In May 1920 the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, proposed vigorous 'Indian measures' to suppress the rebellion. By mid-1920 British authority in Ireland was collapsing. Irish ostracism of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was effective and strikes prevented the movement of troops. Towards the end of 1919 Cabinet considered the Government of Ireland Bill, which was enacted in 1920 and provided for Ulster provinces to remain within the United Kingdom.īritish policy towards the rebellion was indecisive at first, but by May 1920 the gravity of the situation became apparent. This incident began the Irish War of Independence (although the Dail did not declare war until April). On the same day as the reaffirmation of the republic on 19 January 1919, a small number of IRA members shot two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) members at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary. The Dail immediately reaffirmed the republic of 1916 and set up a government in opposition to the British administration at Dublin Castle. Sinn Fein MPs met in Dublin in January 1919 and set up the Dail Eireann (Irish parliament). In December 1918 Sinn Fein won 73 seats out of 105 Irish seats in the general election, eclipsing the Irish Party. By the end of the year resentment of British rule was widespread in Ireland. In April 1918 an attempt by the British government to introduce conscription produced mass demonstrations. The harsh treatment of leaders by the British alienated the Irish and led to further radicalisation of the nationalist party Sinn Fein under Arthur Griffith and Eamon de Valera, and the expansion of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) under Michael Collins. In Dublin, the rising tide of militant Irish nationalism was manifest in the Easter rising of 1916. The British responded to the potent Catholic nationalism with the Home Rule Act of 1914, but then suspended it until after the First World War.
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