Why Britain Lost The Anglo-Irish War (4K Documentary)
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Great Britain had emerged victorious from the First World War, and ruled over an even larger empire than before . But many in Ireland were unhappy with British rule, and over the next two years, Irish republicans won their independence - so how did the mighty British empire lose the Anglo-Irish War?
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Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje
» SOURCES
Cottrell, Peter, The Irish Civil War 1922-23, (Oxford : Osprey Publishing, 2015)
De Valera, Eamon & Moynihan, Maurice, Speeches and Statements by Eamon de Valera, 1917-73, (Dublin : Gill and Macmillan, 1980)
Gibbons, Ivan, Partition: How and Why Ireland Was Divided, (London : Haus Publishing, 2021)
Bowen, Tom, “The Irish Underground and the War of Independence 1919-21” Journal of Contemporary History Vol. 8, No. 2 (Apr., 1973), pp. 3-23
Hopkinson, Michael, The Irish War of Independence, (Montreal & Kingston : McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002)
Knirck, Jason. Imagining Ireland's Independence: The Debates Over the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006.
Leeson, David, The Black and Tans: British Police and Auxiliaries in the Irish War of Independence, 1920-1921, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2011)
Lowe, W.J., “Who Were the Black-and-Tans”, History Ireland (Autumn 2004)
Townshend, Charles, The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence 1918-1923, (London : Penguin Books, 2013)
Hawkings, F. M. A. “Defence and the Role of Erskine Childers in the Treaty Negotiations of 1921”, Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 22, No. 87 (Mar., 1981)
Hart, Peter: “The IRA and Its Enemies” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Harvey, A.D: “Who Were the Auxiliaries?” The Historical Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Sep. 1992)
Hopkinson, Michael: “The Irish War of Independence” (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002)
Leeson, David: “The Black and Tans: British Police and Auxiliaries in the Irish War of Independence, 1920-1921” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)
McMahon, Sean: “The War of Independence” (Cork: Mercier Press, 2019)
O’Brien, Paul: “Havoc: The Auxiliaries in Ireland’s War of Independence” (Cork: Collins Press, 2017)
Riddell, George: “Lord Riddell’s Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and After: 1918-1923” (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1933)
Roxbourgh, Ian: “The Military: The Mutual Determination of Strategy in Ireland, 1912-1921” in Duyvendak, Jan Willem & Jasper, James M. (eds) “Breaking Down the State: Protesters Engaged” (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2015)
Townshend, Charles: “The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence 1918-1923” (London: Penguin Books, 2014)
“Tubbercurry" Manchester Guardian, 4 October 1920.
Hugh Martin: "'Black and Tan' Force a Failure" Daily News 4 October 1920.
Dolan, Anne. “Killing the Bloody Sunday: November 1920” The Historical Journal
Vol. 49, No. 3 (Sep., 2006)
Hopkinson, Michael. “The Irish War of Independence” (Montreal & Kingston : McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002)
“The Macroom Ambush” The Irish Independent, January 17 1921
McMahon, Sean. “The War of Independence” (Cork : Mercier Press, 2019)
O’Brien, Paul. “Havoc: The Auxiliaries in Ireland’s War of Independence” (Cork : Collins Press, 2017)
Ridley, Nicholas. “Michael Collins and the Financing of Violent Political Struggle” (New York : Routledge, 2018)
Roxbourgh, Ian. “The Military: The Mutual Determination of Strategy in Ireland, 1912-1921” in Duyvendak, Jan Willem & Jasper, James M. (eds) Breaking Down the State: Protesters Engaged, (Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2015)
Ryan, Meda. “The Kilmichael Ambush, 1920: Exploring the 'Provocative Chapters”, History, Vol. 92, No. 2 (306) (APRIL 2007)
»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Philipp Appelt
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Yves Thimian
Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2024
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finally someone ignored the lawyers' advice not to comment on this event
A small anachronism is that Ulster is not Northern Ireland
Ulster is 9 counties of the province, and Northern Ireland is 6 of those 9.
Lets not forget many irishmen fought and died in WW1, when those who survived and returned home brought back their seasoned veterancy and combat expertise
And were murdered by the IRA!
Although an insurgency war is quite different to the butchery of the western front.
@@daveanderson3805 Much easier, more British soldiers died of disease and accidents in Ireland than were killed by the IRA
the military uprising was utterly crushed , they were no seasoned veterans!,
And even then.... the brits were also battlehardened veterans i assume. There were enough protestants in the pale amd beyond im sure
Kind of missed the most important part. The leaders of the 1916 Rising were brutally and inhumanely executed in prison. That galvanized public opinion in Ireland to fully support a Republic and effectively ruined any chance the British Empire had of slipping the yoke of centuries of oppression back on.
The leaders of the 1916 brutally murdered 400 innocent people and betrayed the free people of Europe to the German tyranny! WHAT oppression, come one WHAT OPPRESSION? It was all a lie but you knew that deep down, didn't you?
