Ireland: A Television History

Terror (1919-1921)

In 1918 Sinn Fein, pledged to an independent Irish Republic, won a sweeping victory at the first British General Election since the war. Irish nationalists set up a parliament of their own in Dublin. The scene was set for violent confrontation between British forces and the newly-created Irish Republican Army. Terror, as participants on both sides now recount, was answered by counter-terror. By 1920 Ireland had become a grim battleground. By 1921, British public opinion, the IRA and the British Army being equally exhausted, a truce was signed.