Irish Civil War

The **Irish Civil War** was a civil war fought between Ulster Unionists and Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland over who should control the region after it was annexed into greater Ireland.

## Irish Civil War

Irish Unionist soldiers fighting in the streets of Belfast.

### **Outcome**

Nationalist VictoryDefeat of unionist forces

## Prelude: the Irish annexation of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland May have been able to avoid any massive bloodshed that other places like Cork saw during the Irish War of Independence, but it stances were complicated. They wanted the British to remain rulers of Northern Ireland, and the 1918 election results showed that as the conservative Ulster Unionist Party won a victory in Northern Ireland. However hopes of remaining a part of Britain were shattered when the Treaty of Valletta became public. Ireland as a part of the treaty annexed Ulster without any complications even from the British, not one sign of protest from them.

Soon after the treaty was signed and recognized, the new government in Dublin decided to, for the moment not ban the Ulster Unionists, knowing the tensions and possible war that could come out of it, but Northern Ireland was not easy to control. Protests and strikes were frequent. At first, Cathal Brugha, the president of Ireland declared the republic to be secular, mainly to calm the increasing political divide, made even worse by unofficial aid from London.

Resentment began boiling among the population for several months, while the Irish government secretly began accepting war as an option to put down any and less discontent, as by that point, nothing other than absolute autonomy for Northern Ireland brought peace for Ulster and its people. Frustration set in for the government, until violence erupted in late October. On October 20th, Cathal Brugha issued an ultimatum to London, demanding they stop sending aid to help the Unionists or threaten the full expulsion of not only the party, but “anyone loyal to the Crown”. When Great Britain, too bitter and proud to bow down yet again to another foreign power, one which recently got their independence from them, the Crown refused the ultimatum on the 22nd. On the 25th, Brugha began mobilizing the army in secret to prepare for a military confrontation on the island, while fears of a British Invasion were rampant. In truth, the British were unwilling to reinvade Ireland for several reasons, and would only support them indirectly. As such, on the 29th Brugha issued a declaration, banning the Ulster Unionist Party and made his intent clear that Northern Ireland “needs to be integrated into Dublin, whatever the cost may be”. Understandably, the people of Ulster were enraged, and violence escalated overnight. Factories were burned, buildings lit on fire, Irish flags burned on masse. Everywhere the public refused to allow Irish troops to enter Ulster territory, leading to clashes and confrontations between the Irish army and Unionist militias.

## The start of the conflict

About 1 week later, as the Irish army was forced out of Northern Ireland, various politicians rose to prominence, and together on the 3rd of November signed the declaration of Ulster Independence in Belfast, and Hugh MacDowell Pollock became the country’s provisional head of state. With Belfast taken, the British began pouring supplies into the city to aid the rebels, and for the next month, the Irish army found it extremely difficult to enter Northern Ireland due to the people’s hatred of Dublin. As such, with aided British support, by December 10th all of Northern Ireland was under Unionist support, and with it Pollock asked Dublin for a ceasefire, several times but was refused. On the 15th, still holding out in a defensive position, Pollock once again asked Dublin for a ceasefire, to which they responded “you will have to take the entire country for us to agree to a ceasefire”, making it clear war would continue. And despite British support, London made it clear that they would not directly intervene for the sake of Belfast’s independence. With it, Ulster was all alone, especially as Ireland drew global support and received supplies from Spain and Italy. Having almost no industry and little manpower also held down their efforts for independence, or re-annexation into the British Empire. Because of this, there was a long stalemate for 1 month as Dublin made secret attempts to prepare for a grand offensive.

### The Irish Offensive

On the 13th of January, 1921, the Irish finally began their much anticipated Winter offensive. Since militarizing their country for total war months before, the Irish army now was able to confront Ulster in any way they wanted. In 2 weeks, all of County Fermanagh, and most of County Armagh and Down were under nationalist occupation, while Omagh was also occupied from County Tyrone. This offensive severely damaged the Ulster army and plundered their morale. The Ulster army would never recover from this event in January, as their army scrambled to prepare for a new offensive.

### The rest of the war

3 weeks later in February, the Irish army struck again, this time by going around the coast to cut off British supplies to Ulster, and captured Derry, Coleraine, and Bangor, leaving Belfast extremely vulnerable. Because of the proximity to the capital, Pollock decided to flee to Scotland “for the moment”, but once the news became public the people viewed the war effort as lost. Hundreds of troops mutinied, and on the 20th the Irish Race for Belfast began, and after 4 days Belfast was encircled, and due to fears of an Irish declaration of war on the 26th, the British completely stopped trading with Ulster, leaving them utterly alone. On the 10th of March, despite fierce defense by the people of the city, it eventually fell to Dublin’s control, and with that Ulster separatism completely broke apart, but there were still stubborn guerrilla holdouts that continued in Northern Ireland until the last major holdouts surrendered on the 23rd, and that same day Dublin declared the war as victorious.