@@MrLorenzovanmatterhoyes they did killed civilians but then the British had the great idea of shelling every building they saw in Dublin so the British killed just as much as civilians as the rising members and stop whining about the alliance with Germany any one would have done that
@@sarpyasar5893 They mostly evacuated the city center first but one of the first to die was a man who tried to take his handcart out of a barricade The first policeman to die was an unarmed a Constable on the gate of Dublin Castle who refused to give them the keys and told them to F off. Next a group of cavalry who only had swords were escorting a military wagon along O'Connell Street and they were shot. In the afternoon a group of unarmed militia from Trinity College were walking along the quays after a day in the Dublin Mountains when they were shot.
@@sarpyasar5893the people on the streets of dublin spat and jeered the 1916 rebels upon there arrest and marched to jail before death sentence was passed and the fact of them being killed swung the public mind had they been thrown in jail the story could have been different but the british always seem intent in supplying the irish with heroes
They were traitors
My great grandad was a column member, but he rarely ever told my father about the war because he had severe ptsd
SOME of Ulster stayed in the UK not all of it. The Unionists used to love saying "Ulster says No" when they objected to, well, everything but they aren't even all of Ulster, 3 counties are in the Republic.
did you sit up all night thinking of that comment
@@whitetroutchannel Now why on earth would you suggest that? I barely even remember writing this, primarily because it didn't take much thinking to do so. Simple facts my friend don't take time to put down in words. Also simple mathematics: 6 is less than 9.
Just a small note, the Dáil is pronounced as though you were saying Dall, not dail.
Pedantic whinge over, that was a great video as always.
It's not even a real language anyways
@@dik943 What do you mean by that?
@@dik943 it is and its older than english
I usually hear it as Doyle.
I would have said dawl, almost like dawn but swapped the N for L.
I am from Macroom in County Cork. Macroom was the centre of the fighting in the Irish war of Independance.
Michael Collins was shot nearby as well as the Kilmichael ambush.
It can be surprising sometimes of people from up the country and abroad come and visit these historical sites
Timely video thanks Great War!
What’s interesting is that you can see CZcams videos of leading ira veterans made in the 1960s speaking about these events and the civil war. That’s like hearing directly from Sam Adams or Thomas Paine
I saw a few of those and one of those guys seems like the sweetest old man and then you learn he was a stone cold killer. Was fascinating.
Old men particularly soldiers have very selective memories it's the way they blank out some of the things they've done. this goes for most soldiers not just IRA. as always in these cases there's an awful lot of BS
I imagine they're so glad that they fought so hard for their descendants to hand Ireland over to North Africa...🤔
@@ianmedford4855 Obvious Brit detected.
@@ImSorryFive nope. American.
But i can see what's happening. The current "Irish Nationalists" arent worthy of carrying their fathers Armalites.
Informative video. Thank you.
Interesting once again. Thank you
Another excellent doc Great War team!
Incredible History
Amazing Presentation
Wonderful Details and some Proper Semantics
Feel’s so Tact
Epic video, epic last subtitle too 👍🏻
Thanks for the video🇮🇪
I love this channel!
Great video overall, but it’s “RIC”, not “IRC” for the royal irish constabulary
The single best history video series on CZcams (or anywhere for that matter)
History may not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.
Very interesting 👏 👏 👏
Very interesting.
Britain did not lose this war. Rather the British Government accepted that the draconian military measures to suppress the insurrection would be unacceptable and agreed to its independence on basis Northern Ireland was not included. Furthermore the idea of independence had already been agreed and backed by many British politicians. Britains primary objective was to prevent a Civil War here between Unionists mainly in the North and the Nationalists.
I actually wanna ask, since you guys made a video on the Battle of Verdun about 2 months ago, will we be seeing one on the Somme anytime soon?
yes
@@TheGreatWar hooray!
@@TheGreatWarwonderful
15:27 that guy going gun to gun staring down the business end of each??? Omega brain
his brain was so big he was desperately trying to find a way to make it a little bit smaller
Because to win such a war you have to do so much damage that you may as well not have bothered.
Well, and they also got to keep Northern Ireland....
@@tedhodge4830 Local people got to decide . . .
This didn't deter other escalations of colonial counterinsurgency actions into total war, mass torture, scorched earth, concentration camps and indiscriminate massacres of civilians, such as by the French in Algeria (repeatedly going back to the 1830s) and the French and then Americans in Indochina, to take just the two most prominent examples of the decolonization wars. It's not making a difference in Gaza right now that they are doing "so much damage" that nothing will be left but depopulated rubble. What stops counterinsurgency campaigns by militarily superior powers is the costs to the colonial powers themselves, assuming their home populations are unwilling to bear these costs. At that time, after WWI, London saw that there was a limit to what the British people (and the political opponents of keeping all Ireland at all costs) would continue to bear. In the US, the acceptable costs have been much lower since Vietnam, which is why the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended despite the move to volunteer armies and drone and other remote warfare.
@@nicholasevangelos5443 It's also overlooked particularly by this guy in his several videos on Ireland of the period that the Home Rule Act passed into law in 1914. The work of setting up a separate Irish executive for internal self government had been going on for 10 years and was pretty much complete.
Sinn Fein could have negotiated from that point but individuals on their own initiative set out to kill policemen and completely changed the political scene. Britain had already accepted Irish internal self-government the only real question was selling it to Ulster which was unenthusiastic to say the least in 1914. The violent minority that set out to purge Ireland of everything British including if possible the English language completely alienated them.
