Priscilla Pastré
Business in Marketing
T00141607

Analyse and discuss the political, social and cultural environment of Ireland from the formation of the Free State up to 1960.

Introduction

After centuries of British occupation marked by many rebellions where Irish Republicans have worked for the right of Irish people as a whole to attain national self-determination, Ireland increasedits independence movements.
In this study we will talk about the evolution of the Irish society in Ireland from the formation of the Free State, (which was declared on May 3rd 1921) until the 1960’s marked by an artistic renewal. These changes were politic, social and cultural.
How Ireland managed to become independent? And what were the consequences of this action on the political, social andcultural environment of Ireland?
This study will be divided into two parts: first we will explore how the state became independent and its political system until 1960, and then, we will identify the social and cultural changes that the independence of the state brings into Ireland.

I. The independence of the State and the political system

In the early twentieth century, the IrishArthur Griffith created a nationalist and republican movement called the « Sinn Fein » which takes its name from the Irish Gaelic expression of « We Ourselves’». Linked to Sinn Fein, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was born in the context of civil war for independence in Ireland. It carries out violent actions against the British to force them to give full autonomy to the country.
In 1916, underthe leadership of the Irish Republican Brotherhood of Sinn Fein and the Irish Citizen Army of James Connolly, the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin broke out, which proclaims the Republic in the name of God and of vanished generations. It was crushed after a week, but Sinn Fein became more and more popular and triumphantly won the elections in December 1918. The Sinn Fein created an Irish parliament,and proclaims the independence of Ireland. The British power dissolved the parliament. These actions have resulted in the creation of a new uprising that lasted three years.
The repression of the English army was not enough to destroy Irish resistance so, on December 6, 1921, negotiations between the British government and Irish nationalist leaders end to the Treaty of London, which makesIreland, Ulster amputated, the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire. After considerable debates, in which the opposition led by De Valera, objected to a provision that virtually guaranteed a separate government in Northern Ireland and to an article that required members of the Dail (House of Representatives of Ireland) to swear allegiance to the British sovereign, the Dailratified the treaty on January 15, 1922. Ratification brought into being the Irish Free State, with Arthur Griffith as president and Michael Collins, another prominent member of Sinn Fein, as chairman of the provisional government.
When the London Treaty was ratified on December 6, 1921, it provided:
* The Partitioning of Ireland (North and South),
* The Creation of an Irish Free Statewith dominion status,
* The Formalization of an oath of allegiance to the British crown by members of Dáil Eire Ann.
The partition of the island was made on economic criteria: Ulster was the most developed region at the time and was made of six counties, including two with a slight Catholic majority.
The partition of Ireland created two states embodying rival ideologies and representing twohostile peoples. Roman Catholic nationalists acquired effective control over twenty-six counties in the Irish Free State, while Protestant Unionists secured the six counties of Northern Ireland. By dividing Ireland according to the religion and politics of the local majority in each region, Lloyd George’s government (Lloyd George was the British Prime minister) hoped to avert further sectarian…