Ireland Between the Two World Wars 1916-1949, the Irish Political
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People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research University of Oran Faculty of Letters, Arts and Foreign Languages, Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages Section of English THE IRISH QUESTION FROM HOME RULE TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1891-1949 Thesis submitted to the Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages in candidature for the Degree of Doctorate in British Civilization Presented by: Supervised by: Mr. Abdelkrim Moussaoui Prof. Badra Lahouel Board of examiners: President: Dr. Belkacem Belmekki……………………….. (University of Oran) Supervisor: Prof. Badra Lahouel…………………………… (University of Oran) Examiner: Prof. Abbès Bahous………………….. (University of Mostaganem) Examiner: Prof. Smail Benmoussat …………………..(University of Tlemcen) Examiner: Dr. Zoulikha Mostefa…………………………… (University of Oran) Examiner: Dr. Faiza Meberbech……………………… (University of Tlemcen) 2013-2014 1 DEDICATION …To the Memory of My Beloved Tender Mother… 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS By the Name of God the Clement and the Merciful First and foremost, I would like to thank my mentor and supervisor, the distinguished teacher, Professor Badra LAHOUEL, to whom I am so grateful and will be eternally indebted for her guidance, pieces of advice, encouragement and above all, her proverbial patience and comprehension throughout the preparation of this humble research paper. I am also profoundly thankful to whom I consider as a spiritual father, Professor, El Hadj Fawzi Borsali may God preserve him, for his inestimable support and instructive remarks. Special thanks to all my previous teachers through my graduation years: Lakhdar Barka, Moulfi, Maghni, Mostefa, Sebbane, Boutaleb, Layadi, Chami, Rahal, and those we lost Mr Bouamrane and Mr Benali may their souls rest in peace. I would also like to express my gratitude to Mr Moukaddess from England, for his valuable help, and to my friend Abdelkader Kourdouli for being very willing to help. Last but not least, I wish to pay tribute to those working in the shade, the library staff, especially its two pillars Safa and Hasnia. 3 ABSTRACT The Irish Question from Home Rule to the Republic of Ireland, 1891-1949, is an attempt to shed light on one of the most complex and puzzling political problems the contemporary world had ever witnessed. A study of the Irish problem ab ovo (―from the egg‖ in Latin, from the origins) would have taken volumes of consistent books, for it goes back to King Henry II‘s first settlement in Ireland in the 12th century. No less than thirty seven monarchs and two Lord Protectors, from Henry II to George V had tried, in vain, to subdue the recalcitrant Irish who have never given up fight and resistance to the English‖ tyrants‖. Apart from the first chapter which is an introductory stage, we have decided to try to limit our analysis of the Irish question to contemporary times only starting in 1891, a highly significant date for it marks the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, the ―Uncrowned King of Ireland‖, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. Parnell was the first Irish politician who asserted Home Rule and fought constitutionally for its application. This was the climax of the Irish question that went through different stages to reach its actual status of republic, from Home Rule to the Republic of Ireland. Thus, the genesis of the Irish problem occurs in the first chapter (entitled the Origins of the Irish Question) which traces the political and social evolution of Ireland under British rule during almost three centuries, from 1603 to 1891. This chapter tells about the end of Gaelic Ireland and its replacement by a Protestant Nation, a prospect that, finally, failed when Ireland became united to Britain as a province in 1801 by virtue of the Act of Union. The nineteenth century had been a revolutionary one with the efforts of Daniel O‘Connell to promote the Catholics‘ 4 rights, through his project of Catholic Emancipation, then his struggle to repeal the Act of Union, in vain. After a study of the calamity that was the Great Famine which struck Ireland in the 1840‘s, the chapter broaches the rise of the Fenians, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B) who started a series of violent operations against British rule. It ends with the birth and growth of Parnell‘s Home Rule Party. The second stage represented in the second chapter of our research tackles the period between 1891 and 1923, from Home Rule to the Irish Free State, going through the First World War, the Easter Rising of 1916, the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War upon controversies on the partition of the island and the dominion status of the Irish Free State. The third chapter discusses the development of Ireland as an independent country and its relations with Britain and Northern Ireland. It focuses on the policies of two major Irish statesmen who led successively, and more or less successfully, Ireland from the Irish Free State to Eire, 1922-1937: William T Cosgrave and Eamon De Valera. The fourth and final chapter which tries to conclude the Irish question analyzes the metamorphosis of Ireland from Eire in 1937 to the Republic of Ireland in 1949. It is divided into four points: First, the replacement of the dominion status of the Irish Free State by that of Eire. Second, the policies adopted by Eire towards Northern Ireland or Ulster. Third, the neutrality of Ireland during the Second World War. And finally, fourth, the end of the War and the birth of the Republic of Ireland in 1949. 5 CONTENTS -LIST OF ACRONYMS............................................................................................v -GLOSSARY OF IRISH (GAELIC) TERMS.....................................................viii -LIST OF MAPS.......................................................................................................ix -LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................x -INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: THE ORIGINS OF THE IRISH QUESTION......................8 I-Ireland, a Protestant Nation, 1603-1801................................................................9 I. 1-The Irish Question in the Seventeenth Century..............................................10 I. 2-The First National Reactions...........................................................................17 I. 3-The Failure of the Protestant Nation...............................................................22 II-The Irish Question from the Act of Union to Home Rule, 1801-1891.............29 II. 1-The Policy of Daniel O‘Connell....................................................................29 II. 2-The Great Famine, 1845-1849.......................................................................35 II. 3-Home Rule.....................................................................................................46 CHAPTER TWO: IRELAND FROM HOME RULE TO THE IRISH FREE STATE, 1891-1923....................................................................................................66 I-The End of the Union, from Home Rule to the War of Independence, 1891- 1919.............................................................................................................................67 I. 1-The Home Rule Crisis, 1891-1914..................................................................69 I. 2-Ireland during the Great War, 1914-1916.......................................................81 I. 3-The Easter Rising of 1916...............................................................................86 I. 4-Ireland and the End of the War, 1916-1918....................................................92 II-From a State of War in Ireland to the Irish Free State, 1919-1923.................94 II. 1-The Irish War of Independence, 1919-1921..................................................96 6 II. 2-The Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Partition of Ireland, 1921-1922.................102 II. 3-Civil War in Ireland, 1922-1923..................................................................112 CHAPTER THREE: INDEPENDENT IRELAND, 1922- 1937.....................133 I-Cosgrave Ministries, 1922-1932..........................................................................134 I. 1-The Irish Free State, a New Form of Government, 1922-1932.....................134 I. 2-The Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.....................................................145 I. 3-The Policies of the Irish Free State...............................................................153 II-De Valera’s Presidency, 1932-1937...................................................................157 II. 1-Socio-Economic Ireland in the 1930‘s…………………………………….158 II. 2-Fianna Fail, a Republican Party…………………………………………...164 CHAPTER FOUR: FROM EIRE TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, 1937- 1949.........................................................................................................................178 I-Eire, the New Ireland, 1937-1939.......................................................................178 I. 1-The Constitution of 1937…………………………………………………...179 I. 2-The I.R.A Question………………………………………………………...184 I. 3- The End of the Dominion Status………………………………………......186 I. 4- The Economic Issue and the 1938 Agreement………………………….....188 II-Eire and Ulster………………………………………………………………....191 III-Eire and the Second World War, 1939-1945..................................................196 IV-The Republic of Ireland, 1945-1949................................................................201