ireland had had a long and tumultuous history with england it suffered centuries of invasions wars colonization and even english politics spilling into ireland on several occasions during the 19th century ireland was ruled directly from london as part of the united kingdom inaction and neglect from the british government during the potato famine in ireland led to millions of irish people dying of starvation and disease while millions more emigrated ultimately halving the island's population by the 1890s the irish republican brotherhood emerged during the 19th century and they wanted an irish republic they mixed well with the gaelic revival a re-emergence of old gaelic culture and language in ireland the irish home rule movement gained traction in the british parliament wanting a parliament in dublin once again in ireland arthur griffith set up the party shin fein in 1905 which meant we ourselves believing that irish members of parliament should not go to london and instead establish an irish parliament in dublin comparing it to the two parliaments of vienna and budapest of the austro-hungarian empire home rule gained loads of support during the 1910s but not in ulster which was predominantly protestant and unionist loyal to britain most of ireland's industry was centered in ulster at that time and they didn't want a parliament in dublin believing it would be run by the catholic church they threatened war forming the ulster volunteers in response the irish volunteers formed and ireland was on the brink of civil war the home rule bill was passed in the british parliament but the first world war broke out across europe and home rule was put on hold most irish volunteers signed up but some stayed behind and secretly planned the easter rising the leaders signed the proclamation of independence and captured dublin the british response was to shell the city and many civilians were killed the rebels surrendered after six days of fighting they were promptly court-martialed and executed some military leaders such as eamon devalera avoided execution thousands of people were arrested many not having anything to do with the rising seeing the harsh response by the british and the relentless executions of the leaders many irish people began to believe these men died for something an irish republic many of the rebels who fought in the rising were sent to frongo internment camp in wales one such rebel who had fought in the gpo was the young corkman michael collins while imprisoned collins rose to lead the rebels in training deciding that guerrilla warfare such as ambushes raids and hit-and-run tactics would be much more effective than fighting the might of the british army head-on by december 1916 the prisoners and frongot were released and returned home to stir up support for the cause in 1917 british prime minister david lloyd george announced an amnesty for political prisoners such as ayman davalera so they were released too many of the public believed that sinn fein was behind the easter rising not the volunteers so to match the public image many volunteers joined shin fein and reorganized it to match the republican agenda with devalera as president during 1917 rebel leader thomas ash was re-arrested and him and many others went on hunger strike he died and more people rallied to the cause the first world war was still raging in europe and the threat of conscription of irish people led to even more anti-british sentiment in may 1918 british authorities arrested dozens of leading members of sinn fein in one night the leaders had been tipped off dev chose to be arrested and stir up more public outcry collins chose to avoid being captured so he could continue the fight on the ground as the 1918 general elections approached the irish labour party chose not to run so as to not split the irish vote a united answer was needed regarding irish independence and thus shin fein won a landslide victory constance markovic would be the first woman ever elected to the british parliament however she and the rest of shin fein chose not to take their seats in westminster and instead on january 21 1919 they held the first dahl aaron the first parliament of ireland in the mansion house in dublin they declared independence with cattle brewer as a temporary president while dev was still in jail on the same day in solihead begged county temporary irish volunteers ambushed ric policemen killing two and stealing a consignment of gelignite the first shots of the irish war of independence had been fired volunteers across the country were told to treat british forces as an invading army and they raided ric barracks's stealing better weapons as they went the war had begun in february michael collins and harry boland broke dev out of lincoln prison in england intelligence was key in this war the dublin metropolitan police had a plain clothed division known as g-men who would follow shin fein members and keep track of their movements and activities ned broy worked as a double agent in the police for the volunteers copying files explaining the whole police system and indeed sneaking michael collins himself into the detective headquarters in dublin so collins could spend the night going through the files in limerick amidst the chaos of the war the people declared the limerick soviet a socialist city named after the soviets which had taken control of russia only two years before the people printed their own money controlled food prices and printed their own newspapers it lasted only two weeks before republicans and the catholic church turned against it this was a common thread throughout the war as socialist uprisings were suppressed by irish nationalists or indeed the british the last thing they needed was socialist ideas spreading to english cities and crumbling the empire from within dublin td shaun t o'kelly was in paris trying to get some time with the u.s president woodrow wilson while the world leaders drafted the treaty of versailles after world war one he didn't get too far devalera himself traveled to the united states to muster support and money for the irish republic talking to many irish-american groups and raising five and a half million dollars he stayed in the states for 18 months leaving effective command of the war to collins while sinn fein and nadal opted for a non-violent approach towards the dublin police through mild intimidation persuasion and boycotting collins believed that this wasn't enough he had a group assembled who had become the squad who would target and assassinate g-men making it more and more undesirable to work for the crown the doll became worried that the irish volunteers were working too independently and so they were reorganized into the irish republican army with richard mulcahy as their chief of staff and for my county cork after ira volunteers attacked british troops killing one 200 british troops looted and burnt the town meanwhile lloyd george had outlawed dal aaron but the british government was still exploring the possibility of home rule with two parliaments one in dublin and one in belfast sir john french the lord lieutenant of ireland believed this could work the ira tried to assassinate him in phoenix park in dublin towards the end of 1919. in 1920 the british secretary of state for war winston churchill put together a heavy-duty team of law enforcers many veterans of the great war due to the colours of their uniforms the ric special reserve gained