Iirsh War of Independence

Violence was inevitable, but not great battles against the British. The only hope for the Volunteers, who were a small, untrained, poorly armed army, was to use guerrilla tactics. The leaders wanted to learn from the mistakes in 1916 and these hit and run tactics was the only option. Of the 100,00 Volunteers in the IRA only 15,000 were willing to fight. Gun shops were raided and some British soldiers sold their guns to the IRA. In 1919 IRA Volunteers killed 2 RIC constables who were guardin

On the 22 June 1921 King George V called on both sides to “forgive and forget.” Lloyd George invited De Valera to London to talk and on 8 July 1921 De Valera and General Macready, the British Commander-in-Chief in agreed a truce which came into effect 3 days later. The War of Independence was over but more violence was to come.

In 1919 the war developed along two fronts. The first was the IRA working to remove the RIC from rural areas. Most policemen lived with their families in small barracks scattered throughout the country and were very vulnerable to attack. The RIC were forced to close small posts and concentrate its men in heavily fortified barracks in the larger towns after 19 policemen were killed in 1919. In Easter 1920 the IRA burned 400 of the small posts the RIC had abandoned. In 1920 the Volunteer GHQ encouraged local commandants to begin attacks on fortified barracks, 16 were destroyed and 29 damaged. The violence removed the RIC from many country districts in the south and west and gave Sinn Fein a chance to develop its own police and courts but many areas experienced widespread lawlessness. Some parts of Ireland regretted the passing of the RIC during 1920-21.

g explosives, the constables lived locally and were quite popular in Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary. The attack was carried out without the permission of the Dail, who were having their first meeting, or Army Headquarters, however, it was the start of the War of Independence.

Lloyd George refused to recognise the Dail as a government and thought the IRA were a murder gang. He decided to use a police force rather than an army. He recruited ex-soldiers in Britain to deal with

Some topics in this essay:
Michael Collins, Lloyd George, Sinn Fein, British Army, War Independence, West Cork, Commander-in-Chief IRA, Mayor Cork, Volunteer GHQ, IRA Volunteers, sinn fein, de valera, lloyd george, war independence, michael collins, war independence violence, fortified barracks, independence violence, british army, december government, june 1921,