How Ireland Became Bitterly Divided | Irish War of Independence
2023 marks the 25th anniversary of signing of The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, which brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland known as 'the Troubles'. This conflict had a deep and embedded history that stretches back over a century.
Between 1919 and 1921, Ireland played host to a long and bloody guerrilla conflict between British state forces and Irish republican guerrillas, in the form of Irish Volunteers or the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The conflict would completely transform the political landscape in Ireland.
In this documentary, Dr Conor Mulvagh and Professor Marie Coleman break down this critical period of Irish history, and the legacy of the War of Independence today.
Directed by Mark Bowsher.
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I am English, of working-class background and I have visited Ireland many times. I love the Irish people and hate the UK ruling class probably even more than the Irish Republicans do! Please do not tar all of us with the same brush. God bless the Irish people and I hope one day the whole of Ireland is united as one country ruling itself! James Connolly is one of my heroes!
Don't you worry brother, I enjoy visiting your country as you do mine. We're all friends now.
@@ConorMaguire-wl6vkagreed we have the same enemy now.
I'm irish and grew up in England and back to Ireland. I love both countries. No one is responsible for the actions of their ancestors. We have so much in common, and for the best part, we're like siblings. Life's too short to hate and you can't move forward with 2 eyes on the past.
@@MolloyPolloy true story
Now your talking he was a great man who was born in scotland who helped and gave his life for ireland
Ireland didnt become divided, it was divided.
Yes indeed by the Protestant William of Orange who initiated the colonization of the north of Ireland with fellow Protestants … the Protestant elite land owners became the bosses of the poor Catholics and took advantage of them … that was the start of the Troubles !!! … tioc faidh ar la !!!
Exactly. It was settled and occupied by foreigners.
@@vvv7147 what do you know about Ireland? what would someone like you possibly know about Ireland??? Ireland was united under a high king from the 5th century onwards. Britain only came into existence in 1707. So do yourself a favour and stop lecturing your betters about things you know nothing about.
@@vvv7147and so the Noble English invaded and set it all right by killing all who opposed them, right? 😂 Well, history has caught up with them. Time to go ‘home’ now. Home being across the Irish’s Sea to the EAST.
England is not in Ireland .. the NI Protestant who have been there 450 years & are as Irish as anyone & are your problem .. You pretending they dont exist is EXACLY the same way that the Brits treated the Irish in the 18th And their excess, the Brits have actually tried to check.. however the Republic can only absorb them in a civl war .. did you learn nothing from the troubles That is NOT England’s problem anymore .. its for you and the Orangemen to sort out & lapsing in to fantasy about 800 years ago wont help And I’m Republican .. Also,, get real about history .. Scotland is NAMED after its Irish invaders.. as every Scottish school child learns.. Wales was invaded by the Irish .. and the Irish Viking invasion was the most brutal in its history The NORMANs invaded both England and then Ireland 50 years later .. You let the British off for the Black & Tans with such fairly tale nonsense@@stephenlight647
Ireland goes through all this for all these years. To end up with the disgrace of a government we have in 2022.
You don't even know what year it is.
And worse to come sinn fein
What the British did in Ireland over the centuries is truly unforgivable. Most British people are surprised when they learn how the reality of how the Irish were actually treated. How they tried to eradicate their culture and treated them like animals in their own country
And yet many have forgiven. Life moves on. Noone alive today is to blame for any of this.
Thar is exactly the point....British Empire Terrorism and their complete lack of empathy. Long Live OUR REPUBLIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@julianbond9933 man, as one irishman to another, you sound unhinged
@@Scoob505 N Irish I would assume..
@@julianbond9933 i just said that i am irish
Fantastic content , excellent quality and incredibly informative
Erin Go Bragh ! One day we shall be free !!! 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
You fight to get the bits out then let the rest of the world in. So much for your Irish nationalism.
@@samuelhynes8702the newcomer is a quest in Ireland the Brit is a squatter there’s a big difference
26+6=1☘️
@@That.IrishBastard1916 The 1921-22 division was seen at the time as temporary.
An excellent summary & presentation. Thank you.
Iv seen loads of KZhead videos about the early 1900s in Ireland but this video explains it better than them all..thank you...😊
Thank you so much for the comprehensive coverage of this difficult topic. Two wonderful presenters.
Fantastic piece... very eloquent
As a commonwealth person half Irish and half English I find this history fascinating . May peace live in our lives , steel in our spines and love in our hearts
is it Derry, or Londonderry?
Will ya go'way there's only one Derry man@@jackmitton2534
@@jackmitton2534 Derry
@@jackmitton2534 if respectful Londonderry if local derry. Doire
@@jackmitton2534Both....it is a compromise.... that's how Nicholas Parsons approached it on just a minute....and the civilised radio 4 audience had a chuckle but seemed accepting
A great video, as a English man. learning about these sort of things really opens my eyes to the fact that we made stupid mistakes in terms of dealing with certain situations. That ultimately are still having ramifications to this very day, and it's a shame that most British people can't understand this. as I think it's one of the roadblocks that is hampering our country today.
Nothing they say is untrue but they leave an awful lot out and by doing so it creates imbalance. What is important in Irish history is not what you are told but what you are not told. I am afraid we have a capacity to mislead and in some cases lie outrageously. In simple terms in 1914 Ireland was the biggest and most important item on Britain's political agenda it was so important the Germans thought they would be too concerned to join in the war. By 1918 with three quarters of a million dead the economy shattered and four empires in ruins Ireland just wasn't that important any more. I'm not a fan of Churchill but he summed it by saying essentially - if there was a second biblical flood the first thing you would see as the waters receded was the Irish carrying on their ancient quarrel. By 1919 the whole world had changed beyond recognition and Ireland just wasn't that important and all they wanted to do was get out. They say at one point "in 1920 the British government realised how serious the situation was" In truth however serious it was it was nothing compared to what was going on elsewhere. With wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia and widespread mutinies in the British Army in England, Russia and France Ireland was the least of their worries. Unfortunately these people have taken the narrative of "Mighty empire blundering in Ireland and brought to defeat by a few thousand heroic guerrillas" which is a gross exaggeration .
