelligence operatives were assassinated; then the RIC fired on the crowd at a Gaelic football match, killing fourteen civilians and wounding sixty-five. A week later, the IRA killed seventeen Auxiliaries in the Kilmichael Ambush in County Cork. In December, the British authorities declared martial law in much of southern Ireland, and the centre of Cork city was burnt out by British forces in reprisal for an ambush. Violence continued to escalate over the next seven months, when 1,000 people were killed and 4,500 republicans were interned. Much of the fighting took place in Munster (particularly County Cork), Dublin and Belfast, which together saw over 75 percent of the conflict deaths. The conflict in north-east Ulster had a sectarian aspect. While the Catholic minority there mostly backed Irish independence, the Protestant majority were mostly unionist/loyalist. A mainly-Protestant special constabulary was formed, and loyalist paramilitaries were active.

0:00:00 - intro
0:00:14 - Summary
0:01:11 - Home Rule Crisis
0:02:04 - Easter Rising
0:02:42 - First Dáil
0:03:16 - British
0:04:07 - Irish republican
0:04:46 - Pre-war violence
0:05:24 - Initial hostilities
0:06:11 - Violence spreads
0:06:51 - Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as special target
0:07:36 - Collapse of the British administration
0:08:55 - IRA organisation and operations
0:10:39 - Martial law
0:11:34 - Escalation: October–December 1920
0:13:03 - Peak of violence: December 1920 – July 1921
0:15:05 - Truce: July–December 1921
0:17:19 - Treaty
0:19:30 - North-east
0:20:30 - Summer 1920
0:22:05 - Spring–summer 1921
0:22:58 - Early 1922
0:24:22 - Summer 1922: Northern offensive
0:25:41 - Detention
0:26:16 - Killing of alleged spies
0:26:34 - Propaganda war
0:27:45 - Casualties
0:28:42 - Post-war evacuation of British forces
0:29:24 - Compensation
0:30:06 - Role of women in the war
0:30:26 - Memorial
0:30:52 - outro

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