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THIS YEAR MARKS the centenary of a number of key events in the Irish War of Independence, with the government yet to announce many events that will mark the 100-year milestones of crucial points in Irish history.
Heritage Minister Josepha Madigan recently said in response to a Dáil question that we are now entering “the most challenging and sensitive phase” in terms of how we mark events that shaped the foundation of the Irish State a century ago.
With that in mind, let’s have a look and test your knowledge of what happened during the Irish War of Independence, which was still ongoing 100 years ago today.
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The war of semi-independence!
The 6 counties of Northeast Ireland are still under British occupation
@Liam Ó hAodha: 100% Agree!
@Liam Ó hAodha: it was actually full independence for the whole island – Northern Ireland politicians rejoined the Union the next day.
@Liam Ó hAodha: Sorry Liam, but your comment is insulting to Irish people, and rude too. Northern Ireland is still British because the majority people of the North accepted it at the time.
@Brin: You are correct. Liam, ta tu falsa…
@Leo Sharkey: Northern Ireland was specifically created to give Unionism a state in which they could be in the majority over the local nationalists – Whereas in reality Unionism only represents 15% of the population of Ireland.
@Liam Ó hAodha:
The Tan war
@Leo Sharkey: Northern was created to give Unionists a majority over Catholics if Ireland was not to be partitioned then 70% of the people on the Ireland wanted independence. There are counties in Northern Ireland too with a majority nationalist population which were forced into the north.
@Leo Sharkey: Except Fermanagh, Tyrrone, Derry city, south Armagh and south Down.
Do you really think what was left was viable?
@Leo Sharkey: not to this Irish person.
Why were we not taught this at school? Are the youth of today being informed about the war of independence? Is it true that the winners write the history books or in our case- don’t write them at all?
@Mick Mc Ginn: we were taught this in school! Well I was anyway but the school curriculum can only fit a certain amount of information into a single time frame.. I chose to read about it and many other topics in Irish history and world history for that matter… Learning does not stop when you leave school
@Robert Moles: fair point about curriculum size, but with the internet these days, extra learning should be encouraged via homework
I hope teachers don’t still stress as much about exact dates, opposed to rough time periods – always felt it discouraged my greater learning of a subject in history.
@Mick Mc Ginn: it’s on the JC & LC History courses, has been since I was in school too
@milton friedman: Didn’t the present Government try to ban History from the curriculum. Not sure if they actually did.
@Julie G Graham: no it didn’t lol
@Julie G Graham: ban history from the curriculum?? I highly doubt that! Your comment is without fact… However they did propose making history optional? That where the confusion lies
@Mick Mc Ginn: its on the senior cycle for history
@milton friedman: I was in the same boat. I’d have been a lot more interested in history if we were given the actual big picture instead of being forced to memorize dates of relatively small events.
@Robert Moles: written by a true blue shirt
@milton friedman: are you sure you went to school here!!!!
@Jason Quinn: couldn’t be further far from the truth
@Mick Mc Ginn: Agree.. Our Irish history concerning the war of independence started at 1916…little history of war of independence after that. No history relating to the civil war. Some fantastic books concerning the civil war published in recent years. Civil war they say is the worst of all. Nobody come out of it well. Especially the government of the day that sanctioned murder of prisoners through military courts.
@Julie G Graham: I think the suggestion to make it optional is under review, another terrible idea from this disgraceful government
@darrenphughes: the biggest of pictures starts with a single brushstroke. The person that had the biggest impact on the 20th century is not even known to most. Gavrilo Princip.
@Robert Moles: I sat the inter cert exam in 1979, (a copy here: http://dublin1850.com/oldexams/oldpapers.html). Over a hundred subjects in question. Not one on the war of independence.
When I asked to do History in the leaving cert , I was told not that it was not suitable for me.
Total numbers of boys doing history in secondary school in Ireland dropped by over 50% between inter and leaving certs.
Something wrong here!
Surely they all couldn’t have complained to their teachers that they were wrong when they tried to shove the green white and “gold” flag down our throats when even as kids we knew it was green white and orange!
In 1921 Sinn Féin had 124 of the 128 seats. The other 4 were filled by members of the Healy Rae dynasty.
God.. I got 4 out of 10!! I don’t remember learning any of this in school!! Think I must’ve been asleep in those classes!!
I think the war or independence is somewhat incorrectly dated. I’m almost certain there were no regular British soldiers killed in Ireland in 1919 and only a small number of RIC men in skirmishes. Although some detectives were targeted the Republican policy toward the RIC was to ostracize the force, not attack them. I don’t see how that can be described as a state of war. Open war between the IRA and Crown forces did not emerge until mid 1920 at the earliest.
@Ted Leddy: the ric were crown forces.
@Ted Leddy:you need to do a bit of swotting teddy boy …
@Daniel Roche: a bit unfair. The RIC were mainly catholic policemen loyal to their communities. They were tasked with defending communities from what was a rebellion IRA, as the incoming Irish state had only an army, not a police force, and these guys (non RUC) eventual because the Guards. When they were supplimented by the auxiliaries and B&Ts, you could consider them fully “crown forces”. Learn history from history, not from rebel song revisionism.
@Ted Leddy: Oh dear, a bit of basic study is called for…
@Ted Leddy: Ignore these clowns. Your point is correct.
@Brin: Regardless of RIC members personal beliefs, The Irish people wanted independence and the RIC was trying to circumvent that, therefore they were crown forces.
@Brin: Stop this nonsense. The RIC were the eyes and ears of the crown. The British state simply couldn’t have operated without them.
They were armed paramilitaries, the only armed force in the UK.
SF had a political mandate since 1918, reinforced in the 1921 election.
The British refused to accept this mandate and the RIC set about destroying the Dail and its army, the IRA. The RIC were involved in the murder of the elected Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSweeney, which escalated the violence.
Had the RIC been successful, we would be still part of the UK. So they weren’t just nice, Irish Cathoic boys. They were the supressors of Irish independence.
BTW, only 126 RIC members were allowed to join the Gardai. Many ended up in other colonial forces.
Why were we not taught this at school? Are the youth of today being informed about the war of independence? Is it true that the winners write the history books or in our case – don’t write them at all?
@Mick Mc Ginn: I was taught all this in the 1980s, I am an old fart, still…
How are we independent when we succumb to the European Union?
@Paul O’Sullivan: Tell us about this succumbing?
I have an MA in History and yet I only scored 5/10. I am disgusted with myself!
(Though it should be said I neglected Itish History during my BA and my MA was about 20th century Portugal…meh)
I teach History and only got 6/10. It is a hard quiz.
How about asking if the Easter rising was a mitilary disaster or not
@David cotter: if you can’t spell simple words, you should not be posting here mate…
@David cotter: The rebels themselves knew it could not succeed militarily, but it did succeed in changing opinions. Ireland may not be independent today without it and certainly not in 1922. For pearse the goal of the rising was just that to change opinions.
8/10. Black and tans was originally the name of a pack of Tipperary foxhounds.
Why are we still fighting this war? It is 2020 not 1920
@Christine Downey: Ask FF and FG.
Who give a ****
It was glossed over in school during the 70s 80s still a lot of civil war hatred so didn’t want to put students against each other. Learned it all myself I do find it ironic how so called republicans today use the term blue shirt as a insult, forgetting the siege of Ballinalee and general oduffy. Ahh well I guess the brits were right with one thing , the ignorant Irish. Learn our history.
@Ted Leddy – is that the official Orange order narrative or just Fine Gaels. The RIC were organ of the British occupation
have your say