not convict drafted ...

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2006)

"infamous convict drafted Black and tans ..", shelliob
That is incorrect, they were mostly World War I ex-army officers, veterans and ill trained civilians. Why employee convicts when there are plenty of ex-servicemen around. The name 'Black and tans' arose because of the uniform of (black) khaki army trousers and dark green (tan) surplus tunics.
The venom the words 'Black and tans' still hold in republican areas is a tribute to their zeal in putting down the 'rebellion'.
"the civil war that followed a decision to allow the mostly protestant north to be a part of the new British welfare state.", , shelliob
corrections: ...
01. The 'civil war' started when DeVelaria, the future pres, called for a repudiation of the agreement negotiated by Michael Collins on behalf of the 'free state gov'. This despite the fact that de Valera himself sent Colins to London to negotiate in the first place. de Valera ran to the hills and organised 'guerrilla warfare' against his own government. Collins was later on assassinated for his trouble and de Valera became father to the nation.
02. At the time the 'north' didn't exist and prods and taigs were about even. It took fifty years of the new Republic to drive the prods out and make it a 'Catholic state for a Catholic people'. Dito for the prods.
03. The British welfare state didn't come into existence until after WW2 when the (socialist) state promised people security from the cradle to the grave. Like the USSR, what they promised and what they delivered were not the same.
"The remarkably low rating that this film has so far ..", zogz54
It's ironic that the Britan had just fought Prussia to a halt to defend small nations in World War 1, when it then puts the tans to suppressing freedom in its nearest small neighbour.
It's also a little known fact that in WW2, Churchill's plan was to seed Southern Ireland with poison gas if the Wehrmacht ever invaded. But at least he would have saved us from fascism. The bombs were stored in ships off the west coast of GB and sunk in secret after the war. Every so often a trawler dregs one up.