For Britain to have "won" the War of Independence would have been to put the political clock back 40 years.
@@freebeerfordworkers The Ireland Alone people still want to turn Ulster into a bog. Like Conemaragh.
The British were not prepared to go full SS on the Irish. The Irish weren't going to stop. The amount of force required was incommensurate with morality.
That never bothered the British before
They sort of did on a small scale. Of course the usa probably played a role given they irish were getting alot of support from America.
And the british were not really all that willing to risk canada over ireland.
@@poil8351 The British did some nasty stuff, not denying that at all. But they didn't round up hundreds of thousands of Irish civilians. Or murder tens of thousands of them.
The British could have absolutely won the war. But the price was simply not worth it.
Even Churchill, always ready for a fight, understood this.
@@scottmccrea1873 if england did that in the 20th century to a country that wasn't evil, i wouldnt be suprised in the yanks got involved.
@scottmccrea1873 well the blacks and tans were sort of like the germans in crete on much smaller scale. And the auxiliaries. Certain units were virtual death squads a bit like 1970s/80s dirty wars south america.
The irish were pretty bad also murdering poltical oppents and suspected collaboraterd and at times just people they had grudges with.
Of course the fact that Britain had just finished a nasty war and had a number of other colonial wars to deal with and also the pesky Bolsheviks meant that they were unwilling to spare the manpower to fight an nasty unpopular war on their own doorstep. Also the threat of similar uprisings in Scotland and wales was likely at the back of the establishments mind especially with the whole communism thingy going on.
Erin Go Bragh
This was a great video and very informative.
I just wanted to add a few extra details for anybody interested:
The IRA conducted a very sophisticated offensive against British authorities during the War of Independence, so much so that Michael Collins is widely seen as being the founder of modern guerrilla warfare tactics. As a result, there have been numerous studies on the guerrilla warfare tactics that were used during this war.
Besides ambushes, the IRA conducted countless raids on RIC barracks that were dotted throughout the country. This supplied the IRA with badly needed guns and munitions for their cause.
As ammunition was a problem for the IRA, they disrupted the British authorities in many ways. This saw numerous bridges blown up, train robberies, communication lines cut, roads blocked, the interception of mail and much more.
A very effective tactic used by the IRA and regular people was to boycott the RIC and anyone associated with them. Some shops and pubs wouldn’t serve RIC constables drink and other goods, and the locals would not speak to them. This would have hurt the RIC constables a lot.
Also, many of the RIC constables resented the black and tans, and there are accounts of constables quitting the force after seeing atrocities and other actions committed by the black and tans.
And lastly, you say that the Irish negotiating team ‘thought’ that they had the authority to sign a treaty on behalf of the Dail. I feel as though its important to acknowledge that they knew they had the authority. The negotiating team had plenipotentiary status, so they knew they could sign matters on behalf of the Dail and Irish Republic. However, despite this status, they were given strict orders in the Dail before the meetings to not sign anything under any circumstances before consulting the Dail. Upon signing the treaty, Michael Collins remarked ‘today, I have signed my own death warrant’, which illustrates how contentious the treaty/decision to sign was.
Overall, I highly enjoyed this video and it provided excellent coverage of this history.
"A very effective tactic used by the IRA and regular people was to boycott the RIC and anyone associated with them etc.
It was effective because if you didn't observe it the IRA would kill you - end of the story. The railways boycotted the movement of the military with the support of their unions. They might have been influenced by the fact that three IRA went into the head office in Dublin and literally blew the chairman's head off.
If you want to read what was going on in Ireland I recommend Police Casualties in Ireland 1919-1922 by Richard Abbott.
When the British raided the IRA offices they found that many of the cash donors were well off Protestant farmers and I don't think they were doing it out of sympathy. It was that or have their farms burned down.
I did post a long reply but they deleted it. The boycott was effective because the IRA murdered anyone who didn't observe it
Where did you get the information that the people of Cork were compensated for the burning? I can't find any such info.
In just about every history book it quotes £3 million. I've researched the damage done and on calculated real estate values at the time the actual damage was less than £500,000.
The British authorities paid compensation for IRA attacks and there was a bit of profiteering going on. A farmer who claimed for hay burned by the IRA was believed to have sold it and a postman who claimed his cart had been burned had burnt it himself because he wanted a new one.
He said it came to him in a dream
It was on a dreary New Years Eve as the shade of night fell down...
Please do one video on the Eastern Front of the Turkish War of Independence. Its very less covered.
As an Irishman we can defeat anyone except alcohol and ourselves!
and the saracen hoards
The similarity with our nowadays Middle-East issues is striking... Thanks to you Jesse and crew, I know much more about the exciting history of the relationship between Irish and British. Keep up the great work!
There is no similarity with the Middle East.
@@noodlyappendage6729 Oh yes there are, especially in Lebanon. I mean the religious affiliations concerning politics and sectarian violence. Moreover, one sect, the Protestants, was backed by the mighty neighbor UK. In parallel, some Muslim sects were backed in Lebanon by the mighty neighbor Syria, during the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990
@@noodlyappendage6729The Balfour Declaration started the mess in the Middle East and now Israel has its own version of apartheid just like South Africa did.
