How in the fuck did the Irish manage to beat (or even stalemate) the British in their war of independence...

The war of independence took place from 1919 to 1921 you idiot

a macklemore-american appeared

youtube.com/watch?v=irQxBoMtE3s

And WWI just ended the year before.

Propaganda, Childers is really underappreciated outside of Ireland for his role is bringing the Black and Tans actions to the British public's attention which really lessened support for the war in Britain

The english may have had more guns, they may have had more money, they may have had more brutality, less morals and the jews on their side but the Irish had something they never had. The Irish had the spirit, the soul and right of blood to their country,

>The Defenders of this Realm have worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! — they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.

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>Ireland granted autonomy
>the British backed faction wins the civil war
>Ireland literally has loans with England atm

So what

lloyd george was unable to rule UK without the support of the Irish MPs, their payoff was home rule

They didn't.
The WOI was dominated by a tactic which was essentially:

>Raid an area
>Take guns and equipment
>Use that to rid area of british forces
>Use that to then attack next area
>Take guns and equipment
>etc
The attacks on British intelligence were also large, but realistically it was propaganda that won the war.

The reason the civil war happened is because some members of the IRA were under the delusion that they were winning a military victory, and despite the prowess of the likes of Collins and Barry they absolutely couldn't have kept it up.

GOOD MEN

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NO GOOD MEN AMONG IRISHMEN

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Ireland must be put aside in the name of Mexico and the League.

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The last thing the Brits wanted was yet another war.

And yet they fought one for 2 years before making terms. Besides, its not like Ireland didnt lose a lot of men in the war, not to mention the confiscation of weapons after the Easter Rising.

Wrong. continuing the war of independence was unpopular seeing as Ireland was to be granted home rule before the war broke out. The black and tans and auxiliaries were seen as a barbaric thing to inflict upon the population of Ireland and the Labour party published the "Report of the Labour commission to Ireland" (here:archive.org/details/reportoflabourco00labouoft) that described atrocities commited by auxiliaries (as reprisals) in Ireland such as the sack of Balbriggan. The Anglo Irish treaty gave Ireland independence whilst also keeping the monarch as head of state, calling the new state the Irish Free State. They later break away completely and form the Irish Republic in the 1937 due to unresolved issues and a trade war. Britain was not beaten militarily but the Royal Irish constabulary (more paramilitary than mainland police btw) and the auxiliaries that Britain sent over to restore order failed in their job and there was no political desire nor support to deploy the army to Ireland.

While the IRA didn't win militarily they were successful in crippling British administration in Ireland and leaving great swathes of land to be ruled by Republican courts and the like. Events such as bloody sunday (1920) crippled the intelligence services and left Dublin castle essentially blind to IRA intrigues. Also, the IRA ran a campaign intended to seclude and intimidate security forces in Ireland to either pass information to the IRA or simply to turn a blind eye and do nothing to hinder IRA activities. These tactics were things like burning down the homes of police officers, burning barracks, harrasing those who interacted socially with police men and also excluding them from pubs. Along with regular death threats these tactics pretty much made the Royal irish constabulary useless as apathy was an epidemic. It's amazing how being a policeman went from being one of the most respectable jobs for a working class man to one of the most reviled

Great post, I would also add Britains desire to keep world opinion (particularly American opinion) positive as well as domestic opinion, especially during the early years of the war as the Treaty of Versailles was being drawn up. The atrocities you talked about in your post was being repeated in America by Irish-Americans groups . Britain couldn't send their full military might on Ireland without receiving huge international backlash in an era where colonialism was on the decline.

Yeah i forgot about the Americans. Here's their report on conditions archive.org/stream/reportsamericanc00amer#page/n0/mode/2up. Strangely despite the widespread atrocities committed by British forces in Ireland there are almost no instances of rape committed, both of these reports mention this and i spent ages trawling through witness statements in university and found fuck all. Really bizzare seeing as the Black and Tans were seen as the epitome of terrible soldiers that steal and inflict violence upon civilians, closest i came to understanding this is was a historian who claimed that their violence could be overstated by Irish propaganda. The IRA and sinn fein also mounted big tours in the US to raise funds and a few prominent women became well known in the US for speaking on the topic or Irish independence and raised a fortune in funds. Can't recall her name though.

If anyone wants to look at individual stories from the War of independence you can look at the Military pensions collection or the witness statements that i mentioned. Although, these are quite lacking when it comes to people's experience of the civil war, especially when it comes to those who fought against the Irish Free State. The civil war was very much a taboo thing in Ireland for decades and was barely mentioned in school textbooks beyond a footnote, but there are statements at the archives in Dublin that haven't been digitised yet that are written by those who fought on the losing side in the civil war.

Military Pensions collection: militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensions-collection/search-the-collection

Bureau of Military History's Witness statements: bureauofmilitaryhistory.ie/index.html

>The Irish had the spirit

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