@@freebeerfordworkers gonna be honest. when it comes to learning about history. I'll stick to certified historians telling me what what happened and what lessons need to be learned. My point is. that Ireland, like Scotland and Wales. we should be miles closer in terms of relationships and less pointless squabbling. but instead we have people like you, who think they know better and try to give valid reasons as to why things happened the way they did.
@@JUndi2934 I don't qualify as a valid historian and I don't know everything but I'm suspicious of everybody and anything. Coming to an English secondary school I was one of the last generation to be taught the empire was a great and glorious thing because that was what the state needed at the time. My granddaughters are taught that the empire really wasn't very nice and they should be sorry about every race and religion it governed which is what the state currently needs them to know. To show what I mean I attach a link to a video I made about a notorious incident in 1920 and if you have half an an hour to spare take a look at it. Five years ago one of Britain's leading historians wrote that it was impossible to know exactly what happened in this ambush. I've written to every relevant historian and media outlet in Britain and Ireland offering to tell them what happened they seldom reply. In making it the issue it is not that the IRA murdered prisoners and wounded, everybody does that not least the British Army . The issue is that they put up a memorial to a war crime and commemorate it every year. kzhead.info/sun/dc5_iNSmsJ-eh58/bejne.html&pp=ygUqdGhlIGtpbG1pY2hhZWwgYW1idXNoIGEgc29sZGllcidzIHRob3VnaHRz
I know both of them are historians one with responsibility for the decade of commemoration going on in Ireland. It's a measure of my arrogance that I will happily go head to head with them at any time and in any place if they would like to fix it up. @@JUndi2934
@@freebeerfordworkersThere is a lot of valid points you make and you have come in for some criticism. However I have studied this conflict for over 20 years and have corrected both Irish and British historians. I have also debunked both Republican and British myths. You made a reference to the 3rd Anglo-Afghan War and subsequent campaign in Waziristan,revolt in Mesopotamia(modern day Iraq) etc and you downplay the Irish War of Independence. Due to the geographical proximity of Ireland the events in Ireland were making headlines in the British Press. Every ambush and reprisal in Ireland were making British politicians in both the House of Commons and Lords make both hawkish and conciliatory speeches. It was dividing political parties and individuals within the same party. Every aspect of British society were not escaping the events in Ireland. For goodness sake it was an insurgency on Britains doorstep and not taking place in some far flung exotic corner of the Empire. Have you seen how the British newspapers(both national and local) level covered the repatriation of British soldiers in Union Flag draped coffins? It was having more of an effect on the British public more than the other conflicts you mentioned. The IRA were also carrying out operations on the British mainland. There was more British soldiers KIA in Ireland in tbe last 6 months of the conflict than there was for the worst full year in either Northern Ireland(Troubles) and Afghanistan. In the last 6 months of the conflict the Crown Forces sustained over 1,000 casualties in both KIA & WIA. The conflict in Ireland was gathering momentum while those other conflicts you mentioned were drawing to a close.
It was an informative and wonderful introduction video. Video clearly explained the recent history term of Ireland 🇮🇪 Island. Thank you, respectful (History Hit)channel for sharing
I've never read or heard a more comprehensive but brevet presentation on the uprising. Marie and Conor are wonderful and complimentary in their monologues. I particularly enjoyed Marie's mention of the Carr family, revered here in Australia, for those who know of the sisters and brothers. Well done and thanks.
Nothing they say is untrue but they leave an awful lot out and by doing so it creates imbalance. What is important in Irish history is not what you are told but what you are not told. I am afraid we have a capacity to mislead and in some cases lie outrageously. In simple terms in 1914 Ireland was the biggest and most important item on Britain's political agenda. So important the Germans thought they would be too concerned to join in the war. By 1918 with three quarters of a million dead the economy shattered and four empires in ruins Ireland just wasn't that important any more. I'm not a fan of Churchill but he summed it by saying essentially - if there was a second biblical flood the first thing you would see as the waters receded was the Irish carrying on their ancient quarrel. By 1919 the whole world had changed beyond recognition and Ireland just wasn't important and all they wanted to do was get out. They say at one point - "in 1920 the British government realised how serious the situation was" In truth however serious it was it was nothing compared to what was going on elsewhere. With wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia and widespread mutinies in the British Army in England, Russia and France, Ireland was the least of their worries. When Winston Churchill looked out of his office window in Whitehall to see 1000 mutinous armed men marching by it was more important than anything going on in Ireland. Unfortunately these people have taken the narrative of "Mighty empire blundering in Ireland and brought to defeat by a few thousand heroic guerrillas" which is a gross simplification .
Tiocfaidh a'r la'! 🇨🇮
Thank you.
Well presented
Spot on pretty much perfect video there
I recently read a biography of Michael Collins and found this period of Irish history very sad. The British were very heavy handed and made more enemies than they started with.
Mick wrote a path to freedom which Ernesto Guevara had when he visited Micks grave just before he went to Bolivia.
A travesty fuelled by london populating the North with Scottish protestants. Remember the Balfour Treaty stabbing the Palestine in the back.
@@hirepgym6913The major difference is that Collins was trying to found a Republic, whereas Che was trying to create authoritarian governments. Also unlike Collins, Che’s venture into Bolivia ended in failure. And unlike Che Collins knew when to stop fighting.
The British were terrorists. The ira and affiliated groups were freedom fighters. They targeted military and government officials surgically to damage the british government. The British killed innocent non combatants indiscriminately with little effort to target military opposition. See croak(sp) park incident
Tim Pat coogan biography of Michael Collins is the best
The island of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in 1918. Britain threatened all out war and partitioned the island, placing the british border through Ulster. All to appease a minority on the island. After years of gerrymandering, they are now a minority in the 6 counties. There will be a new United Ireland in my lifetime.
As an English person, albeit with some Irish roots via my maternal grandmother, I truly hope you are right. I love Ireland, its people and their culture and that includes family members living in the North of Ireland, though they are all Republicans. It will be a great day for the whole of humanity when Ireland finally gains its freedom. I’m 72 and I earnestly hope I’m alive and sensible enough to see it.
Oliver Cromwell must really hate these types of documentary
They started the beginning of the end,This generation should finish it Finally
I think it will be the next generation. I don't think a simple majority vote is going to be enough. The vote has to be generational, above 60%. While that's not called for in the GFA, it is prudent. A vote for Irish unification has to pass so significantly that it would be unlikely to be overturned within a generation.