@@rabihraci’m from the north of ireland and please don’t mistake our conflict as a religious one because it isn’t, irish nationalists/republicans primarily happen to be catholics although there’s been plenty of protestant irish republicans such as wolfetone, ronnie bunting (he established the Irish National Liberation Army) and i’m sure there’s been catholic unionists/loyalists, our fight is a a war of national identity i.e ethnic irish vs ethnic british the same way it is with the palestinians
There’s a great song about this war called “the British soldier” by harvey andrews. Surprisingly melancholy.
A democracy cannot fight sedetion or rebellion without compromising its morality.
We defeated the Confederacy. 🇺🇸
British "morality" lol
Hard to fight a war when the enemi is within.
The IRA was not named that until after they ambushed the policeman.
The ambush was done without he permission of the new Irish government and ended it's hopes there'd be a peaceful end to British rule. After that, they gave the armed group the offical name Irish Republican Army.
Exactly true the politicians in Dublin wanted nothing to do with the IRA at the start. As W B Yeats said from Sinn Fein's press releases in the first year you would have thought the RIC were shooting each other.
Interesting. The soloheadbeg ambush and the establishment of the dail took place on the same day (not planned, just coincidence I believe). I was led to believe that following the establishment of the Dail, the IRB became recognised as the official army of the dail, the Irish Republican Army
@@ellmag6028The IRB was a separate organisation with a separate leadership structure. You could be a member of the IRB and IRA, but they were different groups. The IRA essentially emerged from the preexisting Irish Volunteer movement, which had rapidly recruited new members between 1917-18.
“Foreign and unjust” COULD have been elaborated on JUST A BIT. ;)
lol you left off the "reptile" part of the signoff tag.
Perhaps because they mean it seriously? Mwa ha ha ha!
“No policeman will ever be prosecuted for shooting a man ,” sounds like the best definition of qualified immunity for law enforcement 😢
And a complete lie. George Smyth was a true Irish hero, just check out his Wiki
Qualified immunity has nothing to do with criminal charges.
I think it's half of what he said. The second half was - if he has his hands in his pockets and refuses to put them up when ordered.
@@freebeerfordworkers Gerald Smyth, a true Irish hero never said any such thing, complete IRA propaganda
Ulster and Northern Ireland are not the same thing. I think when you use it at the start its ok because the NI border had not been draw but its not accurate to say Ulster is in the UK, NI is.
Borders in the Irish sea mate
@@christianmccann9400 There is also a border on land between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland mate.
an excellent presentation, but there are a couple important points you omitted.
1) irish music (and art in general).
when you have the entire population singing songs such as
a) "whether on the scaffold high or the battlefield we die, no matter if for ireland dear we fall"
b) "being irish means we're guilty, so we're guilty, every one ...
every man will stand behind the men behind the wire"
c) check out irish soccer fans and "the fields of athenry"
and poetry such as
d) "come gather round me, parnellites"
e) "patrick pearse has said that in each generation must ireland's blood be shed"
and the list goes on and on and on ...
how will you defeat that? it can't be done.
2) in general, with all of its colonies, in this case ireland, britain did NOT have the policy of owning it at all costs, but DESIRED some form of collegial relationship between states, and so used fairly limited force to quell insurrection, and was always ready to negotiate some form of reasonable arrangement.
one important part you left out was from around 1890 until 1916 the MAJORITY of irish citizens where happy with being in the empire and on the outbreak of war enlisted and fought, the citizens where spitting and jeering the irish rebels after their arrest the problems began after they where sentenced to death, context is important
Ireland was never in the empire.
Is anyone against a people that want to be free from an outside government?
The outside government!
@@seanmccann8368THAT PART.
It depends what they do. Few people supported The Angry Brigade or the Red Brigade or have much time for American militia groups or the Davidians. This wasn't Passport to Pilmico. Besides, Home Rule was already on the table, the only question was what to do about the North who did not want it.
What outside government was that? We Irish were no different from anyone else, Nationalists just wanted a Catholic tyranny, that's all.
@@thostaylor Absolutely correct and youtube Armistice Day Dublin 1925 you will see the people were nothing like as anti British as we're told.
does this count as study for my history exams?
No because it's fundamentally flawed the implication is that the British wanted to win to impose their government. For in fact they'd an act of Parliament granting Ireland self government in 1914 so they were legally bound to give Ireland an independent parliament but the gunman took over.
I suggest The making of Ireland by Professor James Lydon an Irishman and a Catholic
Over a century has passed, and despite all of the bloodshed, lives lost and insufferable complications, the very simple question remains: Was the partition of Ireland legitimate, or not?
3:15 ears
Man's head looks like the Webb Ellis Cup
Erin go Bragh!!
Interesting that woke utube can’t (or won’t) translate Gaelic.
@@Colonel_Blimp I noticed that, but somehow I don't think it's because it's "woke."
@@nicholasevangelos5443 well maybe not but it can translate all kinds of stuff including Latin and Ancient Greek script.
