Osprey - Essential Histories 065 - The Anglo-Irish War 1913-1922

Outbreak
By 'any means necessary'
By 1912, John Redmond, MP for New Ross,
Co. Wexford, had convinced the Liberal
Prime Minister Henry Herbert Asquith to
introduce a Home Rule Bill to Parliament.
Despite Asquith's reservations, the Liberals
were dependent upon the Irish
Parliamentary Party to form a government
and had little alternative. Unionists
vehemently opposed the Bill and Irish
Republicans also had their objections.
Unionists believed it was the thin end of
the wedge, whilst Republicans felt it did not
go far enough because it fell short of an
independent republic. Ireland would remain
an integral part of the UK with a devolved
regional government, which was why
Republicans objected to it.
Ulster Unionists signed a 'Solemn League
and Covenant' on 28 September 1912,
pledging to resist Home Rule, although
many believed the threats were a bluff. In
January 1913, Carson suggested the creation
of a Protestant militia to back the Covenant's
implicit threat of violence, and so the Ulster
Volunteer Force (UVF) was born. Field
Marshal Lord Roberts persuaded retired
General Sir George Richardson to lead the
UVF and he established an efficient HQ.
Colonel Hacket Pain became his Chief of
Staff, and it soon became obvious that the
UVF was capable of preventing Home Rule
in Ulster. The Government's lack of resolve
prompted Redmond to create the National
Volunteers in response.
In March 1914, General Sir Henry Paget,
Commander in Chief in Ireland, was ordered
to prepare for UVF violence. The
Government gave Paget vague verbal
instructions implying that officers from
Ulster would be excused duty against the
UVF whilst others could resign if they
wished, effectively giving them the choice of
which orders they would or would not obey.
Brigadier General Sir Hubert Gough and
57 officers from his Curragh-based Cavalry
Brigade chose to resign if ordered against the
UVF. Major General Sir Charles Ferguson's
Curragh-based 5th Division refused to join
the 'mutiny' but it was clear that the
mutineers were not alone. The Government
was losing control of the army in the face of
the threat of a European war. The Chief of
the Imperial General Staff, Sir John French,
wrote to Gough assuring him that the army
would not be used in Ulster. Home Rule was
dead in the water.
War saved Ireland from its troubles and
many Irishmen believed that Britain had
gone to war to defend the rights of a small
nation, Belgium, so logically Ireland's rights
would be respected after the war. Although
the war split the Volunteers, thousands of
Irish Nationalists volunteered to fight for
'King and Country'. 200,000 Irishmen -
Orange, Green and indifferent - signed up
voluntarily. Although the Government
allowed the UVF-dominated 36th Division
to use 'Ulster' in their name, it objected to
either the 10th and 16th Divisions using
'Irish' in theirs. All three divisions served
with distinction, with the 10th suffering
appalling casualties at Gallipoli and the
16th and 36th supporting each other on the
Western Front.
By 1916 the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB) led by Padraig Pearse, Tom Clarke,
Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceant and
Eamon de Valera had gained control of what
was left of the Volunteers. Amongst these
hard-liners was an Anglo-Irish diplomat, Sir
Roger Casement. In 1914 he was working to
rally support for the revolution in the USA
and Germany. His reception in the US was
decidedly lukewarm and the Germans
over-estimated Republican support in
Ireland. Casement was genuinely surprised