[centre][b]The Irish Question[/b][/centre]

The Irish Question was one that had plagued the United Kingdom since the late 17th century, and two hundred years onward it seemed as though they were no closer to a final answer. Irish nationalists had clamoured for the right to govern themselves as a separate nation within the United Kingdom for decades, and with a Statute of Westminster granting additional powers to the Dominion of Canada following what was termed the 'Laurier Affair', they believed Home Rule to be granted to them at any moment. It was not meant to be, however, with Britain instead determined to keep Ireland a complacent territory of the United Kingdom. Years onwards and anger grew within Ireland. Dismayed Catholics began to trickle towards the Sinn Féin party, who demanded a greater voice for the Irish. 

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[centre][i]Leader of Sinn Féin, Éamon de Valera.[/i][/centre]

Any attempts to answer Sinn Féin's call for Home Rule came to an end in 1909, where a constitutional crisis arose when the House of Lords rejected David Lloyd George's Finance Bill. With the British government becoming divided by the second, two General Elections were held in 1910. In both times, Liberals and Conservatives equally matched. Only one party was able to solve the deadlock - Éamon de Valera's Sinn Féin. Holding the balance in the House of Commons, the Liberals agreed to grant home rule to the Irish in return for the Sinn Féin's support during the political crisis. With the Liberals now soundly in power, they were able to introduce the Parliament Act 1911. This replaced the unlimited veto of the Lords with a veto lasting only two years, which ensured that a home rule bill passed by the Commons would be enacted within two years.

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[centre][i]Passing of the Parliament Act 1911[/i][/centre]

Prime Minister H.H. Asquith lived up to his promise of supporting Sinn Féin's ideal of home rule, and introduced the bill in 1914. Although it passed the House of Commons, the House of Lords rejected it. When reintroduced the following year with an even larger majority in the House of Commons, it found itself rejected once again by the Lords. A third reading of the bill, passed in the Commons with the largest majority yet again found itself vetoed by the House of Lords. Asquith tapped into the rights of the Parliament Act 1911, and thus forced through the Bill in early 1916. While this was a cause for celebration in most of Ireland, not all were happy.

[centre]'What answer from the North?[/centre]
[centre]One Law, One Land, One Throne![/centre]
[centre]If England drives us forth[/centre]
[centre]We shall not fall alone.'[/centre]

[i][centre]Ulster 1914, a poem by Rudyard Kipling[/centre][/i]

Deeply hostile to the mere idea of home rule, the Unionists within Ulster feared being governed by a Catholic-dominated parliament from Dublin. Ever since the Bill was first suggested in 1914, they had formed a militia known as the Ulster Volunteers in order to oppose its assent. Under the leadership of Edward Carson, the UVF had expanded to 100,000 men by the end of the year. Enjoying popular support from the population of Ulster, he introduced the Ulster Covenant, where just under half a million men and women pledged to use [i]"all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland".[/i] Even when threatening rebellion from the United Kingdom, the UVF enjoyed wholehearted support from the Conservative Party in London, and the Liberal Party not finding [i]"itself terribly distressed by this proceeding."[/i].

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[centre][i]The Ulster Volunteer Force demonstrate against Home Rule.[/i][/centre]

With Unionists engaged in mass demonstrations and with an armed militia to boot, the nationalists within the rest of Ireland couldn't sit by any longer. Forming the Irish Volunteers, they declared their own aim [i]"to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland".[/i] Respected scholar Eoin MacNeill was chosen as the Irish Volunteer's public face, where he promptly fought for the upper moral ground. MacNeill offered his thoughts upon the situation, condemning the Conservatives and their support of the armed forces within Ulster. By defining the UVF as the British policy towards all Ireland, the Irish Volunteers enjoyed tremendous popularity. MacNeill, however, was careful to opine that the Irish Volunteers were not formed to dominate nor seek aggression, but instead in the name of self-defence. 

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[centre]A meeting of the Irish Volunteers at Liberty Hall, Dublin.[/centre]

The situation in Ireland was spiralling out of control with Irish Home Rule due to become law in 1916. Many MPs contemplated some kind of military action against the UVF. Sir Arthur Paget, Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, was summoned to London and instructed to move men into Ulster to reinforce both arms depot and prepare for a possible rebellion, if not a crackdown of the UVF. However when Paget summoned his brigadiers and informed them that active operations against Ulster were imminent, to his surprise almost all officers present within Ireland handed in their resignation. The press called it a mutiny; the Ulster unionists saw it as a sign that public support was on their side; the Irish nationalists questioned Asquith's commitment to Home Rule; and most MPs began to question if the army could be trusted to deal with the Irish Question.

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[centre][i]The presses view of what they termed the Curragh Mutiny.[/i][/centre]

No end was in sight to either this update or the Irish Question. About a month later the UVF had managed to smuggle weaponry to Britain, prompting the Irish Volunteers to do the very same. Tensions between unionists and home rule supporters flared, with sectarian rivalries burning. With mass demonstrations and fully armed militias just waiting for a spark to light the powder keg, murmurs of a call of no-confidence had made an appearance in Parliament. Asquith was attacked ruthlessly by MP after MP, whether Liberal or Conservative. Ironically, Cromwell's words were echoed around the Parliament: [i]"You have sat here too long for any good you are doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"[/i] Faced with a mountain of criticism, Asquith's resignation was soon handed in to Parliament. His replacement was none other than one of the most popular parliamentarians, the Welsh Wizard - David Lloyd George. Enjoying the support of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, he successfully forged a coalition government where he vowed to solve not only the Irish problem but to welcome a new era for Britain.

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[centre][i]Punch Magazine welcomes the new British Prime Minister.[/i][/centre]

Lloyd George faced a tough task ahead of him, and he knew it. What he didn't know was how soon he had to act. Only a few days after his appointment did dire news reach Parliament - with hatred brewing on both sides and Home Rule set to be enacted any day, the worst had come to pass: the local police had been overwhelmed as Unionists and Nationalists exchanged gunshots. The Irish Civil War had began.