What caused the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to come into legislation?

#625Lab – History, marked 70/100, detailed feedback at the very bottom. You may also like: Leaving Cert History Guide (€). Essay credit: Aidan McCarthy

Between 1912-1920 (don’t do this – write out the “and” in place of the dash), The south of Ireland fought for home rule in Ireland. They battled against the British for generations to try and achieve freedom from The United Kingdom. Although the south of Ireland wanted freedom from the UK the north wanted to stay within the United Kingdom as many had been relations of planters who came to Ireland to settle many years ago. There was a long fight between the two sides, which you could argue continues to this day. (This is too informal – say something like, “the effects of which can still be seen in Northern Ireland today”)

In 1912, Britain was ruled by the Liberal Party led by Herbert Asquith. For Asquith to get into power he had to gain the support of the Home Rule party. To achieve this Asquith promised the party, home rule for Ireland in return for voting for him. When he got into power, he kept his word and introduced the “Third Home Rule Bill”. The terms of the bill were, there would be a new parliament in Dublin to deal with domestic affairs but the parliament in west minister would still control foreign affairs. Ireland would send forty Irish MP’s to Westminster and the King/Queen of England would remain as monarch of Ireland. This Bill was the beginning of partition in Ireland and was without a doubt a major factor in the legislation of the Government of Ireland Act 1920.

In Ireland, there was two types of reactions to the Bill. The Unionists in the north were appalled by this as they felt they were more British than Irish. In the north they were also striving with ship building and linin industries and they felt it would be selfish to leave the United Kingdom after they had given them industries. The Nationalists in the south were pleased with this Bill, as it meant they would receive further freedom from the United Kingdom and meant they were a step closer to a Republic of Ireland. This showed that there was a split in Ireland, this without a doubt was one of the biggest factors in the legislation of the government of Ireland act of 1920 as it showed the North and the South would disagree.

A year before the bill was passed, the house of lords had lost there (their) right to veto laws. In exchange for this, they gained the power to postpone laws for up to two years. The house of commons passed the bill and as expected the house of lords instantly blocked the bill. This meant that home rule would be established in Ireland in under two years weather the Unionists accepted it or not. This outraged many nationalists as they felt it was there time to achieve freedom from the United Kingdom. This was without a doubt a factor in the legislation of the Government of Ireland Act 1920.

James Craig, A well-spoken Unionists at the time organized the Solemn league and covenant to be signed. In September 1912 over 414,000 men signed the covenant. Some men felt so strongly about this that they signed their names in their own blood. This covenant was a oath that the Unionists would do whatever they could in their power to ensure that the Nationalists would not achieve home rule. This showed that the Unionists would not back down on their pride and would not let home rule come into power. This was a factor in the partition as it clearly drew the line between the two sides.

In 1913 the Ulster Volunteer force was set up by James Creig (Craig) and James (his name was Edward) Carson. By 1914 the UVF had grown to over 100,000 members. In March 1914, Asquith ordered the disbandment of the UVF. When the word of this spread to Curragh, a station outside of Dublin. Forty-Eight offices offered to resign as they felt it was outrageous to do such a thing. This caused for the disbandment of the UVF to be called off. This became known as the Curragh Mutiny. This was a factor in partition as it showed that the Unionists had support all over Ireland not just in the north.

In April 1914, The UVF imported arms from Germany. Three million rounds of Ammunitions and 25,000 guns were imported at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee. The police did nothing to stop it and the arms were distributed around the north of Ireland. In response to this, In March 1913 Eoin MacNeill publish an article called “The North Began”. In which he stated the Nationalists should follow the example of the Unionists and form their own organization to defend home rule. The Irish Volunteer Force (IVF) was set up. It gathered over 180,000 members by June 1914. The success of the Larne Gunrunning encouraged the IVF to import arms. The IVF imported arms upon a yacht called the Asgard at Howth. British soldiers attempted to stop this but failed. As the soldiers came into Howth, the crowed jeered them. The soldiers shot and killed 3 people. This was a big cause in the legislation of the act, as both sides showed they were willing to go to violent measures to get there aims and objectives. Ireland was now at the brink of a civil war.