@@Colonel_BlimpBtw we call it Irish not Gaelic, nobody, literally nobody in Ireland calls it Gaelic. Gaelic is an adjective used for culture, sport for example but is not what the language is called.
@@ranica47 thank you.
Never been this early XD
An Dáil, the Irish Parliament, is pronounced "Dall" or even "Doyle", it's not "Dial" like a clock.
There were no winners here.
Proud to say that both sides of my family were heavily involved during this entire period and later.
Then they probably were better than the provos.
An old Irish man looked at the daily news about the country he had fought to make. He lifted his head from the pillow and shook his head. "That's noe army, that's just a bunch o' thugs."
@@myparceltape1169 provos too. My family has been involved since at least the IRB in the 1890s and up to the Provos in 1980s
So proud you seem to mention it in every comment section. Pride or attention seeking?
A key piece of information as to the motivations of the general Irish population before the war is that most Irish (especially in Dublin) were not looking to split from English rule. The People in Dublin were angry at the rebels for the damage that was caused to their city during the rising. It was only after Gen.Maxwell ordered the executions of the rebels and created martyrs, that then caused the Irish people to turn on the British rule.
Prior to 1916 a huge majority of Irish people voted for those who espoused freedom from English rule.
@@MrBagpipes I had always believed that those party's objectives were to have a devolved government but still be attached to the crown. I'm going on what I remember from college 15years ago so I'm definitely rusty. Always remember being taught that the Easter rising captives were heckled by the locals for all the damage from the gun boat.
@@MrBagpipes The Irish Party wanted Ireland to be able to govern itself, but remain in the British Empire. Their support among the people evaporated because of their pro-war stance during WW1, especially after the Easter Rising when Nationalist opinion shifted from autonomy to republicanism and total independence.
Source?
@@patrickheath5011source- nearly every history book written about it, I learned it school
Dáil is pronounced dawl lmao 1:40
I've yet to talk to anyone from Ireland that doesn't think Éamon de Valera was a traitor who had Michael Collins killed.
Collins was the traitor.
And here you have the dichotomy of Ireland. The divide in perspectives that caused the civil war. You were either pro treaty (Pro Collins) like me or Anti Treaty(Pro Dev) like the above commenter. These divisions still exist today although they are usually civilised disagreements now then out right war. Thankfully
14th, 10 May 2024
When talking about modern Ireland, one thing that needs to be mentioned was how a Protestant Irish Parliament successfully gained independence for Ireland between 1782 and 1800, during which time Catholics got most of their rights back, with most Irish people of different faiths uniting under the ideologies of either constitutionalism or Republicanism, with both in favour of varying degrees of Irish sovereignty/autonomy and increased personal rights.
This independence ended when a failed Republican Revolution in 1798 led British prime minister William Pitt to intimidate and bribe the Irish Parliament into merging the Kingdom Ireland into the UK after an initial Union vote failed. Ireland’s Parliament was forced to merge with The British one (though the courts and civil service of Ireland remained separate, but nominally subject to Westminster from now on).
People on both sides seem to have completely forgotten this chapter in Irish history, because Protestants and Catholics fighting together for an independent Irish Kingdom doesn’t fit anyone’s narrative, and yet it had a major impact on the island. Unionism, Republicanism and Constitutionalism all originate from the original Irish volunteers that used the opportunity of the American Revolution distracting Britain to revolt in 1782. This heralded the independence and has shaped all aspects of Irish politics ever since
Add to that the use of the Orange Order as a sectarian catspaw after 1798 to turn presbyterians against catholics. It was also an effective tool in neutering the lower classes. Previously to that, its membership had been mainly Anglican/CoI and centred in Cork and Dublin. A lot of the subsequent sectarian violence that cropped up in the subsequent two centuries can be tracked down to the creation of that false consciousness.
I think I'm related to Michael Collins.
How shameful.
Occasional viewer, i thought the channel would stop uploading after 1923/2023?
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You summed it up quite well when you explained that the Irish lost militarily but won politically while it was vice versa for the british
This is often the outcome with counterinsurgency warfare. US military historians are still complaining about how the Americans "won" the Tet Offensive. The Vietnamese command itself was appalled at the costs they had paid militarily. But the main aim, to win politically, was achieved: US public opinion turned against American boots on the ground (though Nixon kept the war going for another five years before completing "Vietnamization," by ending the draft and escalating the bombing).
No, Britain won politically and militarily, Britain won, we had everything we wanted.
Britain had already passed into law an act allowing for Irish self-government. All the campaign did was alienate Ulster and make it politically impossible for Britain to coerce her into accepting a Dublin government.
@@freebeerfordworkers The British Army decided in 1914 that it wouldn't enforce the sovereign parliament's laws in relation to any Ulster rebellion.
@@MrLorenzovanmatterho A country leaving the Empire is not what Britain wanted. The British Army leaving Ireland was noticed all over the Empire.
They didn't lose it. They just started reasoning correctly.
