Ideology and Aspirations of Irish - Essay Example

The kind of capital punishment which took place after the 1916 Rebellion become the reason behind such disgust among the public that even people who were no more interested in politics became compassionate to the cause of these  Rebels. This greatly helped the Irish to carry out the War of Independence in a manner that persuaded Lloyd George that he had an international problem on his hands. Hence when DeValera returned from America, the British considered an honest and capable politician and convinced the prime minister that the time had come for a treaty and negotiations.  Delegations were sent to London regarding the above-mentioned treaty and negotiations Between October and December 1921. This Irish delegation consisted of Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, and Robert Barton along with them two as legal advisors Eamon Duggan and George Gavan Duffy were also included (White 2003).

Lloyd George, was an extremely capable politician, and spoiled DeValera's plan by giving a deadline of December 5th; to sign the treaty or be held accountable for the whole war in Ireland. In July 1921, a truce was agreed upon which put an end to almost two years of intense war between British government forces and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) (Coogan 2002). Ireland had been ruled by the British government and Irish Republican Army was a volunteer guerrilla force that was devoted to setting up an Irish republic.  As soon as the truce was confirmed, both sides tried to work out a type of Irish self-government which both the British and Irish would agree to.

During this period three Irish leaders played an important role in the war. The president of Sinn Fein: Eamon de Valera, Republican movement‘s parliamentary representatives. In the general election of 1918 Sinn Fein had the support of a vast majority. Arthur Griffith was the vice president of Sinn Fein and Michael Collins was IRA’s most vital military leader.

Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, and Arthur Griffith felt that a compromise needed to be done with the British; however they had different opinions on the amount of compromise that they thought of being acceptable. In London on the 6th of December in 1921, a treaty was signed via a delegation whose leader was Griffith and Collins, De Valera remained in Ireland, and he did not agree to sign the treaty.