@@jedsithorwhy? 50%+1 is all that's required and when it happens north Irish unionists become a small minority in the Irish nation, approximately 12%. Why on earth would 60% be required in the north of the Island? You sound like you're spinning a unionist line, are you British perhaps? Overturned? 😂😂😂😂 Go have a lie down you're utterly clueless. Remember what I said, 12%.
Fascinating and well made documentary ! My great-grandparents were friends of Padraig Pearse and Michael Collins. My great-granny was in Cumann na Mban as well. Their house in Artane was burnt down during the civil war on the 1st of February 1923 by the Ra as a reprisal for the execution of a young man called Fisher in Kilmainham Gaol even though they had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was a dark time in Ireland's history and it has been hard to get any information about the background. So, thank you for shedding some light on the events leading up to that time.
Very informative video. I took a poli-sci course in college about The Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. I wish we would have more time to study more history. History is large and class time short. So I love videos like these. I have ancestors who came to the US from Ireland during the Potatoe Famine. I always been interested in the things, political, natural, etc for why my family came here to the States.
Same
Agreed.
Excellent video - feel quite ignorant as a Brit of this history - thanks for bringing it to light
Great to see a proper documentary that doesn’t treat the north like some shadow in the background that get a passing mention. Most people in the south don’t even know Connolly lived in Belfast, Larkin, Jack White and Casement were very active in Belfast and Clarke was a Tyrone man. Jack White, although maybe not a main character needs recognition for his very colourful life. He was the Protestant opposition to Carson and helped firm the Irish volunteers, campaigned to help Connolly when captured and even fought the fascists in Spain.
Connollys daughter walked from Dublin to Belfast,
Let the people sing ☘️
Erin Go Bragh 💜💜💜💜💜
Roger Casements body was returned in 1965. Not as the photo says 1916, and the photo is clearly taken in the 1960s. I'm from an old Republican line, and grew up next to Casement Park, West Belfast.
I'm a Canadian who's also glad to be an Irish citizen. I want Canada to follow Ireland's illuminating example and become, at last, a republic with it own head of state and true equality for its citizens.
Yes, true equality, regardless of whether or not someone is vaccinated. I think you first need to get rid of Trudeau.
Ireland was always Irish though, I’m not being funny, but you’re not indigenous to Canada……so!!!
@@jojojacques810 if that person were born in Canada, that person is as indigenous as any other.
@@thatlittlevoice6354 no, that’s very disingenuous and you know it!
Canada was a very important supporter of Ireland in the early days of independence. Between them, they dismantled much of London's control of the Dominions.
Brilliant video. History hit tv always gives us best docs. Love all UK and British isles history. We know it takes a lot of time and hard work to make these videos. So we always appreciate your hard work.
…Ok, except that this in neither UK nor British isles history. Ireland is not in the British isles. No hostility on your comment, glad you like or appreciate history to do with Ireland and the UK, just simply asking to be respectful.
Excellent.
Only two mins in but Jaysus could yous sort out the decibel levels between the voice and music
I love Ireland 🇮🇪
The problem was that Churchill was prepaed to go vack to war unless the Eire Dal afreed to have the country under Westminister but still have indepedence light. The British history in Ireland was unforgiving all the way back to 1798 and the battle of Vinegar Hill in Enniscorthy....From an Irish perpective here in County Wexford.
Detail - With the exception of a few priests the Catholic Church opposed the 1798 rebellion. Not only that its priests brought their people to help the troops moving to oppose the French Republican Invaders/liberators. Another example of the Church betraying the people? Maybe but just 6 years earlier in 1792 the French Revolutionary Government had de-Christianized France confiscating the Churches entire property. Monks and nuns were thrown onto the street with 2 weeks’ notice where many eventually died in poverty. In just 2 years few of France’s 40k churches remained open as most had been closed, sold, destroyed, or converted to other use. Ancient monasteries were turned into prisons, among them the monastery where Irelands invader French Henry II, his wife and son Richard the Lionheart were buried. Priests who did not leave were deported to penal colonies, drowned on barges in the river Loire in batches of a 100. There are even claims some were tied naked to nuns and then thrown into the river to drown but this has been questioned. What is not questioned is that they publically guillotined 18 Carmelite nuns for treason in a single session. In 2 years the Revolution did more damage to the Catholic Church in France and killed more priests than the Saxon protestant tyrant did in 400 years in Ireland. Still wonder why the church supported the oppressors? For nearly 100 years English and Irish Catholic priests had been educated in France to escape the restrictions imposed on them in England and to a greater extent in Ireland. It is the ultimate irony that because Irish priests working and training in France were legally British they escaped the horrors inflicted on their French counterparts. In contrast British and Irish governments were building a new Catholic Seminary at Maynooth to make up for the those closed by the French Revolution. As the hated penal laws were still in place this was technically illegal. The Catholic Church opposed the 1798 rebellion because in terms of its primary mission to promote the Catholic version of Christianity and the physical survival of its people it would have been idiotic for it to do otherwise. In modern terms as a decision it was a no brainer.
Unforgivable circa Cromwell.
Catholic Defender vigilante agrarian society murder Protesants Scullabgue barn. and Wexford Bridge after seeing Ornagemen Loyalists militia murder Irish Roman Catholic civilians and prisoners. This led to Ulster Presbyterians abandoning Irish Republicanism and removing themselves from the united Irishmen more than anything during the 19th Century.
A good reminder for me. There were good arguments on both sides of the civil war. Good people too.
Excellent work guys both of you would be fantastic History Teacher,remind me of my old History Teacher from Donegal.Collins need I say more Dev 😡 Mr Griffith be proud of “Our Selves” in the Majority in Eire now 🙂 Go raibh real amat agat.
When my grandmother was a young child she was raised in the Liberties and witnessed the Canon Fire on the Four Courts ( borrowed British Canons )
I think you mean "go raibh míle maith agat"
Thank Henry ll & sending his Norman Lord's. They never left.
Mistakes have been made by all parties. It is time for peace to continue for all. Whats happened was wrong and there has been and will never be a winner on any side.
