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Ireland's War for Independence - Reviews - The Irish War of Independence - Book Review
Contemporary Review, July, 2003 by John McGruk
The Irish War of Independence. Michael Hopkinson. Gill & Macmillan. [euro]29.99.274 pages. ISBN 0-7171-3010-X.
The modern literature on 1916 is vast in poetry and prose. Likewise there are several studies, including the acclaimed Green against Green by the present author on the Irish Civil War. Until this present book there has been little on the war of independence which lasted from January 1919 until July 1921. Coincidentally, perhaps its publication commemorates the birth of Saorstat Eireann [Irish Free State], the first meeting of Dail Eireann, January 1921 and the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed on December 6th, 1921.
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The Government of Ireland Act of the 23rd December of 1920, providing for two subordinate Irish Parliaments north and south and a Council of Ireland to cater for common interests, preceded the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Both pieces of legislation proved unacceptable to the Provisional Government of Ireland which sent out a call to arms against those who were pro-Treaty; a vicious civil war then engulfed Ireland. Few historians seem to be able to put a terminal date to the civil war but the five-month break between the ending of the war of independence in July 1921 and the outbreak of civil war following the Treaty in December that same year often confuse the untutored in contemporary Irish history. There is no excuse for confusion or ignorance. Mr Hopkinson provides a clear chronology to the complexities, a crisp narrative of the major events that led to the foundation of the Irish state. Nine full Appendices of important documents such as the Sinn Fein 1918 election manifesto, the Democratic programme of Dail Eirea nn, the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland help to clarify the constitutional and legal aspects, and contemporary photographs enliven the story.
The author faces up to asking the larger and more painful questions. How necessary was armed conflict to gain what was after all a limited Irish independence? How did a part-time, untrained, under-resourced force succeed to the extent it did? Why have historians tended to offer accounts of that time which fall in with the views of political rulers? By examining the evidence of guerrilla movements by geographical areas and by coherently linking up this evidence Michael Hopkinson shows the final stages of the Irish revolution coming from the grass roots and not from a central policy imposed from Dublin. The IRA recorded fifty-three operations in March 1921, sixty-seven in April, one hundred and seven in May and ninety-three in June; the majority of these attacks were in Dublin and in the province of Munster. In a guerrilla war, as the author emphasises, the IRAs fighting did not need to be continuous or widespread as small-scale attacks profoundly affected British morale and opinion. The actual military action was local and sporadic so that to impose a pattern on these events ignores how 'reactive, confused and unplanned actual developments were on both sides'. The success of the IRA is partly built up on the Irish nationalist myth of heroic freedom fighters, and, from the British point of view, the IRA was a 'sinister, shadowy, intangible and ubiquitous presence' threatening them anywhere and at anytime.
The author's two final chapters: 'The Peace Process' and 'The Path to the Truce' are all too brief in view of present-day peacemaking. Despite the time-honoured cliche that we learn nothing from history, surely there are some indicators here, allowing for different historical circumstances, to advance the present peacemaking efforts. While there is a veritable library of works on the negotiations that brought about the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, very little historical interest has been shown in the peace initiatives which took place during the war of independence and at regular intervals between June 1920 and the Truce in July 1921. Long shadows have been cast by the war of independence and the civil war. Are they not largely responsible for the persisting political divisions within Irish society? Many historians are not tempted by 'what if' questions? Yet, Mr. Hopkinson legitimately asks: 'What would have happened if the British had reformed their administration and their policy earlier to detach m oderate from hard-line Irish nationalists during 1919?' The Irish War of Independence is meticulously researched and must stand as a worthy companion to his Irish Civil War account, Green against Green.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