As taboo as it is, I'm interested in the black and tans because it was made of up of WW1 vets. Back then, taking veterans and mobilizing them without any deprogramming we do with our service members today, is what I believe, as a veteran myself, why they caused so much violence. Their combat triggered PTSD would cause them to lose control and cause such heinous reprisals. I wonder if theres a book on this very topic
I'm afraid there is more to it than that which the Irish don't care to talk about. Groups of young men usually 19 or 20 year olds got together and called themselves the Bally something IRA and went out and killed policemen. The first and prime killer was one Dan Breen and you can look him up on the Internet he had no authority from anyone he wanted to start a war and he killed them for that reason only.
Up to late 1920 almost 200 men had been killed mostly Irish police and the British had done nothing. They then recruited the Black and Tans and when they encountered the first two the IRA did what they had been doing for a year, put them against a wall and shot them. When their bodies were found their comrades did the same to two IRA prisoners because veterans don't take Sh1+t like that from anyone. The IRA were never a secret army everyone knew who they were and thought depriving them of the protection of British law was most unfair.
P T S D nothing they were war veterans and they were playing by Western front rules. To quote a veteran who was never in Ireland if the Germans did something dirty on us we did it back to them we didn't worry about international law.
As everyone knew who the IRA were they didn't worry about legal principles they went round and shot them. This came as a terrible shock to the IRA who had killed 200 mostly Irish police in the preceding year with no comebacks whatever. To quote one of the most notorious IRA men, anyone helping the authorities would not be serving their family's interests. The Black and Tans didn't have that problem.
It's one of the most remarkably successful pieces of political marketing that they are portrayed as criminals and gangsters which is only true if veteran soldiers who have learned to kill without compunction are criminals and gangsters. One of the most notorious incidents was when they came to the small town of Balbriggan killed two leading IRA men and set fire to a row of houses. That is the republican story.
But they don't tell you is that an Irish policeman who had been instructing the Black and Tans was having a drink with his brother in the local pub. When an IRA man found out he got his revolver went into the pub and shot him in the face with an exploding bullet, wounding his brother. When the tans who knew him found out they came to town for revenge just as they would have done on the Western Front. They weren't playing by Irish Patriot Freedom fighter rules they were playing by a far harder set.
As the footnote in the same street 6 months earlier the IRA had shot an unarmed local police sergeant in the back while the people cheered "that's the stuff to give them". On that occasion neither the police or authorities had taken any action whatsoever.
It's remarkable that Patriots are allowed to shoot a policeman in the face for political reasons but a soldiers kills someone for killing his friend and it's inexcusable.
Many in Britain were Sympathetic to the Irish. The Conservative newspaper "the Times" (AKA Times of London) recently ran a series of articles from its own paper , 100 years prior to that days date. In it you can see that even conservative voices were outraged by the unnecessary killing. Angry at both the IRA, and the British forces. the Irish home rule party was the largest party in parliament, and democratic support for an independent ireland was there already. The IRA doomed Ireland to partition, as it destroyed the confidence in home rule among the protestants in the north.
one of the few people who actually knows what he's talking about. The home rule act passed into law in 1914 to the acclamation of all parties and believe it or not Sinn Fein would have negotiated on that had psychotic gunmen not taken over.
However the Irish Parliamentary Party was not the largest party but it was a powerful voting bloc and he could decide which party was in government. The Liberal Party of the day actually wanted the Irish parliamentary party out of the Commons because they would disrupt legislation for their own purposes
Very bad take
Protestant unionists in the north already opposed home rule. Ireland was on the verge of civil war over it before WW1 kicked off. Not only that but Northern Ireland itself was granted home rule after partition.
@@GabagoolEnjoyer863 You are referring to the "Ulster Covenant" which was a petition to the UK government opposing home rule, in 1912. The Ulster covenant failed, and in 1914 the Irish Home Rule Act was passed.
In fact, during 1916, almost nobody wanted violent rebellion against the British Government, because the general feeling was that the Irish had already got what they wanted - independence after the war. The delay until after the war was necessary as many naval bases, and British troops were based in/ from Ireland. However the British government ensured that there was no conscription in Ireland.
In 1916, James Connolly - a Scottish republican who was considered a lunatic, even by other republicans in Ireland - stated he intended to take the GPO by force, and other republican groups were either with him, or against him, forcing their hand. Connolly's action would be known as the 1916 Easter Rising.
Connolly militarised the question of Irish Home Rule into a republican war, which was unacceptable to Northern Protestants (whereas "Home Rule" was acceptable, just about). James Connolly's actions led directly to the partition of Ireland.
@@DMFP93 You implied in your original comment that Ulster unionists had any faith in home rule to begin with. The crisis itself was put on hold during the war, not resolved simply because the act was passed. Home rule did not mean independence either, merely a limited form of self governance. It was actually the IRB that convinced Connolly and the ICA to join their already planned rebellion with the volunteers instead of the ICA doing it alone. The Ulster volunteers didn't disband during WW1, and unionists were not complacent in accepting home rule. Claiming Connolly was at fault for partition is the biggest stretch I've ever seen. Partition was the result of unionists not willing to accept Irish independence, and carving out as much land as they could.
Because fighting a guerrilla war is VERY different from fighting a conventional one.