Very true
Who tried to conquer in the first place?
WRONG.we were invaded thats no mistake
=Us British treating the Irish like less than shit for centuries= "bUt WhY dO tHeY wAnT iNdEpEnDeNcE?"
Well they should've been better at war then, why don't you go live in Ireland if you love them so much?
@@fyrdman2185 British should stop whinging about immigrants most from former British colonies
A very balanced and informative narration of Irelands recent history and what ever the future holds I hope Ireland remains close to their cousins here in Britain. My own family is English, but I also have deep Irish roots, as do many others here, right across Britain.
I wouldn't say its balanced. It mentions Ulster Unionists on passing but never goes into any real detail on that subject or people, it doesn't look at that other defining battle in Irish history in 1916 the Somme for example. It does mention the attacks on police but doesn't mention those police officers were themselves Irish (I raised an eyebrow when it was said the 1921 settlement allowed the first "indigenous Irish police"). It mentioned sectarian violence in Belfast but not elsewhere. etc etc Its an accurate in the facts it presents but I wouldn't call it balanced narration.
@@Sammy1234568910 agreed it didn't mention that the British deployed Tanks (Whippet Model see photo Belfast Telegraph Nov 26th 1919 (only report)) in Co. Clare against civilians. Didn't mention British Troops carrying out street-executions on stretcher bearers (Montague St. Easter week (the street used by Carson to get his carriage into his house at the start)). Didn't mention that 2 pupils of my school were executed, Didn't mention that they dragged a red haired inured man from a field-hospital bed & later executed him. Yes, I agree, too much brutality hidden. Maybe the civil war in Northern Ireland from 1972 (Ballymurphy & Street executions (& breach of firing-orders, general-orders) Derry) to 1998 could have been avoided. - before you respond - British forces (irregulars) threatened to bomb my secondary school, and bombed a bus stop, nearby on a Friday where school kids would gather (across the green & down a street from Carson's House)! Nothing good ever came from that country - England.
@@Sammy1234568910 Sure the police were "Irish" ie. born in Ireland but way over 95% were of Protestant stock originally from Britain. If you asked them at the time if they were Irish they would say no but would say they were British because they knew the difference and so do you so cut the bullshit.
@@Sammy1234568910100% correct Wiki - The vast majority of the men serving in the RIC in 1919 were Irish-born and raised. Of the RIC's senior officers in 1919, 60% were Irish Protestants and rest Catholic while 70% of the rank and file Catholic the rest Protestant.
Only in your head. It's totally Irish Catholic biased. 😅
Greatest
Thank you for the great video. Succinct. I’ve gone down an Irish history rabbit hole recently, and I would like to know the current sentiments among republic citizens today. Is loyalist/english occupation of the north something young Irish discuss frequently as an issue, or has cognitive dissonance set in? I’ve got more to learn but right now my opinion more closely aligns with the IRB view that the Irish deserve the whole Island free of the Brits. Will northern folks buy in to accepting a step back economically in the short term for long term gain opportunity? Will the new nation retire the tricolor flag, and start fresh? I’m excited to visit Ireland one day and hopefully it’s to celebrate the official expulsion of British influence and occupation.
Great video. Could you do a video about Ireland's involvement in World War One. Conscription was never enforced on the island, however about 200,000 volunteered, with over 30,000 losing their lives. Irish suffered particularly heavily at Gallipoli. It's fascinating how so many Irish men, both north and south, Catholic and Protestant, were fighting for Britain at the same time that all this was happening.
Soldiers returning the Irish Free State faced hostile treatment from the authorities, including being barred from holding civil service positions.
@@thomasb4152That was after WW2, not WW1.
@@wallythewondercorncake8657 no, it was WW1. It's largely missed from most Irish history narratives. In part because it's not easy to fit into the narrative you've just watched. It won't let me post links but if you Google this, here's an article from the Guardian. There's a growing literature on the subject now: The forgotten Irish soldiers who fought for Britain in the first world war Ireland was on the cusp of the Easter Rising when thousands of Irish men joined up to serve with the British army in the first world war. They returned to an utterly changed country; they were officially forgotten. This is one man's story Elaine Byrne Sat 5 Apr 2014 03.00 EDT
Just an fyi, between 50-55,000 of that 200,000 figure were either regular members of the British army, members of the Special Reserve, or Reservists called to the colours at the start of the war. Also, in reference to the situation after the Second World War, it was, in the majority, only those soldiers who had deserted the Irish army who were barred from holding civil service positions etc.
@@thomasb4152 Explain to me how they were returning to the Irish Free State when that didn't even exist until years after WW1? Also stop liking your own comments, loser.
My Grandfather Joseph Healy a hard working man was friends with Michael Collins .
For a clip titled "How Ireland Became Bitterly divided" it didn't really talk about the divisions. Ulster Unionism was mentioned on passing but it was never really looked at in detail, and to understand division you need to look at both sides of the division. We never heard about the service of the 36th and 16th Divisions for example. The conscription debate was completely missed out which was a hot topic at the time. Likewise the negotiations into the foundation of Northern Ireland wasn't mentioned. Got to see some republican murals in Belfast we could have had a nice contrast if we also saw some unionist ones especially when talking about the Ulster Covenant that also wasn't mentioned. I learned how the Irish free State became independent but I didn't really learn "how Ireland became bitterly divided" as the title alluded.
The title was referring to the civil war and the divisions within nationalism, I would imagine. It's difficult to look at these things in detail without having a two hour video.
Fair points all in all.
Its impossible to explain how Ireland became divided in a video about the period of independence. Its also meaninhless. The roots of division were set centuries earlier when the stare ethnically cleansed Ireland and imported armed hostile settlers, when the state enacted apartheid laws, when the state enforced new religious sectarian laws, etc, etc, If you look at Unionist symbols even now in 2023 you never see 1922, it's always 1690. Partition resulted from (planned) division, it didn't cause it. This is why we learn real history to be able to separate cause amd effect, not just to learn off a string of dates. Hopefully you'll be able to do this some day.
