Anglo-Irish War

The Anglo-Irish War (also known as the Irish War of Independence) was a guerrilla campaign mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army under the proclaimed legitimacy of the First D?il, the extra-legal Irish parliament created in 1918 by a majority of Irish MPs. It lasted from January 1919 until the truce in July 1921.

Michael Collins and the IRA

Michael Collins was the main driving force behind the independence movement. Nominally the Minister of Finance in the Republic's government, he was actively involved in providing funds and arms to the IRA units that needed them, and in the selection of officers. Collins' natural intelligence, organisational capability and sheer drive galvanised many who came in contact with him. He established what proved an effective network of spies among sympathetic members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police's (DMP) "G division" and other important branches of the British administration. The G division men were detested by the IRA as often they were used to identify volunteers who would have been unknown to British soldiers or the later Black and Tans. Collins set up the "Squad", a group of men whose sole duty was to seek out and kill "G-men", members of the DMP's relatively small political division active in subverting the republican movement, and other British spies and agents. Many G-men were offered a chance to resign or leave Ireland by the IRA, and some took these options.

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While the paper membership of the IRA, carried over from the Irish Volunteers was over 100,000 men, Michael Collins estimated that only 15,000 men actively served in the IRA during the course of the war, with about 3,000 on active service at any time. There were also support organisations for the IRA -Cumann na mBan (the women's group) and Fianna Eireann (youth movement), who carried weapons and intelligence for IRA men and secured food and lodgings for them.

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The IRA benefited from the widespread help given to them by the general Irish population, who generally refused to pass information to the RIC and the British military and who often provided "safe houses" and provisions to IRA units "on the run". Much of the IRA's popularity was due to the excessive reaction of the Crown forces to IRA activity. An unofficial government policy of reprisals began in September 1919 in Fermoy, County Cork, when 200 British soldiers looted and burned the main businesses of the town, after one of their number had been killed when he had refused to surrender his weapon to the local IRA. Actions such as these, repeated in Limerick and Balbriggan, increased local support for the IRA and international support for Irish independence.

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In April, after several IRA raids, the Inland Revenue ceased to operate in most of Ireland. People were encouraged to subscribe to Collins' National Loan, set up to raise funds for the young government and its army. Resident Magistrate Alan Bell, from Banagher, had been tasked by the British to track down the money. By the 26th of March 1920, he had successfully confiscated over ?71,000 from Sinn F?in's HQ and, by investigating banks throughout the country, was set to seize much more. On that day he was pulled off a tram in south Dublin and shot three times in the head. By the end of the year the loan had reached ?357,000. Rates were still paid to local councils, as these were controlled by Sinn F?in members, who naturally refused to pass them on to the British government.

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When ?amon de Valera returned from the United States, he demanded in the D?il that the IRA desist from the ambushes and assassinations that were allowing the British to successfully portray it as a terrorist group, and to take on the British forces with conventional military methods. This unrealistic proposal was immediately shot down, but illustrated how many in the Sinn F?in leadership were out of touch with the nature of the conflict.

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Guerrilla: redirect Guerrilla warfare...

British government: REDIRECT Her Majesty's Government (term)...

Ireland: :This page is about the island of Ireland. For the political territories on the island, see Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the History section below....

Anglo-Irish War related Images and Photos (experimental)

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