A report on Irish War of Independence, Ulster Volunteers, Partition of Ireland, Ulster loyalism and Ulster
The Ulster Volunteers was a unionist, loyalist militia founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government ("Home Rule") for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom.
- Ulster VolunteersThe Ulster Volunteers were based in the northern province of Ulster.
- Ulster VolunteersThe territory that became Northern Ireland, within the Irish province of Ulster, had a Protestant and Unionist majority who wanted to maintain ties to Britain.
- Partition of IrelandAfter the war, the British Government decided to partition Ireland into two self-governing regions: Northern Ireland (which overall had a Protestant/unionist majority) and Southern Ireland.
- Ulster VolunteersAlthough Ireland had a Catholic majority who wanted self-government, the province of Ulster had a Protestant and unionist majority, largely due to the Plantation of Ulster.
- Ulster loyalismHowever, by 1920 the Irish War of Independence was raging and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was launching attacks on British forces in Ireland.
- Ulster VolunteersDuring the Home Rule Crisis (1912–14), loyalists founded the paramilitary Ulster Volunteers to prevent Ulster becoming part of a self-governing Ireland.
- Ulster loyalismThis led to the Home Rule Crisis (1912–14), when Ulster unionists/loyalists founded a paramilitary movement, the Ulster Volunteers, to prevent Ulster being ruled by an Irish government.
- Partition of IrelandThis was followed by the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and partition of Ireland: most of Ireland became an independent state, while most of Ulster remained within the United Kingdom as the self-governing territory of Northern Ireland.
- Ulster loyalismThis led to the Irish War of Independence (1919–21), a guerrilla conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British forces.
- Partition of IrelandThe conflict in north-east Ulster had a sectarian aspect (see Belfast Pogrom of 1920 and Bloody Sunday (1921)).
- Irish War of IndependenceWhile the Catholic minority there mostly backed Irish independence, the Protestant majority were mostly unionist/loyalist.
- Irish War of IndependenceThis, and the subsequent Irish War of Independence, led to the partition of Ireland.
- UlsterIn May 1921, Ireland was partitioned under British law by the Government of Ireland Act, which created Northern Ireland.
- Irish War of IndependenceThe demand for Home Rule was eventually granted by the British Government in 1912, immediately prompting a prolonged crisis within the United Kingdom as Ulster unionists formed an armed organisation – the Ulster Volunteers (UVF) – to resist this measure of devolution, at least in territory they could control.
- Irish War of IndependenceThe war provided Protestant loyalists with the iconic victories of the Siege of Derry, the Battle of the Boyne (1 July 1690) and the Battle of Aughrim (12 July 1691), all of which the Orange Order commemorate each year.
- UlsterThis movement also set up the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).
- Ulster3 related topics with Alpha
Northern Ireland
1 linksPart of the United Kingdom that is variously described as a country, province, territory or region.
Part of the United Kingdom that is variously described as a country, province, territory or region.
Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, creating a devolved government for the six northeastern counties.
Today, the former generally see themselves as British and the latter generally see themselves as Irish, while a Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed by a large minority from all backgrounds.
The creation of Northern Ireland was accompanied by violence both in defence of and against partition.
In the late 1960s, a campaign to end discrimination against Catholics and nationalists was opposed by loyalists, who saw it as a republican front.
In 1914, unionists smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers (UVF), a paramilitary organisation formed to oppose Home Rule.
Home Rule Crisis
1 linksPolitical and military crisis in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that followed the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1912.
Political and military crisis in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that followed the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1912.
Unionists in Ulster, determined to prevent any measure of home rule for Ireland, formed a paramilitary force, the Ulster Volunteers, which threatened to resist by force of arms the implementation of the Act and the authority of any Dublin Parliament.
HM Government's ability to face down unionist defiance was thrown into question by the "Curragh incident", when dozens of British Army officers tendered their resignations rather than secure arms against Ulster loyalist seizure, forcing a climb-down by the government.
Unionists continued to demand that Ulster be excluded, the solution of partition appealing to Craig; Carson, however, as a Dublin man, did not want partition, which would leave 250,000 Southern Unionists at the mercy of a huge nationalist majority.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty, which ended the Irish War of Independence, led to the creation of the self-governing Irish Free State in 1922.
1918 Irish general election
0 linksThe part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election which took place in Ireland.
The part of the 1918 United Kingdom general election which took place in Ireland.
In Ulster, however, the Unionist Party was the most successful party.
The Irish War of Independence was conducted under this revolutionary government which sought international recognition, and set about the process of state-building.
This was due to the failure to have the Home Rule Bill implemented when the IPP resisted the partition of Ireland demanded by Ulster Unionists in 1914, 1916 and 1917, but also popular antagonism towards the British authorities created by the execution of most of the leaders of the 1916 rebels and by their botched attempt to introduce Home Rule on the conclusion of the Irish Convention linked with military conscription in Ireland (see Conscription Crisis of 1918).
Whereas the IPP had conceded a temporary form of partition in 1914, as a measure to pacify Ulster loyalists, Sinn Féin felt that that would worsen and prolong any differences between north and south.
Unionist fear of Home Rule, or worse, separation, solidified after the Rising, and the Unionist vote was enhanced in Ulster by the increased electorate. It was the first election since the Ulster Covenant, the formation of the Ulster Volunteers (UVF), and the Battle of the Somme.