The Irish Struggle for Independence, and Nationalist Leaders

Arthur Griffith

          The Irish struggle for independence was a long and mutually painful process for both England and Ireland.  After passing home-rule bill, after home-rule bill, for decades, Ireland's situation continued to remain to remain the same.  Later, as calls for complete independence began to brew, a schism formed in Ireland between the Catholic Nationalists, and Protestant Unionists.  However, the situation was not so black and white as it seemed.  Within the Nationalists there were those who wanted to resolve the issues violently, some who wanted to peacefully, and others who couldn't agree on how to run Ireland after separating from England. Soon a leader of the Nationalists took center stage, rallying the Nationalists around one ideal.  This man went by the name of Arthur Griffith.  Griffith preached that Ireland should have its own assembly, or parliament, and started a political party known as Sinn Féin (translated "we ourselves").  In ideality he wanted England and Ireland to share a monarch, but have separate governing assemblies.  In its early days Sinn Féin did not have much success at gaining a seat in government, leading some to believe a free Ireland should be won by force.  At last in 1917 and 1918, Sinn Féin began to win elections around Ireland (claiming 73 out of 106 Irish seats in parliament), and Eamon de Valera was voted in as the party's president (Griffith was the Vice President).

Michael Collins

          At the same time, a rival party, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also began to gain popularity.  This group, known colloquially as the IRB, favored freeing Ireland through military action.  In 1916 the IRB had spearheaded a rebellion known as the Easter Rising, where IRB members took control of the country for a week, before being taken down by the British.  In 1917 a man named Michael Collins took over the IRB, and created a freedom fighting force known as the Irish Republican Army.
          While the IRB & IRA continued to plan a violent partition from Britain, the Sinn Féin MPs (members of Parliament) officially met, and declared themselves as the Dåil Eireann - The Irish Parliament.  Through this process, Ireland was unofficially independent from Britain, and technically de Valera was the Irish president.  However, Collins, supported by his own party and elected Finance Minister of Ireland, was just as powerful.

Eamon de Valera

          As the Dåil continued to run Ireland, the British continued to dismiss them as a illegitimate governing body.  The Irish became more and more desperate to show the world that in fact they were their own sovereign country.  While these tensions continued to grow, de Valera was abroad in the USA, so Collins assumed power over the country and began to launch the guerilla war against England he had long been planning.  In 1920, using the IRA he had established two years earlier, Collins began raiding all of Ireland, looking for British soldiers, spies, and policemen.  These attacks were bloody, fierce and occurred extremely quickly, prompting the British to put all of Ireland under martial law.  The British sent in more troops and both armies continued to fight, with neither side gaining an upper hand. On July 9, 1921 the two sides signed a truce.

          Ireland, once again under the control of de Valera who had returned home, began to draft a treaty with the British, establishing an Irish Free State.  On January 7, 1922 both sides reached an agreement by signing the Anglo/Irish Treaty. The North of Ireland would remain British, while the South would form its own, sovereign parliamentary republic.  In the years that followed de Valera became increasingly irrelevant, once again leaving Griffith and Collins to control the country.  However, this period didn't last for long as Griffith suddenly died of natural causes in 1922, and Collins was later assassinated while touring the country.