King George V noticed the state of Ireland and offered Buckingham palace as a meeting place for Unionists. Greig, Carson and Bonar law met with Lloyd George and Asquith. They discussed home rule and attempted to reach a conclusion. Unfortunately, no conclusion was made, and with home rule just around the corner it appeared there was going to be a civil war in Ireland. This was a big factor in the legislation of the act as it showed there would be no way to achieve peaceful measures unless both sides got what they wanted.

Right as home rule was about to come into law, Germany attacked Belgium thus Britain declared war on Germany. This was the start of world war 1. Although home rule came into law, the unionists realized that it would not be enforced until after the war. This meant that Home rule would be postponed until after the war was over. This built tensions amongst both sides as there was a split in the Nationalists, some nationalists felt helping Britain in the war would help them achieve the British appreciation, while some felt it was outrageous to go and fight for Britain. This showed that the nationlists were willing to help the British in exchange for home rule. This helped the Government of Ireland act come around as it showed the nationlists would settle for home rule.

As the United Kingdom was the war the slogan “England’s Weakness is Irelands Opportunity” began floating around again. The Nationlists started to plan a rebellion. The UVF and the Irish Brotherhood (IRB) planned a rebellion for the Easter Sunday of 1914. Although they struggled to get the support of Eoin MacNeil who was head of the UVF, they made a fact document called the “Castle Document”. In the Document it stated the arrest of all the rising leaders including Eoin MacNeil. Mcneil later found out it was made up and withdrew the UVF from the rebellion. Roger Casement was sent to Germany to get arms. He returned on the aud with the arms, but the message failed to get to the captain of the ship that they were supposed to come in two days later as the word of the guns was spread around. When the aud came in no one was there to meet it and the British captured the ship. They sank the ship with all the guns and ammunition onboard. This without a doubt led to the failure of the rising. The rising was without a doubt a big factor in the legislation of the act as it showed that the Nationlists would go to violent measures to achieve home rule.

After world war 1 ended, the home rule dispute started again. The war of independence begun. This caused families to fall apart, and for there to be a civil war in Ireland. During the war the Sinn Fein party became increasingly popular. Sinn fein set up the first dail meeting were only 27 of sein fein were present the rest were in jail. There was an all-out war. In early 1920 Lloyd George passed the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. This shows us how bad the war was, that Lloyd George had to introduce an act in hopes to stop the war. The war of independence was a major factor in the legislation of the law as it forced Britain to bring the law into power.

Although the law was passed, and the Unionists accepted it. Sinn Fein rejected the law. The events leading up the Government of Ireland act 1920 without a doubt changed Ireland forever. It partitioned Ireland into two and cost The United Kingdom millions and millions (don’t repeat things like this) of Pounds. This without a doubt was a major factor in the partition of Ireland.

Feedback: This essay answers the question directly and includes plenty of relevant factual information. However, it seems a bit repetitive at times – you overuse the phrase “without a doubt”, and your commentary is quite weak – you don’t really explain in much detail why things were a factor in the legislation being passed. Your arguments are also a bit weak at times, for example when you argue that the Curragh Mutiny was a factor, you simply said that it shows that the Unionists had support in the South but never elaborated to tell us why that would encourage the legislation. Watch out for mistakes in the spelling of key concepts as well, such as your misspelling of “nationalist”, which you carry through the text. Make sure you know the names of key personalities if you’re going to bring them up – like James Craig and Edward Carson.

Cumulative Mark: For your cumulative mark, this would probably achieve around 50 out of 60. You do have plenty of mid-quality paragraphs, but their weakness in argument brings down the mark slightly. To bring up this mark, you can include more paragraphs of this quality, or improve your argument.

Overall Evaluation: For OE, this essay would achieve around 20 out of 40. While you answer the question, your treatment of the question is not particularly strong. Your introduction give good context but doesn’t really lay out the essay very well, and your concluding paragraph does not really function as a conclusion so your essay is left open-ended.

Total: 70/100