It depends what the state wants you to remember. Everyone thinks Nelson's pillar blown up Dublin in 1966 was erected by the British. It wasn't it was erected by the Loyal Corporation of Dublin to commemorate the notable part Irish sailors played in Nelson's victories. Much more recently if you youtube Armistice Day Dublin 1930 you will see thousands of people commemorating Irish soldiers who served in WWW 1. By a combination outright terror and occasional murder the IRA, including a future Irish Prime Minister put a stop to this. This is not confined to Ireland. I am one of the last generation to go to an English secondary school and be taught that the empire was a great and glorious thing. My granddaughters are taught the Empire really wasn't very nice and they should be sorry for every race and religion it ever governed including the Irish.
@@freebeerfordworkers "This is not confined to Ireland. I am one of the last generation to go to an English secondary school and be taught that the empire was a great and glorious thing." And you're decrying the bias in this video 😂😂
Thank you Ireland you gave us WB Yeats and George Barnard Shaw. ❤
And Bram Stoker, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde.
@@GhastlyCretin85 All of them are actually Anglo Irish !
@@johnbrereton5229 Well, James Joyce wasn't Anglo-Irish but the other 2 certainly were.
@@GhastlyCretin85 There are 5 literary people that have been mention and they are all Anglo Irish including James Joyce. Read the book: 'James Joyce and the Anglo Irish' by Leonard Platt. Though Joyce supported Irish nationalism he still refused to exchange his British passport for an Irish one and even renewed it when it was out of date. It just illustrates how close Britain and Ireland really are, despite the troubles.
@@johnbrereton5229 James Joyce was an Irish Catholic with Irish blood. In what respect do you consider him Anglo-Irish?
Good old rule and divide again poor against poor through religion and class the powers that be know how to rule they have been doing it for hundreds of years god bless ireland i hope peace prevails for all in ireland best from scotland
you of all people understand the brutality of the english....Alba/Eire together.
"CuttleFISH in dirty water dyeing got ya' hypnotized🎶" plantagenet "guards domestic holding office with the state peace officers" com cham CAMeleon CAMden way not England's dream'in frankist Normandy camouflage lights camera action deception glamour def: black magic holly wand Hollywood i9Xlondon=666 Scotland yard up above glasco a new Albion where it is keeping your friends close your enemies (Yiddish) closer "birds from sky to sky never asking why🎶" bicuspids=beak ovapositrix Cain)ine "werewolves of London again🎶" ironshirt is supernatural octopi/sepia have bird beaks and chromatophores rolling prowlers 30+ ft. waves ride out the wave or die deep purple monarchy grade8th's blackcherry blue flesh implodes to evil purple interesting Freudian/English slip the IRA are animals the gazans are animals.
One day we will be reunited ...it is a normal progression.
Never happen
To think that, if my great grandmother didn't take a boat ride, this would all be my upbringing. Instead, I'm a 43 year old Canadian, who is only hearing about this now. "The British Empire" was always talked about as if it was ancient history, much like the Roman Empire. Shit was just 2 days ago generationally speaking. It's crazy how the entire world can change from "Empires" to whatever it is today in just a couple of decades, and just as quickly, be less than a footnote in all of my upbringing.
It was the Dreyse rifle in the Franco-Prussian war, not the Mauser.
Interesting
I am surprised you did not comment on the death of Michael Collins.
Cork was completely ignored
I never considered myself, an Australian, to be connected to my Irish ancestors.....but here we are.
Michael Collins is my hero 💯💗🙏
An incredible warrior & a peacemaker
Collins was a paedophile.
An in-depth video about the plantation of Ireland would be greatly appreciated especially for those American Ulster Scots that thinks they are Irish 😊
They are Irish!
Was watching a history on sir Bruce the great and brave heart and they mention the name of McClure my grandfather last name was McClure i was wondering if my great grand parents cane from Scottish Irish decent love history i know that my grand mother and her parents came off of the charakee reservation and Grand parents was born in the early 1900'S
Just want to say, I love listening to the Irish accent. That is all. Also, what a sad part of history.
I was given an decent education from some mates when I went to university many of whom were northern Irish but were republicans. For a couple of years I was like “yeah they deserve full independence” but then met a lad also from Northern Ireland who identified as British, supported England in the football the works. That’s when the penny dropped that it’s an awfully delicate situation that may never fully get resolved.
If you believe imperialism & colonialism is wrong, you should side with a fully free indepentant Ireland. If not then you should believe the opposite. That's the long and short of it.
That's the sort of simplistic codswallop that has caused these problems in geographical Ireland over the past 120 years. It is the likes of you who are the root of the problem.@@OldSkoolWax
@@OldSkoolWaxThe world is sadly more complex than that.
They never say it but the original Home Rule party was happy to come to terms with Anglo Irish relationship and identify with many of Britain's interests. This is contrary to the people who came to power after 1922 some of whom declared and it's a fairly accurate quote; the Northern Unionists do deserve/should have a country to live in and that country is England.
@@OldSkoolWaxIrish tried to take over Scotland and Wales in the day bud and it was just a fact that they got worked eventually, that was the times, did you really think Saint Patrick was Irish? Lol nope he is from Wales or Scotland and was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave. Everyone wants to feel sorry for those who lost the imperialism game but forget they played in the game too
Some comments here are heartingly forgiving or embracing of progress. However some are still so entrenched in the bitterness of what should be the past. Many suffered but why continue the cycle. If ireland is to be united it must not repeat the mistakes of the past and instead allow the views and beliefs of nationalists and unionists to be expressed and compromise and accommodate all satisfactorily. There will always be decent and dosagreement but we're all people and we should remember that alone.
Whats going to happen if there is an united ireland,banning of the orange order,Banning ulster scots,banning parades highly unlikely.Apart from dual citizenship and exceptions around irish being compulsory there is very little thats going to change for unionists bar of course the constitutional change.I don't think commonwealth membership will fly but apart from that the unionists have nothing to fear.
When shipyard workers came from Scotland to work in the Belfast dockyards, seeds of sectarianism was sown
Corporal Jones makes an appearance.
The memory of United Irishmen 1791-1803 and Irish Rebellion 1798 by Wolfe Tone and 1803 by Robert Emmet are forgotten.
Its really an easy question to answer : to rule the brits planted ireland with their own ppl , from mainland britain , to act as enforcers , they were the ancestors of loyalist ireland/ulster
The Scots protestants were invited and given land way back
"Come out ye Black and Tans!"
