Why was Ireland close to civil war in 1914?

Were the Liberals “to blame”?

Why was a Home Rule Bill introduced in 1911?

• The House of Lords’ power of veto had been removed by the Parliament Act

• The Irish Nationalists had supported the Liberals throughout 1910-11 in return for a Home Rule Bill

• The Liberal PM Asquith couldn’t avoid it!!

What did it propose?

• To give Ireland control over her internal affairs

• However power over defence, war, relations with the crown, customs and excise and, at first, control of the police would stay in the UK parliament

• Ireland would still send separately elected MPs to the UK parliament in London

The reaction of the Unionists• On April 11 the Third Home Rule Bill

was introduced into the House of Commons.

• On the eve of the Bill's introduction, 9 April, a mass demonstration was held in Belfast. It was attended by about 200,000 Unionists, including contingents from the Orange Order and Unionists Clubs which marched from the city centre.

• The demonstration was addressed by Edward Carson and was supported by the presence of a large number of English and Scottish Conservative MPs, and by their new leader Andrew Bonar Law.

• Law assured his listeners that they were not alone as their cause was also that of the Empire.

And then …• The Solemn League and Covenant

• The document was signed (often in BLOOD) by 471,000 people throughout Ulster and by people from Ulster living in the rest of Ireland (2000 in Dublin) and Britain on 28 September. All shipyards and factories closed.

• One of the most striking features of the Covenant was the level of support given to it across all classes including labourers, professionals, gentry, aristocracy and clergy.

• The Unionists pledged to use “all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland.”

• They hoped to impress the government in Britain by highlighting the party’s strength, unity and determination.

• The Liberals and Irish nationalists felt that the Unionists were bluffing but they seriously underestimated the depth of feeling in Ulster.

And then …• The Ulster Volunteers

• In December 1912, the Unionist Party Leaders agreed to form a paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Rank and file supporters had already begun to drill and train in considerable numbers.

• It was to be composed of all males of military

age who had signed the Covenant.

• It was a decision which, in due course, was to transform the face of Irish politics.

• At the time, it was considered to be fully justified. The demonstrations and protests had made no measurable impression on the Irish policy of British ministers; the Home Rule Bill was continuing to make slow but steady and progress through Westminster.

• The UVF was established to exert additional pressure on the British government.

• It was also a way of preparing for the worst – the possible need to use physical force to resist an all-Ireland government based in Dublin.

• By mid 1914, 90,000 men had enlisted.

Nationalist reaction

I think the Orangeman with a rifle a much

less ridiculous figure than the Nationalist

without a rifle.

This led to ..• The launch of a new force, the

Irish Volunteers, on 25 November 1913.

• The IRB leader, Bulmer Hobson, immediately seized on this opportunity and helped organise the Irish Volunteers.

• The IRB hoped to infiltrate it and use it in a future rising.

• By mid 1914 it had 180,000 members and most of the members of its Provisional Committee were IRB men

• In June, John Redmond, worried by the growth of the organization, made sure that his men dominated the Committee.

Ireland should rule herself for

the benefit of Catholics

and Protestants

Home Rule is enough - and by law, not by force!

Both sides started gun-running• The Unionist leaders bought 30,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of

ammunition from the Germans and succeeded in landing them on the night of 24-25th April 1914, at Larne and other ports in Ulster. The authorities made no attempt to intervene and the arms were distributed throughout Ulster with total success.

• Nationalists organised their own gun running. On 26 July 1914, the novelist and skilled yachtsman Erskine Childers landed 900 guns and ammunition at Howth, near Dublin. British troops sent to intercept the guns were unsuccessful but on their way back to barracks, they fired on a jeering crowd, killing 3 civilians and injuring 38. In the House of Commons, John Redmond denounced the killings: "Let the house clearly understand that four fifths of the Irish people will not submit any longer to be bullied, or punished, or shot, for conduct which is permitted to go scot-free in the open light of day in every county in Ulster by other sections of their fellow countrymen."

Why was compromise impossible?

• The Ulster Unionists refused to join a united Ireland Carson rejected the proposal that individual counties be allowed to opt out of

Home Rule for a period of six years. He said “Ulster wants the question settled now and for ever. We do not want sentence of death with a stay of execution for six years.”

• The Nationalists refused to allow a partitioned Ireland Redmond and his party completely rejected even temporary partition.

• Both sides had armed forces• Some of the British army officers stationed in

Ireland took sides with the unionists• In August 1914, there was deadlock

A problem postponed

On August 4th the First World War One erupted and civil war was averted. Prime Minster Asquith wrote that the outbreak of the war could be seen as the greatest stroke of luck in his lucky career.Partly in gratitude for the Home Rule Bill, John Redmond threw his weight behind the British war effort. The vast majority of the Ulster Volunteers supported Redmond. Carson also promised the loyalty of the Ulster Volunteers to the British war effort.

To be continued ......

………………in 1916