the infamous nickname the black and tans they were vicious and brutal often taking reprisals for ira attacks out on civilians chum balbriggen turles and many other towns would burn before the end of 1920. the north of ireland was much more deeply divided as the ulster unionists were still very much against irish nationalists in dairy elections nationalists had taken control of the londonderry corporation ira attacks on ric barracks increased across the province the ulster volunteers arose to defend the protestants of ulster catholics in the waterside of derry were driven out and an attack was made on the bog side by the ulster volunteers and the british army in belfast seven thousand catholic workers were driven out of their jobs in the shipyards by loyalists there would be no surrender the british war effort was hampered in many ways by dublin dock workers and irish rail workers refusing to carry british war materials or troops collins squads assassination campaign against g-men was leaving the british intelligence network thin so they brought in their own operatives from england who would later be known as the cairo gang the dahl courts had been set up to replace the british legal system and irish people began refusing to take part in british courts bringing the justice system to a standstill many ric policemen left frustrated with the lack of justice the ric gained more reinforcement from the auxiliary division who would gain a similar reputation to the black and towns the british brought in internment without trial throwing many suspected ira members into jail unjustly in april 1920 many in mount joy prison went on hunger strike demanding political status in august prisoners in cork went on hunger strike terence mcswaney lord mayor of cork and elected sinn feiner was imprisoned so he joined the hunger strike three died including mcswhiney after months of refusing to eat mcswaney's death in an english jail brought much international attention unwanted by britain the tit for tat attacks and reprisals continued throughout 1920 and the 21st of november saw one of the most infamous days in the war having gathered much information on the cairo gang from his inside man david nelligan collins ordered the assassination of various british intelligence agents at 9am 13 british operatives in various positions across dublin were killed in a coordinated attack two civilians were killed and another was wounded that afternoon the auxiliaries arrived at crook park to a gaelic football match and opened fire on the crowd 14 people were killed in the chaos this day would become known as bloody sunday martial law spread across the country in december after an ira attack on auxiliaries in cork british authorities set fire to cork city center fire brigades were delayed by the blackened hands and civilians were shot at at this time emma devalera returned from america to a country at war meanwhile in westminster just before christmas the government of ireland act 1920 came into law because of the strong unionist presence in the six northeastern counties the parliament in belfast would control these counties which would become northern ireland the dublin parliament would control the other 26 counties becoming southern ireland both would remain part of the united kingdom but ireland was now divided because the sinn fein representatives hadn't taken their places in westminster the act was very out of touch with the developments in ireland many people in ireland were beyond the point of no return when it came to being part of the british empire the ira traveled in flying columns guerrilla groups ready to attack hiding from authorities and friendly houses or hideouts around the countryside in january 1921 british authorities in drips a county court were tipped off about an ira ambush by a local elderly woman resulting in the deaths of seven ira men later the ira kidnapped and executed her and her chauffeur in dublin the british patrols began bringing ira prisoners along with them to deter grenade attacks curfews were brought in in dublin and they began door-to-door searches early 1921 would see the bloodiest of the war devalera in the dal tried to gain some control back on this chaotic war there had been tensions growing between michael collins and cattle brewer over the running of the ira brewer was indeed the minister of defense but the ira looked more towards collins for leadership dev didn't like the hit-and-run murderous tactics the ira had been employing so he moved for a more formal military action of capturing the custom house in dublin led by oscar trainor this was a complete disaster as they were very quickly outgunned by the british 80 ira men were captured and supplies for the republican cause were running dangerously low james craig became the prime minister of northern ireland king george v himself opened the parliament calling for peace on the island in june 1921 the british government decided to call a truce not knowing how close the ira was to actually collapsing they were at a stalemate and the fighting had to stop lloyd george wrote to devalera and they agreed on a truce the day before it was to come into effect the ira killed two policemen during an ric raid in belfast sparking huge sectarian riots and house burnings this would be belfast's bloody sunday the truce came into effect nonetheless on the 11th of july 1921 and the fighting for the most part stopped michael collins arthur griffith and others traveled to england to negotiate a treaty a republic or a 32 county united ireland was never on the cards the negotiations led to the anglo-irish treaty which created the 26 county irish free state which would become a dominion of the british empire in the same way as canada or australia the king would still be head of state and britain would retain control over three strategic ports within the free state the treaty allowed northern ireland to opt out of the free state thus cementing partition on the island collins returned home with the treaty to a divided government some agreed that it was as good as they were going to get collins believing it would be a stepping stone to an irish republic the freedom to achieve freedom others such as devalera refused to get behind the treaty this bitter division in politics would soon lead to the irish civil war but that's a story for another time if you want to know more about the irish war of independence you can buy my book many man does revolutionary ireland not only does it cover the war of independence but also the easter rising and the civil war it's available online through the collins press or in most good irish bookshops it's filled with many more illustrations and even more detail i could never fit into these videos keep an eye out for my theater tour of mannyman does the history of ireland on stage in february march of 2019 produced by angry and theater directed by rachel diver and starring me and the hilarious louise conan it's a mad fun telling of the history of ireland with all the tongue-in-cheek humor you've come to expect from mannyman the current dates are here with possibly more dates to come find out more details on johndroddy.com there's indeed books t-shirts posters and more to be found too on johndruddy.com don't forget to subscribe follow me on instagram facebook and twitter help support the making of new videos on patreon thank you very much to my current patrons i'll keep the history coming you