Editing Irish War of Independence (section)

==Origins of the conflict==
===Home Rule Crisis===
{{Main|Irish Home Rule Movement}}
Since the 1870s, [[Irish nationalists]] in the [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] (IPP) had been demanding [[home rule]], or self-government, from Britain, while not ruling out eventual complete independence. Fringe organisations, such as [[Arthur Griffith]]'s [[Sinn Féin]], instead argued for some form of immediate Irish independence, but they were in a small minority.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ireland – The rise of Fenianism |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503205545/https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland |archive-date=3 May 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

The demand for home rule was eventually granted by the [[British government]] in 1912,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Government of Ireland Bill |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1912/apr/11/government-of-ireland-bill |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303024241/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1912/apr/11/government-of-ireland-bill |archive-date=3 March 2019 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> immediately prompting [[Home Rule Crisis|a prolonged crisis]] within the United Kingdom as [[Ulster]] [[Unionism in Ireland|unionists]] formed an armed organisation {{Ndash}} the [[Ulster Volunteers]] (UVF) {{Ndash}} to resist this measure of [[devolution]], at least in territory they could control. In turn, nationalists formed their own paramilitary organisation, the [[Irish Volunteers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ireland – The 20th-century crisis |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503205545/https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland |archive-date=3 May 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>

The British parliament passed the [[Government of Ireland Act 1914]], known as the Home Rule Act, on 18 September 1914 with an amending bill for the [[partition of Ireland]] introduced by [[Ulster Unionist]] MPs, but the act's implementation was immediately postponed by the [[Suspensory Act 1914]] due to the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in the previous month.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coleman, Marie. |title=The Irish Revolution, 1916–1923. |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |isbn=978-1-317-80147-4 |location=Hoboken |pages=9 |oclc=864414854}}</ref> The majority of nationalists followed their IPP leaders and [[John Redmond]]'s call to support Britain and the [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] war effort in [[Irish regiment#Irish regiments of the British Army|Irish regiments]] of the [[Kitchener's Army|New British Army]], the intention being to ensure the commencement of home rule after the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – John Redmond |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po12.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202100645/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po12.shtml |archive-date=2 February 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> However, a significant minority of the Irish Volunteers opposed [[Ireland in World War I|Ireland's involvement]] in the war. The Volunteer movement split, a majority leaving to form the [[National Volunteers]] under Redmond. The remaining Irish Volunteers, under [[Eoin MacNeill]], held that they would maintain their organisation until home rule had been granted. Within this Volunteer movement, another faction, led by the separatist [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]], began to prepare for a revolt against [[Dublin Castle administration in Ireland|British rule in Ireland]].<ref>O'Riordan, Tomás: [[University College Cork|UCC]] [http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/John_Redmond Multitext Project in Irish History John Redmond] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328045001/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/John_Redmond |date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

===Easter Rising===
{{Main|Easter Rising}}
The plan for revolt was realised in the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, in which the Volunteers launched an [[insurrection]] whose aim was to end British rule. The insurgents issued the [[Proclamation of the Irish Republic]], proclaiming Ireland's independence as a republic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – The Proclamation |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/insurrection/in04.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224230251/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/insurrection/in04.shtml |archive-date=24 February 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> The Rising, in which over four hundred people died,<ref>[http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/__uuid/55a29fab-3b24-41dd-a1d9-12d148a78f74/Glasnevin-Trust-1916-Necrology-485.pdf 1916 Necrology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214221924/http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/__uuid/55a29fab-3b24-41dd-a1d9-12d148a78f74/Glasnevin-Trust-1916-Necrology-485.pdf |date=14 December 2017 }}. [http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/visit-glasnevin/news/1916-list/ Glasnevin Trust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405042053/http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/visit-glasnevin/news/1916-list |date=5 April 2017 }}.</ref> was almost exclusively confined to [[Dublin]] and was put down within a week, but the British response, executing the leaders of the insurrection and arresting thousands of nationalist activists, galvanised support for the separatist Sinn Féin<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – Sinn Féin |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po18.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925060550/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po18.shtml |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>&nbsp;{{Ndash}} the party which the republicans first adopted and then took over as well as followers from [[Countess Markievicz]], who was [[second-in-command]] of the [[Irish Citizen Army]] during the Easter Rising.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Countess Markievicz – 'The Rebel Countess' |url=http://www.irishlabourhistorysociety.com/pdf/Markievicz.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418145050/http://www.irishlabourhistorysociety.com/pdf/Markievicz.pdf |archive-date=18 April 2020 |access-date=17 December 2017 |website=Irish Labour History Society}}</ref> The British execution of the Rising's leaders also increased support in Ireland for both a violent uprising to achieve independence from British rule and an independent Irish republic. This support was further bolstered by the British government's decision to maintain martial law in Ireland until November 1916, the arrest of Irish critics of government policies and the possibility of conscription being extended to Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – The rise of Sinn Féin |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/aftermath/af03.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204115025/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/aftermath/af03.shtml |archive-date=4 February 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

