The Anglo-Irish Treaty and the War of Irish Independence: 1919-1921

1. By Forrest Csuy The Anglo-Irish Treaty and the War of Irish Independence: 1919-1921

2. The Irish have been rebelling against British rule since the 1500’s They maintained their distinct Gaelic culture even after the Anglo-Saxons took over most of Britain. They never much liked being under the rule of the British, so they kept rebelling. There have been at least 2 dozen significant revolts by one count. Much later, religion also became a division between the two peoples, as the Irish were Catholic, and the British were Protestant. Medieval History

3. Beginning in the 1880’s, the Irish Parliamentary Party began demanding Irish Home Rule, or the ability of Ireland to govern its own territory while remaining a part of the British Empire. In 1912 the British parliament actually granted this request, but that actually caused more trouble. A militant faction called the Ulster Volunteers rose to resist Home Rule and keep the Irish subservient to the British. In opposition rose the Irish Volunteers, who wanted total Irish independence. More Modern History

4. In 1916, Easter Rising tried complete independence, but it was quelled in about a week.However, the brutality with which the rebellion was put down served to further alienate the Irish populace. Irish resentment rose again when the British tried to institute conscription of the Irish for WWI. Any further attempt to revolt was somewhat impeded by World War I. While a non-trivial faction of the Irish felt that, to hell with the Germans, let the British deal with that problem while we sit pretty, many more actually joined in the war. Revolution was thus put on hold. Revolt! …maybe

5. Once the Germans were out of the way, the Irish could once more contemplate Revolution. In 1919, Irish Nationalists formed their own parliament, the First Dáil, and issued a Declaration of Independence. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed, as an official successor to the Irish Volunteers. So began the War of Irish Independence No, Really, this Time we mean it

6. Details will be skipped, but suffice to say, after two years of bloody fighting, both sides were more or less at a stalemate. July 1921 a truce was declared. However, the IRA continued making some attacks. Also, religious persecution of Protestants in Catholic majority regions and vice versa also occurred. December 1921, peace talks began. Here begins our division of items. The War of Irish independence

7. It is worth noting that at the end of the war, the IRA had lost enough men that it could no longer hope for any outright victories. If the war continued, the most they could hope for was to be a thorn in Britain’s side. The war was unwinnable, and they knew it. In contrast, the status of the British was merely “a bit cross.” They were tired of fighting, true, else they would not have tried for peace. But they also knew that if they didn’t get what they wanted, they could crush Ireland into oblivion. There are two ways to deal with this natural unfairness. The first is to simply perform Adjusted Winner and see what happens, but cheat the initial allocation of points a little such that Britain starts with a lot more items. The second way, which I did in my paper, was to create an item called “Peace” which would be awarded to both sides, and would indicate how much each side wanted to stop fighting. I will show the result of this method only, at the end A third possibility would be to implement an unfair Adjusted Winner protocol, such that the final allocation is set to, say (1:2) instead of (1:1). This is just a thought, and I have not implemented it. The Anglo-Irish treaty

8. The Irish wanted an Irish Republic independent of the British. This is pretty self-explanatory. The British wanted to give Ireland status as a British Dominion, on par with Canada and Australia. They would be basically self ruled, but all members of the Irish Parliament would have to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the British monarch. A representative of the British throne called the Governor General would be appointed to oversee the Irish government. Points – Irish: 33, British: 35 Justification – This issue is a mainly symbolic one. It was highly important to both parties, but the British had more to lose. Since they were a major world power, they couldn’t be seen to lose control of part of their own islands. Items for Debate: Independence

9. The next two points go hand in hand – whether to split Ireland into Northern Ireland (Protestant) and a newly created Irish Free State (Catholic/Nationalist), or to keep them intact. Britain wanted the split. Because of the large Protestant population in Northern Ireland, they felt they could continue to govern there. Ireland wanted full Irish Independence, and some delegates to the peace talks swore they would accept nothing less. Points – Irish: 25, British: 35 Partitioning and the Boundary Commission (Part 1)

