The Ulster resistance to Home Rule was also an ever-present impediment to Home Rule. Fearful of the threat of Home Rule, the Ulster Unionists began to organize resistance even before any bill was presented to the House of Commons. Two figures emerged as leaders of the Irish unionist resistance, Sir Edward Carson and James Craig. Resistance was carried out through large meetings and military-type demonstrations, allowing all classes in Protestant Ulster to express their opposition to Home Rule. Perhaps the biggest demonstration was that on Easter Tuesday, 1912, two days before Asquith introduced the Home Rule bill. An estimated 100,000 Ulstermen together with 70 British Conservative MP’s marched together through Belfast. Following this, the Ulster Volunteer Force was set up. This was an illegal organization, yet it was supported by Carson and Craig and was the first suggestion that the Ulster Unionists were prepared to use violence to defend their cause.
Faced against such resistance, Asquith was reluctant to pass a Home Rule Bill and decided to ‘wait and see’ before taking any decisions on the subject. When in 1914 the time seemed right to pass a Home Rule Bill with the exclusion of Ulster, the government was again stalled by the difficult decision of deciding which Ulster counties should be included in the exclusion and whether to make any exclusion temporary or permanent. This continued to be an obstructing factor to each attempt made by Asquith. This was also at a time in which the UVF were authorised to use arms and a civil war was drawing near. The amending bill produced by Asquith was dismissed by Carson as a ‘stay of execution’ and was in any case destroyed by the House of Lords.
When the Home Rule Act was finally passed in 1914, its actual functioning was put on hold until after the war finished. Therefore the First World War only further delayed any overall solution regarding the Irish question from being made. The war dragged on much longer than the Nationalist’s had expected and with the appointment of Carson and other leading Unionists to Asquith’s coalition ministry in 1915, the implementation of the Home Rule Act seemed even more remote.
This resulted in the extreme nationalist’s actions in the Easter Rebellion, 1916. However this was only supported by the extreme nationalists themselves and many normal ant-unionists resented it and deemed it traitorous. In fact it only proved to be another obstacle to Home Rule and it frustrated Redmond who felt it only hindered Ireland’s chances of obtaining Home Rule. Indeed it did complicate matters and the English were extremely severe in punishing the offenders of the Easter Rebellion. As a result, Asquith offered both Redmond and Carson a Home Rule solution in which six counties of Ulster would be excluded. Redmond was led to believe this would be temporary whist Carson thought it was a permanent measure. However, once again negotiations collapsed since there were key Unionists opposed to home Rule within Asquith’s coalition government. There seemed to be little sign that an agreement concerning the Irish question would be reached within the near future. Furthermore, new war-time Prime Minister Lloyd George was happy to sit back and ‘keep the Irish talking,’ whilst he focused on winning the war.
Redmond’s final hopes of achieving Home Rule through the convention of May 1917 were dashed when Sinn Fein boycotted it, whilst the Ulster Unionists remained immovable. This was a good chance to achieve Home Rule that was simply wasted due to the non-compliance of Sinn Fein. Redmond was now worn out of ideas and died in May 1918, unsuccessful in his quest.
The government of Ireland Act, 1920 again seemed as though it could be a stepping-stone towards a solution for the Irish question. However it was not the answer. The act was agreed upon by the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists however it was again rejected by Sinn Fein who boycotted the new parliament. Matters were now confused, with the Ulster Unionists ready to accept a Home Rule Bill, but Sinn Fein too stubborn to accept anything less than complete separation and Home Rule from Britain.
The incidents of the Anglo-Irish war left the British government disillusioned with the IRA who were undergoing a murder campaign against the British troops. Lloyd George and his cabinet’s refusal to recognise the war in Ireland, together with the IRA and Sinn Fein becoming proscribed organizations only increased tensions and the war to progress. The Anglo-Irish war brought nothing but deaths, and with Britain not prepared to carry out a full-scale war against the Irish, a truce was eventually reached in 1921. After much negotiation and discussion the British, the Ulster Unionists and even Sinn Fein agreed to the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921.
To conclude, it was very difficult to find a solution to the Irish question during the period 1912-1922 as there was always a lack of agreement between the sides involved. The aims and the extremity of the Irish Nationalists and the British government never seemed to be clear. Furthermore, external factors such as the Anglo-Irish war, World War I and the different organizations that emerged only complicated matters further. The ‘solution’ that was eventually established only took place after a lot of concessions made from both the British and the Irish.