Ireland certainly has alot of those these days
Or you could say the Black and Tans!” were bastard... but thank the RAF for keeping the Russians out of Irish Airspace
@@foraustralia2558 We don't care if British or Russian or Australian voyeurs for that matter fly around the sky making each other nervous. None of ye are going to do jack shit.
I would love the Russians to liberate Ireland and europe from the US globalist empire.@@foraustralia2558
Just nipping down the post office Michael Collins
48.00 Lloyd George was a native Welsh speaker and at least understood Irish. He said to DeValera, You can't have a republic is there any other word you could use? DeValera suggested XYZ and Lloyd George said that just means people. There is no word for Republic in Irish and the nearest Dev could get to it was Free State in English and that was what they settled on.
This is ridiculous. Lloyd George did not understand Irish, Welsh and Irish are Brythonic and Goidelic respectively. The bullshit line about "no word for republic" was just a cheap, bad faith bit of British elitism which implies; "we're civilisation, and you're not, we own you, and you're not getting what you want."
Phoblacht?
Welsh and irish are not mutually intelligible,he might have had some understanding vague knowledge ,but i doubt he understood it by virtue of being a native welsh speaking.If he was a scots gaelic speaker he would have been able to understand a good bit,but welsh is a different branch of the celtic family.
@@gallowglass2630 What you say is 100% true. In Ireland itself there is even a small difference with some words or phrases that are Munster, Ulster Gaeilge etc. There is no way from a linguistic point of view that Lloyd George would understand native Irish despite being a native Welsh speaker. Llyod George was also trying to ease the tension and somewhat create a false cordial environment. When he met this particular delegation(this is not the team that went to the Treaty negotiations) he referred to them as "fellow Celts like myself". It was a deliberate ploy by Lloyd George to give the impression that these Irishmen were in the company of a kindred spirit which certainly they weren't. David Lloyd George(born in Manchester) is a very complex character. The "Welsh Wizard" as he became known to history. He always stated he was a disciple of Gladstone when it came to Irish policy but that is certainly not true. I would advise anyone to read the poignant emotional anti Boer War speeches by Lloyd George. After reading them it is hard to believe that this is the same man as a Prine Minister would send both the Black & Tans and Auxiliaries to Ireland.
What would them good fellers think of the seal out fellers today 10-09-2023
Great documentary, short and concise. However brevity means important points are lost The pre-WWI tensions are maybe underplayed, including the Larne gunrunning, the Ulster Covenant and the Curragh mutiny. It’s also relevant to mention the Dublin strikes of 1913 which fuel concerns among the business owning (overwhelmingly unionist) class that a socialist revolution is on the horizon and hence set the scene for the Divide and Rule strategy based on fueling sectarian tensions, especially in the north, that we see in 1920. The contribution to the British effort in WWI from both the Unionists and the Redmondite IVF is largely skipped. The 1918 election is presented as a SF landslide, which is consistent with how it is generally presented, but SF’s victory in the election was magnified by the First Past the Post system that gave them plurality but not overwhelming majority. The Belfast pogrom is touched upon but not elaborated upon, and there is little or no mention is how northern nationalists felt abandoned by southern compatriots in the Free State government (a recurring theme that we see in later decades). And finally, the Treaty saw the removal of British forces from Ireland with the exception of a few treat ports??? Not quite!!!!
you're absolutely right about the 1918 general election and the notorious first pass the post system. Apart from looking at the number of seats I'm about the only person to have actually scrutinised the vote and found that in Cork city the Sinn Fein candidates got around 41,000 of a possible 42,000 votes while the other candidate got about 16000 votes between them there are several other interesting results. I've actually written to Oxford University pointing them out they said that it was very interesting and I heard nothing more.
@@freebeerfordworkers "I'm about the only person to have actually scrutinised the vote": Are you actually serious? There's plenty of literature out there on it.
I'm probably going on the reaction I got from Oxford University's history department when I drew their attention to it They politely said it was very interesting and they'd look at it further@@brownsey1
My da's side of the family are Irish (C. Wicklow), British and Scottish. My ma's side Irish (C. Donegal). I've spent my whole life trying to figure out the bitterness. I live in the Pacific NW in America, but will return to Ireland to distribute all of my siblings and parents ashes in the fall.
You’re Irish and British. Don’t let people tell you you can’t be both. You can. I’m English and British.
British and Scottish? You mean English and Scottish, the Scottish are British too, Scotland is in Britain.
How did Ireland become bitterly divided? England. England is the answer
The British government misjudged the situation in Ireland and mismanaged their response, in a very similar way to what they had done in America in 1776. Both occasions show an arrogant attitude and an unwillingness to understand the wishes of the people. It is sobering to think that with more foresight, better understanding a less martial strategy, Ireland today could be as Scotland and Wales and so many people would not have lost their lives. Maybe the USA would not have been born had we simply given them a voice. At the very least, both moves to independence could have been achieved without such terrible bloodshed. I think most Englishmen today, like me, honour the wishes of people to be independent and are only too aware that our forebears made many mistakes,. Some they were forced to by circumstance but some through the outdated and prejudicial attitude of the elite.
Well no Ye are not thought the history in the uk. The Protestant mindset of Catholics mixed with the British mindset of Irish The wigs literally called our race a disease and the famine was the best thing to happen. That’s not misjudging a response Both the Protestant reformation and the old versions of the Tory government were genocide in Ireland.
The historical perspective of this one Irish-American is that from long practise and no one telling them it was wrong, the English have acquired something close to an addiction to Ireland. This perverse preoccupation expresses itself in how Little Englander and Home Counties MPs are so often looking over at the Island of Saints and Scholars and thinking, "We are now, as we always have been, entitled to a bit of that!" Let me tell you as the descendant of Irish of both religio-political traditions: *you're not.*
@@stephenwright8824 I can appreciate that, from the perspective of an outsider, things may seem that way but I assure you it is no longer true. Just as Americans are not cowboys. Stereotypes are rarely correct. The UK no longer has any ambitions in Ireland, with the exception of Northern Ireland and mutually beneficial trade. As a people, we have moved on. When I was young, in the 50's & 60's, most Irish people in the UK were known to be builders and menial labourers (incorrectly of course) and the term 'navvie' was common (from navigation workers, who built the canals). Jokes about the stupid Irish were everywhere. Today Ireland is a centre of IT and technology and such an attitude is almost unheard of in the UK. Indeed you are more likely to hear a joke about Americans than the Irish. Brits are aware of our history, good and bad but we are not governed by it, nor do we wish for it to return.