10. The Boundary Commission item is unique in that it only applies if Britain wins Partitioning. Otherwise, the points allocated here are fed into Partitioning. This is the condition that, if Ireland is to be partitioned, then a Boundary Commission composed of both British and Irish representatives would be formed to draw the line between them according to the best wishes of the inhabitants. Furthermore, the newly formed Northern Ireland would be given one month to decide whether they wanted to join the Irish Free State or Britain. Basically, Britain was throwing Ireland a bone and seeing if they were stupid enough to take it. As it turns out, they were. Points – Irish: 20, British: 2 Combined Points with Partitioning – Irish: 45, British: 37 Justification – Most of the Irish delegates seemed to want to remain whole more than totally independent (which was symbolic anyway). Britain wanted the split, but didn’t care much at all for the Boundary Commission concession. Partitioning and the Boundary Commission (Part 2)

11. The British wanted to control the seas around Ireland as they had been doing, because letting the non-existent Irish navy try to defend their seas might leave the whole island open to attack. In order to do this, Britain required the use of a few Irish ports. Points – Irish: 2, British: 7 The Irish couldn’t defend their seas and they knew it. They disagreed with letting the British control their ports on principle, but that was offset by added defense. Britain had more to lose in terms of naval superiority, so they actually needed this. Navy

12. Britain wanted to limit Ireland’s military such that the ratio of Irish military to Irish population would not exceed the ratio of British military to British population. Short version – Britain should always be able to beat Ireland in a fair fight. Points – Irish: 2, British: 4 This was actually a fairly minor point overall, but the British did need to ensure their security. Limit To Irish Military

13. Britain wanted it ensured that Ireland and Northern Ireland would not have religious persecution of any sort. Specifically, they wanted to protect the Protestants living in those territories. Points – Irish: 2, British: 10 The Irish didn’t really care that much (or at least none of them were going to openly admit planning to persecute Protestants). The British however wanted to protect those of their religion living in Ireland. They needed to protect them to maintain any sort of support/trade from them. Freedom of Religion

14. This is basically the only divisible item in the treaty. The British wanted Ireland to take on its proportional amount of debt with regards to the total national debt owed by the British Empire at the time of the signing. They had just fought WWI, so this debt was non-trivial Points – Irish: 16, British: 7 The Irish had no desire to be shouldered with debt, as they were a new country that had just waged a War of Independence. British wanted to throw off some debts, but it had a stronger economy anyway, so it was less important than other items on the treaty. National debt

15. Initial Allocation This is the allocation that can only be described as “Britain cheats.” But since they did, in fact, know Ireland’s desires, this is more or less possible.

16. Second Allocation To make things a bit more equal, we throw Partitioning to the Irish. Boundary Commission becomes invalid and its points are fed into Partitioning. Now we apply Adjusted Winner on National Debt.

17. Adjusted Winner Let x be the fraction of points in National Debt Ireland must give to Britain. With the Irish winning the initial allocation, they currently need not take on any of their proportional amount of the debt of the British Empire. When this protocol ends, x will indicate the fraction of its allotted debt Ireland must take on.

18. Final Allocation

19. What actually happened was pretty much the same as the initial allocation, (36:91) in favor of the British, but with some complications. In the actual agreement, a Boundary Commission was established, but Ireland was given it’s share of debt. However, when the commission met a few months after the treaty, the Irish gave the British a bit of extra land in return for having this debt forgiven. In 1949, Britain released the Irish from their Oath of Allegiance, making them an independent republic, not a British Dominion. What Actually Happened

20. "The Anglo-Irish Treaty, December 1921." CAIN. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/ait1921.htm> Heintz, Matthew. "“The Freedom to Achieve Freedom: Negotiating the Anglo-Irish Treaty." Intersections Online Winter 2009: n. pag. University of Washington. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. "Irish War of Independence."Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence>. Sources