Also Britain was probably just tired after WW1 in general
No, Britain won, the IRA were defeated
Why Britain Lost the Irish War of Independence ? well Michael Collins was my dads cousin (who lived in the EastEnd of London with us and one of his sisters) Mick came from around Clonakilty where Britains GPO Telephone operators were trained and Micks older sister was the telephone operator for Dublin Castle so Britain had no secrets Mick didnt know
Except that this was rapidly realised and the security forces avoided the phones and mail. Collins was a moron, despite all the advantages Home Rule gave him his documents gave British intelligence an open book on the IRA
@@MrLorenzovanmatterho you better buy a prayer matt they are going up soon
@@MrLorenzovanmatterho Rubbish your not family you was not there and would not know, more blaney
Collins was one of the earliest and most efficient adopters of guerilla warfare, plus his intelligence network totally outclassed uks and he assasinated many british spies, in what way was he an idiot?@MrLorenzovanmatterho
That was at the beginning when Britain hoped the problem sort itself out peacefully. It might have done if that hero Dan Breen had not set out to murder policemen to start a war and everything went downhill from there.
When they realised they were going to have to do something, to quote Professor Lee of Cork University, General Tudor looked into the administration and weeded out the IRA informers.
Black & Tans have an interesting history which could be made into a series, bandits and thugs turned into paramilitaries. That could sing.
From soldiers conscripted into the trenches to being in the position where you could see your soldiering.
That they were criminals is one of the most enduring lies told in Ireland they were war veterans and they were playing by Western front rules. To quote a veteran who was never in Ireland if the Germans did something dirty on us we did it back to them we didn't worry about international law.
As everyone knew who the IRA were they didn't worry about legal principles they went round and shot them. This came as a terrible shock to the IRA who had killed 200 mostly Irish police in the preceding year with no comebacks whatever. To quote one of the most notorious IRA men, anyone helping the authorities would not be serving their family's interests. The Black and Tans didn't have that problem.
As someone of English/Irish descent, trying to learn more about my heritage. This'll be fun!
The British lost because they chose to fight Irish independence.
If they’d just have accepted Irish independence as voted by the Irish people a peaceful transition could have taken place.
The British spent 700 years mistreating and oppressing the Irish so they’d never win any war against a determined population who were mostly against them
What are you talking about? What is WRONG with you? Irish Unionists rejected a fascist sectarian dictatorship and preferred to remain part of free and democratic Britain. How can you not understand that?
@@MrLorenzovanmatterho”fascist sectarian dictatorship” mate northern Ireland exists because it was formed as an apartheid state to keep parts of Ireland under Anglo Scottish control
@@MrLorenzovanmatterho They could always be part of the Union back home in Scotland! Free and Democratic as they like.
And then what happened? How did they get rid of the crown?
They’ve another video on the civil war which took place after this
Flo's biggest problem is that man bun.
Its the RIC not IRC, 🤣🤣
I can't stop hearing it now! 🤣🤣🤣
Where did the IRA get its weapons and money. It sounded that they had their own taxes in the countryside; was that enough money.
United States. Germany during the 1916 Rising (Irish Citizen Army and Irish Republican Brotherhood).
@@barryb90 thanks, insurgencies always to have a outside source to be successful.
Some of their weapons were left over from German gun running and smuggling prior to and during WW1 I believe. They were also able to capture a lot of British weapons and ammunition on their raids of military and police barracks. However, as explained in the video, this was not a sustainable solution.
@@cobbler9113 they sold illegal spirituals in the US to make money
They purchased weapons in Italy in 1919 to 1921 and smuggled them into Ireland in cargo ships
The British - Irish war Anglo is England, if you wanna be Anglo though support Scottish independence
RIC, not IRC
Northern Ireland didn't remain part of the UK, it became autonomous within Ireland with the right to leave the new Irish state & rejoin Britain, a right it enacted immediately.
Only bc northern Ireland has been colonized and brainwashed, Free Ireland!
Of course it did, why would Irish Unionists want to live under the fascists who murdered their families?
Too many ads. Ruins your video.
It's a long way to Tipperary y ¡no pasarán! Fight fascism wherever you can, with everything you have.
It's time for the British to let go of northern Ireland.
It would be difficult as it has a lot of unionists (ppl who want to stay with Britain) and it is funded much more than what Ireland would be able to handle rn
It then opens up the case for an independent Scotland and if that’s achieved Wales would follow suit as they’d otherwise be outnumbered and outvoted by a nation next door who both have different political and cultural values along with different needs.
Why? The majority of its population want to remain part of the UK.
Ira influenced indian revolutionaries they both joined hands in Hindu-german conspiracy, one indian revolutionary sachindranath Sanyal established Hindustan republican army
I think the 3rd President of India took part in the Easter Rising
@@Cinemallennials no
And were a complete failure as the IRA were.
Its pronounced Dall not Dial
Didn't you cover this topic last year?
did they? someone link please
yes he did this is a rehash it must have got a lot of hits
I think the topic covered last year was the Civil War.
Militarily the Irish had nothing for the British to worry about, however Britain at the time had no stomach for forcing people to remain part of the empire and this was the first step in the eventual deconstruction of the British Empire.
