In 1922, Ireland, which was once part of the UK, became Ireland Free State under the Anglo-Irish treaty signed in December 1921. This treaty gave a dominion status to 26 out of 32 counties in Ireland, the remaining 6 counties being named Northern Ireland and remaining in the UK. This treaty brought an end to the War of Independence, which began in 1919 and consisted of guerrilla war fighting against the British army. After the treaty was signed, there was a civil war between the loyalists and the radicals (those who wanted to remain in UK and those who didn’t) which lasted until May 1923, and caused a huge divide within the country. This also led to socio-economic problems and had political impacts. There was another group formed called the anti-treaty faction, who opposed the treaty as it did not grant full Irish independence. Therefore, they felt that it was not good enough and the treaty should be renegotiated. However, this was not a popular opinion and the biggest divide lay between the loyalists and radicals.
Although a political impact was mentioned above, it should be noted that the civil war did not cause instability for the leader who ruled the country for 10 years from 1922. The Cumann na nGaedheal party was moderately popular especially to begin with, and it was conservative, focusing mainly on the economy and particularly rebuilding the economy after the war. Although the war against Britain had a large impact on the economy, it was the civil war that caused the most economic issues due to the boycotts that each part of the Ireland did on each other. A key example of this is the boycotts of Northern goods in response to attacks in Catholics in Northern Ireland, which shows the extent of the civil war and the disruption it was having on the economy especially involving trade. This not only affected the country’s economy, but had a ripple effect on the Irish people who were living in poor conditions particularly in rural areas. However, the economic impact of the civil war shouldn’t undermine that of the War of Independence with Britain as these disputes did carry on throughout the 20s and 30s, although none came to a confrontation. Tension rose when Ireland refused to continue paying land annuities and Britain responded by putting tariffs on Irish beef. This then led to a retaliation from Ireland who imposed tariffs on British consumer goods. Although this was all sorted out in 1938, it had negative effect on trade and consequently on the economy which shows the long-term impacts of the Irish independence war. Therefore, both wars did affect the economy, which was not able to bounce back for decades even after several attempts including free trade. Luckily, it didn’t have as grave of an effect as other examples of independence wars due to the guerrilla warfare technique which decreased military costs.
Industrialisation was a large step Ireland took after the War of Independence, and this was somewhat successful as the country became gradually electrified and new state-owned factories were encouraged. The living conditions in urban areas was ever improving and by 1943, about 95% of the population (only in these urban areas) had access to a water supply. However, the living conditions in rural areas remained poor, with there usually being no running water or electricity, low levels of sanitation and very few modern conveniences. This led to high levels of emigration during the 30s and 40s, with many moving to urban areas and others moving to Britain where the living conditions were non-comparable. There was a high level of discontent among the living conditions in rural areas and this coupled with the sexism especially sparked anger among the women who would have to look after the homes and consistently deal with these conditions while doing the housework. Ireland, at the time, was very sexist and wives were expected to stay home and in some cases, this was a legal requirement, most notably in 1933 when female teachers who qualified after January 1st were obliged to retire when they married.
This timeframe marked a period of political instability globally, with the end of the first world war recently occurring and the build-up to the second world war now beginning. Although Ireland remained neutral in the Second World War, the war efforts were should still be acknowledged with many volunteering on Britain’s behalf and huge efforts on the ground (in Ireland) to keep the morale going and raise money for the military or the soldiers. This is a forgotten history due to the tensions between Britain and Ireland at the time. However, this should deserve greater applause as many volunteered on behalf of a country they were at odds with for a more important cause.
