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Attitudes Towards Civil War Among British Officials, 1900-1924

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Attitudes Towards Civil War Among British Officials, 1900-1924 ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output Attitudes towards civil war among British officials, 1900-1924 https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40372/ Version: Full Version Citation: Watling, Jack Merlin (2018) Attitudes towards civil war among British officials, 1900-1924. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email Attitudes Towards Civil War Among British Officials, 1900-1924 Jack Merlin Watling Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy – April 2018 Birkbeck College University of London 1 I, Jack Merlin Watling, hereby declare that the content of this volume is my own work, and that all sources are correctly acknowledged and referenced. ……………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………… Word Count: 99,165 2 Abstract Civil wars are defining moments in the history of nations, and consequently attract considerable scholarly attention as events. The concept of civil war has received minimal attention among historians however. The original contribution to our understanding of civil war presented in this thesis lies in its analysis of the conceptual evolution of civil war, which had practical legal and policy implications for British officials in the first quarter of the twentieth century. By charting British officials’ responses to conflicts, primarily in Ireland and Russia, this thesis demonstrates how the concept of civil war changed. At the beginning of the twentieth century ‘civil war’ meant the division of a state’s institutions over questions of civic principle, and the continuation of politics by violent means. It was the internal affair of the state. Conflicts in Ireland and Russia did not fit these frameworks, and so the concept expanded to include the breakdown of order, and core assumptions about the dynamics of civil war were reshaped, from a focus on institutions, to an emphasis on communities. Civil war became a threat to international security. These changes fed into a growing acceptance of intervention, and the perception of civil war as a policy opportunity, which was a contributing factor to the emergence of civil war as the predominant form of warfare worldwide. This thesis also contributes to a growing historiography that is integrating national, imperial, European, and world history. The treatment of synchronic crises in Ireland and Russia in this thesis demonstrates how decision making in domestic, imperial, and international contexts were intrinsically interrelated. Civil war is necessarily a paradoxical term, for war is not civil, and therefore cannot be used without elaboration, which provides a valuable lens for gaining new insights into changing ideas about international governance, sovereignty, empire, government legitimacy, and civilization. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 5 Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter One: Conceptualising Civil War, 1900-1912 ............................................. 21 Civil War as a Contest of Civic Principles: South Africa, 1899-1902 ........................................ 22 Civilization and Civil War: China and Columbia, 1902-1905 ...................................................... 33 A State in Transition: Persia, 1905-1912 ............................................................................................. 47 Civil War in Law, 1900-1912 ..................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter Two: Ireland and Civil War, 1912-1919 ..................................................... 60 Ulster 1914: Civil War or Civil Disorder? ............................................................................................ 63 Easter 1916: Irish Insurgents or German Puppets? ........................................................................ 83 Chapter Three: Russia and Civil War, 1917-1919 ................................................. 102 Collapse and Analytical Pessimism, 1917 .......................................................................................... 107 Civil War, Lenin, and the Press ............................................................................................................... 114 German Intrigue, Germanophiles, and Intervention, 1918 ........................................................ 119 Russia, Civil War, and International Security, 1919 ...................................................................... 134 Chapter Four: Civil War, State, and Nation, 1918-1922 ...................................... 147 The Emergence of ‘a Russian Ulster’ .................................................................................................... 149 Legitimacy and Civil War .......................................................................................................................... 158 Self Determination and Civil War .......................................................................................................... 171 International Governance and Civil War ............................................................................................ 182 Chapter Five: Civil War in Theory and Practice, 1918-1924 ............................. 197 Anarchy and Civil War ............................................................................................................................... 200 Rebellion, Reprisals, and Civilians ........................................................................................................ 210 Intervention and International Responsibility ................................................................................ 225 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 238 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 251 4 Acknowledgements I would like to thank: My supervisor Jan Rüger, who however much writing I would send to him, of whatever Quality, and at however short a notice, provided me with feedback down to the last footnote, and confronted my linguistic oddities with the hint, ‘I am not a native speaker but…’ Demonstrating a full appreciation of the British propensity for indirect speech this meant ‘unless you want to look like a thoroughly silly person you will rewrite this sentence.’ In such instances he was invariably right, saving me from many a faux pas, beyond his extensive and detailed critiQues of my argumentation and sourcing; Julia, Andrew, Marlene, and Alaric Hobsbawm, and Julia, Edward, Rachael, and Thomas Moody, whose support made this research possible; My colleagues Paul Raymond, Jeremy Walker, Samuel Emden, Namir Shabibi, and Safa al Ahmad, with whom I have shared some of the most gratifying experiences in my life, and whose patience, and camaraderie, has done much to preserve my sanity. To persons who have observed that entrusting my sanity to these individuals explains a great deal, I offer no comment; My tutors, Frederick Anscombe, Sean Brady, Hilary Sapire, Orlando Figes, Joanna Bourke, Nikolaus Wachsmann, Rudolph Ng, Julian Swann, Julia Lovell, and Roy Foster, whose advice and teaching has shaped my thinking, and Birkbeck’s administrators, Jana Comfort, Sian Green, Daniel Binney, David Jones, and Jane Halstead who had to put up with my torrent of queries and reQuests; My editors Christian Caryl and Siddhartha Mahanta who drastically improved my writing. Christian also gave me the timeless instruction to present ‘more wood and fewer trees’, a commandment to which I shall forever aspire; My friends and colleagues who have suffered my obsessions, and so often challenged me to look at new material, or to re-examine sources in a new light, including Daniel Woods, Simon Walker, Mary Strang, Linda Skandri, Sarah Giaziri, Ben Wayman, Bob Tollast, Michael Stephens, Mai Noman, Samuel Baker, Antonis Koutsoumbos, Rasha Mohammed, Andrea Maalouf, Hind Suleiman, Rawan Shaif, Amelia Clegg, Sean Newman, Emily Knowles, Abigail Watson, and the fiendish feline Loza, who routinely appointed herself as my typist; Frances Watling and Sandy Britain, who provided invaluable feedback during the editing process; Many others to whom I am deeply grateful. 5 Abbreviations AOH: Ancient Order of Hibernians BL: The British Library BLOU: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford CAB: Cabinet Office CCC: Churchill College, Cambridge CIGS: Chief of the Imperial General Staff CO: Colonial Office CUP: Cambridge University Press DI: Detective Inspector DMI: Director of Military Intelligence DMO: Director of Military Operations FO: Foreign Office GOC: General Officer Commanding HC: House of Commons HL: House of Lords ILP: Independent Labour Party INV: Irish National Volunteers IPP: Irish Parliamentary Party IRA: Irish Republican Army IRB: Irish Republican Brotherhood IWM: Imperial War Museum, London MP: Member of Parliament NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer OUP: Oxford University
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