===First Dáil===
{{Main|First Dáil}}
[[File:1918 United Kingdom general election (Ireland) map - winning party vote share by constituency.svg|thumb|Result of the 1918 UK general election in Ireland]]

In April 1918, the British cabinet, in the face of the crisis caused by the [[German spring offensive]], attempted with a dual policy to simultaneously link the enactment of [[conscription]] into Ireland with the implementation of home rule, as outlined in the report of the [[Irish Convention#Europe intervenes|Irish Convention]] of 8 April 1918. This further alienated Irish nationalists and produced mass demonstrations during the [[Conscription Crisis of 1918]].<ref>{{Cite web |title='A Declaration of War on the Irish People' The Conscription Crisis of 1918 |url=https://www.theirishstory.com/2018/04/24/a-declaration-of-war-on-the-irish-people-the-conscription-crisis-of-1918/#.XqqgyahKjDc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506013552/https://www.theirishstory.com/2018/04/24/a-declaration-of-war-on-the-irish-people-the-conscription-crisis-of-1918/#.XqqgyahKjDc |archive-date=6 May 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=The Irish Story |language=en-GB}}</ref> In the [[1918 Irish general election|1918 general election]] Irish voters showed their disapproval of British policy by giving Sinn Féin 70% (73 seats out of 105,) of Irish seats, 25 of those being uncontested.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-11 |title=Election 1918 – what you need to know about how Ireland voted |url=https://www.rte.ie/eile/election-1918/2018/1211/1016473-election-1918-what-you-need-to-know-about-how-ireland-voted |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726041321/https://www.rte.ie/eile/election-1918/2018/1211/1016473-election-1918-what-you-need-to-know-about-how-ireland-voted |archive-date=26 July 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=rte.ie |language=en}}; {{Cite news |title=Fintan O'Toole: The 1918 election was an amazing moment for Ireland |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/fintan-o-toole-the-1918-election-was-an-amazing-moment-for-ireland-1.3719853 |last=O'Toole |first=Fintan |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |access-date=2020-04-30 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920220732/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/fintan-o-toole-the-1918-election-was-an-amazing-moment-for-ireland-1.3719853 |url-status=live }}</ref> Sinn Féin won 91% of the seats outside of [[Ulster]] on 46.9% of votes cast but was in a minority in Ulster, where unionists were in a majority. Sinn Féin pledged not to sit in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]] at [[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]], but rather to set up an Irish parliament.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The End of the British Empire in Ireland |url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/g3/cs4/background.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726043034/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/g3/cs4/background.htm |archive-date=26 July 2020 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=Public Record Office, The National Archives |language=en-UK}}</ref> This parliament, known as the [[First Dáil]], and its ministry, called the [[Aireacht]], consisting only of Sinn Féin members, met at the [[Mansion House, Dublin|Mansion House]] on 21 January 1919. The Dáil reaffirmed the 1916 proclamation with the [[Irish Declaration of Independence]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kautt |first=William Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3e9GS8cYrWkC&pg=PA131 |title=The Anglo-Irish War, 1916–1921: A People's War |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0275963118 |page=131 |quote=And Whereas the Irish Republic was proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army acting on behalf of the Irish people...Now, therefore, we, the elected Representatives of the ancient Irish people in National Parliament assembled, do, in the name of the Irish nation, ratify the establishment of the Irish Republic... |access-date=30 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816001045/https://books.google.com/books?id=3e9GS8cYrWkC&pg=PA131 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> and issued a [[Message to the Free Nations of the World]], which stated that there was an "existing state of war, between Ireland and England". The Irish Volunteers were reconstituted as the "[[Irish Republican Army (1917–22)|Irish Republican Army]]" or IRA.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – The Irish Volunteer Force/Irish Republican Army |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po16.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203140723/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/easterrising/profiles/po16.shtml |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=2020-04-30 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> The IRA was perceived by some members of [[Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic)|Dáil Éireann]] to have a mandate to wage war on the British [[Dublin Castle administration]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}