All the ads really suck.
I think a point often missed, is that the British Government did want to leave the whole of Ireland. The Unionists had their reasons to remain within the Union and were in open, armed opposition to the Government and there was a high risk of mutiny if the army were confronted them. Effectively both communities wanted self determination and that’s what the British tried to accommodate in 1921. Of course it didn’t work out particularly well!
Lets just ignore cork altogether, munster got one mention.
Salute to Ireland from Palestine
Sláinte mate✌🏼
Sláinte mate✌🏼
That female speaker at the beginning is a budding supermodel...
Tiocfaidh ar la!!!
26+6=1 🇮🇪
Not insignificant in the last ten years that Ireland's GDP per capita has now overtaken the UK - the same is now true for South Korea's overtaking Japan.
That's an example of how misleading GDP per capita is. The true standard of living of most people in Ireland is comparable to the Mediterranean rather than northern Europe.
Okay, but where's any mention of the Irish Citizen Army?
Thanks for posting this, it's a shame so much of Irish history is politicised and the actual facts are shunned in favour of feelings. I suspect Ireland will remain as it is for the foreseeable future or Northern Ireland will be partitioned further, either way I just hope it brings about peace.
There won't be more partition. The most likely outcome, based on population and voting trends. is Irish unification but that's probably still decades away. Brexit might speed up the process but ultimately, if the UK honours the terms of the Good Friday Agreement (though recent history suggests they can't be trusted to honour international treaties) then unless Unionists start breeding like Catholics, unification is an inevitability. Unfortunately, there's probably going to be violence. If Irish unification occurs, hardcore Loyalists are unlikely to greet that change peacefully. Meanwhile, if the UK reneges on the Good Friday Agreement, Republicans are likely to reach for the gun again.
@@jedsithor If you look at the census data on religion, how people identify and political allegiances you'll see the correlation between being catholic and republican no longer is as tight as it once was. Quite a number of Catholics identify specifically as northern Irish and are don't support reunification. You also have to consider the fact that unionists are more likely to have moved to other parts of the UK and won't be polled but come a border vote will no doubt go home to make a difference.
@@aituk A Nationalist party won the most seats for the first time ever at the last election. The trend is heading toward Nationalist majorities. You're right that there's a growing number of people who see themselves as Northern Irish rather than British or Irish, but given how heavily subsidised the region is, I don't think anyone really believes it could survive as an independent country if that option were on the table. Also, that trend was growing in relative peace time post-GFA, when the lack of borders and EU membership meant that people weren't thinking about the unification issue day to day. Brexit has changed that and those who saw themselves as Northern Irish are going to find themselves having to ask the questions they didn't want to ask. If you're in Northern Ireland and don't have Nationalist or Unionist leanings, then the question of which country you're better off being a part of, the UK or Ireland, is an economic issue. What's better for your family? I don't think either country has made the strongest case so far but Brexit has certainly made it a pertinent question. There's also the question of Scotland. I don't think they're likely to leave the UK within the next 10 years and recent SNP scandals have hurt the independence movement there but if the UK continues to suffer from Brexit and Scottish interests are ignored, independence may become a distinct possibility and that could have a domino effect.
@@jedsithor They won purely because of the voting system itself, if you tally up the unionist seats never mind the unionist vote it outnumbers them. You ofcourse have to add some if not all of the alliance vote to that which is essentially status quo. But you also have to consider that many people in Northern Ireland are restricted to getting DUP or Sinn Fein. If you're left wing and don't want a united Ireland you're in a pickle so you might vote sinn fein without even wanting a united ireland. Just to be clear I wasn't suggesting it could survive on its own but the fact that they see themselves as different to Irish people is something to take note of. Not being British makes sense in the sense that you're not on the island of britain but to say you're not the same as the other irish people speaks volumes. Brexit only makes a difference because people force it to make a difference, it shouldn't have to at all. We still have the common travel area duel citizenships, we had checks on goo when we were in the EU due to different vat and tax rates aswell as a different currency. It's overblown nonsense being used for political gain. Economically you're far better off in the UK. The UK is wealthier than Ireland and subsidises NI and has done for a century now. Irelands economy is artificially inflated due to it being a prominent tax haven. When you account for that difference and calculate the cost of administering NI.... secretly I don't think the Irish mainstream politicians actually want to deal with the issue. They just say it cos they have to appear patriotic. I don't think Scotland will ever leave the union either, the SNP case for independence is built on bigotry and lies much like the NI case for leaving the union however I admit the NI case does have more substance historically. The only reason the SNP is in power is because of the political system. Add up the unionist party votes and they dominate the SNP/green/alba total easily The truth is if Scotland left the Union there would be a divide there too, possibly resulting in some form of partition. One of the unions greatest strengths is you can be English/Scottish/Welsh/Northern Irish and British at the same time. End of the day Scottish separatism would be a nightmare economically so there will always be areas wanting to leave, not least of which the borders
The UK is moving towards dissolution with nationalism rising in each member country as each wants full control of their own affairs. There is no clear unionist only territory. They're interwoven with people who make up the vast majority of the island. Maybe its time to throw away the symbols and songs of hate on both sides snd ignore the egging on from Scottish sectarian hate. Maybe its time for both sides to give up some hateful aspects of their own cultures to gain a whole lot more peace and prosperity. Together they'd be powerful like they are on the rugby field. It starts with forgiving and being proud of each others shared heritage. Scots settlers are part of Ireland and Irish history. I'm proud of that. Irish protestants north snd south achieved great things. It should be celebrated by all irish. Irish Gaelic people settled and are part of Scotland's heritage. Fates are interwoven. Whatever happens i hope they make it a great place for their kids. One better then the past.