The deconstruction of the British Empire started 30 or more years before when they realised it was politacally and strategically unsustainable. They tried for an alliance with Germany in the 1890s and it came to nothing so they did deal with the French. Now that France was no longer world rival they proceeded to do a deal with the Japanese which allowed them to pull a lot of their forces back to Britain and expand their navy to face Germany.
The World War I with its three quarters of a million dead and their economy in ruins put Ireland in perspective for the first time since the union in 1801.
You do know the Irish volunteers numbered in the tens of thousands who were mostly WW1 Veterans? Also at the height of the Empire most soldiers in the UK were Irish. Britain was wounded from WW1 and was in no position for a war with thousands of WW1 veterans who essentially made British governance impossible aswell as disrupted it's entire spy network. Your post definitely tells me your certainly not from Ireland or Britain
@@freebeerfordworkers Not really. It was the change in mindset within Britain that led to support for the empire falling away, and with it the stomach to fight to hold it left as well.
Although there were external threats, they were no greater than at many other times within the empire's history.
@@Matt_Alaric There was a fundamental change in British society one of the reasons the IRA could operate was because the situation in Britain itself was very unstable 1919 to 1920. The British people had had enough with the war and it was very serious with open support for the Bolsheviks in Russia.
There's a book few people have read "1919 Britain's year of revolution " The British do not like to talk about disorder at home but January 1919 14,000 soldiers refused to rejoin their regiments and took over the South Coast ports and that was only the beginning. There are major mutinies elsewhere in Britain in France and in several British cities the police were on strike resulting widespread burning and looting.
That's without two full scale wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and intervention in northern Russia. People can't accept with all that Ireland just wasn't important
@@freebeerfordworkers I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with. There were no external threats forcing Britain to dissolve the empire, it was the political change in Britain itself that led to Britain withdrawing from Ireland and, much later on, the rest of the empire.
Correlli Barnett talks about it a lot in his book 'the collapse of British power'.
its almost impossible to win guerilla warfare
USS, USSR, British (they won 1)- Afghanistan
USA, China- Vietnam
Rome- Germany
Carthage- Rome
Maratha- Mughals
And so on
Israel needs to watch this
Of course none of this is taught in British schools during history class.
You mean Irish nationalist revisionism isn't taught in British schools and why would it be?
No revisionism That's always been our history. So British forces didn't leave Southern Ireland after a war?
Thanks for clearing that up. I must say hello to the RIC and the Royal Marines next time I'm in Dublin.
You're a perfect example of why the British should be taught about the actions of their Grandfathers. Warts and all. Not just the 'nice' bits.
@@awilderireland Oh dear! Seamus has got his knickers in a twist! British forces left voluntarily dear boy and that was only because British public opinion dictated it. Strange how you lot seem to always forget that Lloyd-George, Chamberlain and Churchill handed Collins and Griffith a treaty that differed only slightly from the home rule that had already been planned before WWI then told them to sign it or face annihilation! I mean, fancy wrecking your own country over a form of words! Lol!
Even after that the strings were being pulled from London, example being Churchill sending Collins an order to get the anti treaty IRA out of the Four Courts or he would come over and do it for him.
Because in the end, the UK wasn't willing to commit to the level of repression needed to quash the IRA. Michael Collins played it smart and gambled on that
Collins betrayed Ireland.
@@MarkHarrison733I agree
So the only places where there was mild open social support for the British were the ones that stayed in the UK?
Sounds like there's a lot of untold story of british neglect and influence by foreign agents.
No, it sounds like Unionists wanted to remain free.
A bunch of facts here not quite right.
Comment for the algorithm.
Similar tactics used in Gaza and West Bank.
Curious if IRA advises these people?
the ira of those times and the ira of the 70s and 80s were 2 different groups.
@@cilldublin07 My relatives from Roscommon Ireland.
I am ashamed some Irish support Arabs Hamas .
Yes, the IRA hung around with Palestinian terrorists in Libyan terrorist training camps.
Ironically the most extreme Zionist group in the 1930s modelled themselves on the IRA to the extent their leader took the code name Michael in honour of Michael Collins.
@@MrLorenzovanmatterhodifferent organisation
🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
Eire❤
🚗💥
Give Ireland back to the Irish
I am both British and Irish, I'm happy here, we are all the same.
Don’t worry, Brexit will probably result in Irish unification in the long run.
and hawaii back to the hawaiians, north america back to the navajo, comanche etc, south america back to the aztecs etc and so on.
Then respect the opinions of your own people in Northern Ireland
give the moon back to the moonies.@@aethellstan
Great video. Just one small point. Northern Ireland and Ulster are not the same. Ulster is one of the four provinces and includes nine counties. Northern Ireland only includes six of those counties.
"Home Rule" had been passed in 1914, but shelved became the Tsar mobilised and WWI kicked off.
Had it been otherwise, it's likely 1916 wouldn't have happened, but through domestic elections Ireland would have either moved to Dominikn Status of just left the Union.
A deep tragedy for all.
Hopefully the Irish can liberate the north in the next decades
Liberate it from whom? The majority of its population want to remain part of the UK.
@@justonecornetto80 then they should leave Ireland and go to the UK
@@benghaziwarrior3687 Why? It's their home.
So they can give to North Africa?
@@ianmedford4855 Ireland belongs to the Irish