The British Call for Peace
The conflict was simultaneously playing havoc with British politics. English civilians were shocked by the daily stories of police brutality in Ireland. In composing the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war, Britain claimed that World War I had been fought to protect to the rights of small countries to determine their own fates, and yet it had a small country in its own backyard demanding its own rights. The English began to think that enough was enough.
Prime Minister Lloyd George called for a cease-fire and treaty negotiations. The fact that he was offering a treaty was significant; only sovereign nations can sign treaties with one another, so his offer made clear that independence was on the table. The Sinn Féin and IRA leaders agreed to the cease-fire, and a group of ambassadors led by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins went to London in 1921 to negotiate.
Both sides agreed that Ireland would take a dominion status similar to that enjoyed by Canada — independent, but still a part of the British Empire. The chief sticking points were whether the Irish would have to swear an oath to the king, and the final settlement of the Ulster question.
The Resulting Treaty
After skillful negotiating by a British team including Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, the Irish contingent largely gave in on both points. The final Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and Ireland did not demand that Irish citizens swear allegiance to the king, but it did require them to recognize his dominion over Ireland. More significantly, the treaty established the six-county
Collins signed the treaty, saying it was the best that Ireland could achieve under the current conditions. After a bitter struggle, it was passed by the Dáil (the new Irish Parliament). Not everyone was happy, however; Éamon de Valera condemned the treaty, as did the majority of radical Nationalists in the IRA. These Nationalists said that they had fought for a united Ireland, and they wouldn't take one cut into pieces. And so the Irish Civil War (1921–23) began.
Was violence necessary to achieve independence?
This question is still debated today. Collins and de Valera thought it was. But given that home rule was already on the books, and also considering the increasing independence of other British possessions since 1914 (Canada and India are just two examples), Irish independence probably would have come about without violence.