Over all a comprehensive account of Ireland and its recent history over the last 100 years or so. I have one issue that I am very unhappy with ... it is this, the duplicity of Eamon De Valera!. He was the leader of Sinn Fein, the Irish majority of republicans, Irish delegate's to the peace treaty with The British Government at No 10 Downing Street London. After the first meeting, he recognized that an Irish Republic would not be achieved ... so he did not return and he put Michael Collins at the helm of the Irish delegation instead of himself. When the treaty with partition was signed, he apposed it Yet He Did Not Attend to Negotiate as He was The Leader of Ireland. He apposes in it, leaves Sinn Fein and forms Fina Fail ... He then contradicts himself again by entering The Free State Parliament as Leader Of The Free State He then pronounces a Republic without the North East Six Counties. And he still had monetary parity with the U.K. pound sterling (that ended in 1979)
This is great, but the percussive music in the back is annoying.
Ireland achieved what the Welsh and Scottish have been trying do for centuries. They just took up arms a lot more recently thr only reason I.m.o it didn't happen sooner is because of religious divides and internal fighting... I they weren't so divided the English couldn't back one. Divided and conquer ...
The gunboat later became a boat of the Irish Navy..
26:45 27:20
26.45 The railway boycott of moving military trains and goods might have been influenced by the IRA declaring that any railway man who moved military trains was a "legitimate target" They could be killed in the same way building workers who repaired damaged police stations etc in Northern Ireland were killed in the recent troubles. In 1920 to make their point three of Michael Collins men went into the offices of the Dublin and Southeastern Railway and a few bullets literally took most of the chairman's head off. To get away with murdering a 62 year old man sitting at his desk you have to be a patriot.
Got a name for him? Googling what you said doesn't turn up anything.
I am afraid not I chanced to pick it up doing research in Oxford. It was headline news in a copy of a Dublin paper in about July 1920 My notes are that 3 men called at the office and asked for,, or to see him. On being told where he was they said, we will deal with him in there then. They pushed past and as papers then were not squeamish they reported his injuries adding he was "beyond all human aid". The only feedback I had on the net was a woman who posted to me that he was not killed to enforce the boycott. She did not say why he was killed but whatever the reason it seemed it was good enough for her.@@sean_d
@@freebeerfordworkers Ok. Thanks for getting back to me anyway.
Found it, he was a friend of the viceroy and a leading member of Dublin society KZhead seem to have stopped people posting links but if you Google "Railway Chairman murdered in Dublin 1920" it will bring up a report from the New York Times not a clear one but a report@@sean_d
Tiocfaidh ár lá!!
🇮🇪🍀🇵🇸
Needs to include German military intelligence role in providing, money, arms and training.
I could have summed it up in 10 seconds, Protestant and Catholic, Just like the Sunnis and Shiates in the middle east, it's ridiculous, we are all humans first and foremost, and you treat everyone the way you want to be treated, then we have our religious beliefs, family and friends ❤
Dont know why, but those who are promoted for being security forces usually replaces the promouters, however a known internal enemies usually becomes a right hand for those who is running countries. There shoul be some hidden logic behind making this a rule or it is a banal pragma about hited to become a stronger force
Collins told Dev I'm a solider not a politician so when Collins came back from England were Dev sent him knowing he was only going to get 26 counties he made Collins out to be a sellout , I can't stand Develera a coward in my opinion.
No, a two faced politician.
Collins was no better in some regards, he pleaded with Churchill for more arms and supplies to defeat the anti-Treaty IRA. Years later the Free State buys the gun-boat that was used to shell the GPO and the city, the Helga, to use it as a tug-boat. You couldn't make it up.
Anyone else find the music annoying?
I'm Irish and I've always thought it strange that a relatively small number of IRA guerilla fighters could bring the British Empire to the negotiating table. The British surely had the firepower if they wanted to crush the movement, but I guess the political cost would be too high, especially with the passing of universal male suffrage in 1918. One thing this video doesn't explain is why so many people in Ulster remained loyal to the unionist cause, for that we need to go back to the Plantation of Ulster in the early 1600s following the defeat of Hugh O'Neill and his allies in the Nine Years War.
Worth remembering at this time Belfast was one of the most important cities of the empire, and there was a worry it would be economically drain if we left the UK which was still an economic powerhouse at the time
I've found out some things recently which showed to me that the Rebellion couldn't be resisted. There was training in first-aid all over the country- a little village Moy, west Clare had training. There were field hospitals set up all over by Cumanm na mBan - College of Surgeons, to John Dillion St. & Red Cross on the Corner of the Green at Harcourt St. Civilian stretcher bearers on Montague St to ferry from the Red Cross to Meath Hospital, or Field station. I also found a report Belfast Telegraph 26th Nov 1919, British Tabks deployed in Co. Clare. This was gone too far, and many of the rebels had served in the Army ( Ml. Mallon, 2iC Surgeons, served in India). Then Maxwell wanted to execute the Countess- his excesses lost the moderates. The British Arny were fought to a stalemate, and that wasn't what they could cope with. They were looking at 20× years of policing - easier to cede a form of independence and retain the treaty ports (returned 15 years later) and control foreign relations. Look at 1972 to 1998 - N. Ireland to ended as a stalemate- 30,000 troops plus reserves, 10,000 police plus reserves - another stalemate- best estimates about 1,000 armed secessionists. According to RUSI better trained and committed than the unionist equivalent, standstill- On both occasions, it was the excess of the military command, and treatment different from the rest of the UK which alienated moderates-
40 million irish Americans would not be happy if uk invaded Ireland 😅 and they brits never dared
@@Irish780And most so called Irish Americans are protestant too.
@@vvv7147lol no they didn't. They just killed random Catholics. They had the highest kill count of civilians in the late 70s and throughout the 90s.
Ignorant American here. I don't understand why people in Northern Ireland would vote to stay with Great Britain. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some facts about some benefits that staying with Great Britain would offer, but the rest of Ireland preferred to live without. Or maybe there were other factors involved that I'm just not aware of? I'm also open to book/other resource suggestions as well so please toss them my way!
The Catholics are the Irish, the protties are the brits
British. Concur and divide.
Maybe if the monarch didn't exist we could have been all united as one great country. Old fashioned concepts are difficult to eradicate. Shame I would love all of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England as one
The Act of Union was in.1801
Us Catholics have been persecuted for centuries, the IRA was born from that struggle.