Anglo‐Irish War, the campaign against government forces mounted by the Irish Volunteers, now increasingly known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Conventionally dated from 21 January 1919, when nine Volunteers, including Dan Breen and Sean Treacy, killed two policemen in an ambush at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary, it continued until a truce on 11 July 1921 opened the way for the negotiation of the Anglo‐Irish treaty.

The development of a highly effective form of guerrilla warfare, wholly different from the tactics of the rising of 1916 or earlier insurrections, represented a gradual adaptation to practical necessity, dependent more on local initiative than on central planning. IRA activity during 1919 consisted mainly of arms seizures and attacks on individual policemen. A successful attack on the police barracks at Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork, on 2 January 1920, marked the commencement of more ambitious raids and ambushes. By June the IRA had killed 55 police. Sixteen occupied barracks had been destroyed in attacks, and hundreds of others abandoned as indefensible. In Dublin members of a squad directed by Michael Collins had begun systematically killing off detectives from the political division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

In response to this challenge the government deployed regular troops and created two new forces, the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, to reinforce the Royal Irish Constabulary. The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act continued and extended the emergency powers created by the wartime Defence of the Realm Acts. But draconian security policy alienated the civilian population without suppressing IRA activity. The events of late 1920, notably ‘Bloody Sunday’ (21 Nov.) and the killing of fifteen Auxiliaries in an ambush at Kilmichael, Co. Cork (28 Nov.), marked a sharp escalation in violence. The same period saw the appearance of ‘flying columns’, bodies of IRA men permanently under arms of the kind led by Tom Barry in Co. Cork and responsible for the Kilmichael ambush. Continued violence in the first half of 1921 brought the total death toll for the peroid to 405 police, 150 military, and an estimated 750 IRA and civilinas.

The term ‘Anglo‐Irish War’, like the older ‘War of Independence’, raises complex issues. IRA activists and leadership determinedly employed the vocabulary of conventional warfare to assert their status as combatnanta in a national conflict. In doing so they glossed over thesporadic, hit‐and‐run character of most operations, the limited scale of the violence prior to late 1920, and the predominance among the early victims of the IRA of the locally recruited, and pedominantly Catholic, RIC. The government was equally determined to deny the ‘murder gang’ the legitimacy of belligerent status. It condoned reprisals, including the widespread destruction of property in such incidents as the Black and Tan raid on Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, on 20 September 1920, and teh ‘sack’ of Crok city by Auxiliaries and Black and Tans on 11–12 December 1920. It also ignored the assassination, clearly by security force members, of several republican activists (see maccurtain, thomas). But Lloyd George's insistence that ‘you do not declare war on rebles’ meant that the military never got a really free hand, and that authority remained confusingly divided between police and army.

Assessment of the IRA's claim to represent the popular will is also difficult. Modern historians, reacting against an earlier tradition of uncritical glorification, have emphasized the extent to which violence was deliberately employed by a militant minority to block any possibility of a compromise settlement, and the ruthless action, shading into a more general intimidation, against ‘informers’ and ‘collaboratios’. IRA activity was geographically uneven, high levels of activity in the western counties of Munster and partof the midlands contrasting sharply with relative tranquillity elsewhere. Although the Dáil had declared as early as January 1919 that a state of war existed between Britain and Ireland, a section of Sinn Féin was known to be unhappy with the bloodshed. IRA activists for their part demonstrated a reluctance to submit to the authority either of Volunteer GHQ or of the ‘politicians’ of Dáil éireann. These divisions were later to contribute to the Civil War of 1922–3. But for the moment what was remarkable was the success with which differences were concealed in the face of a common enemy.

Bibliography

Augusteijn, Joost , From Public Definace to Guerilla Warfare (1996)
Fitzpatrick, David , Politics and Irish Life 1913–21: Provincial Experience of War and Revolution (1997)
Hart, Peter , The I.R.A. amd its Enemies—Violence and Community in Cork, 1916–1923 (1998)
Townshed, Charles , The British Campaign in Ireland 1919–21 (1975)

ANGLO-IRISH.
1. Relating to England or Britain and Ireland: the Anglo-Irish agreement, Anglo-Irish tensions.

2. Relating to the English in Ireland and the Protestant Ascendancy: ‘PAT. He was an Anglo-Irishman. / MEG. In the blessed name of God, what's that? / PAT. A Protestant with a horse’ ( Brendan Behan, The Hostage, 1958, Act I). The term is disliked by many Irish nationalists when used to refer to Irish literature in English or when it obtrusively recalls the centuries of English/British rule over Ireland.

3. A term, especially in linguistics, for a variety of English spoken over most of Ireland. It derives mainly from the English brought to Ireland by 17c Planters (settlers) from England, modified by contacts with Irish Gaelic, Ulster Scots, and Hiberno-English. It is a continuum of usage influenced by the level of education of its speakers, their regional origin, and the area of original settlement. The usage of more educated speakers approximates to Irish broadcasting norms, whereas less educated speakers have more distinctive accents and non-standard usages.

Pronunciation

The middle-class Anglo-Irish accent has been influenced by and continues to be close to RP. However, it is rhotic (with a retroflex r) and the /t, d/ in words like true and drew tend to be dental rather than alveolar, suggesting ‘thrue’ and ‘dhrew’. In working-class speech, the following features are common: (1) Words such as leave and tea sound like ‘lave’ and ‘tay’, cold and old sound like ‘cowl’ and ‘owl’, bull and could can rhyme with ‘cull’ and ‘bud’, and which and whether are distinguished from witch and weather (beginning with /hw/, not /w/). (2) In such words as arm and film, a vowel often opens up the consonant clusters: ‘aram’ and ‘fillim’. (3) In the South, words such as pence are often pronounced ‘pensh’ (an /ʃ/ in word-final position) and story and small are often pronounced ‘shtory’ and ‘shmall’ (an /ʃ/ in consonant clusters). Less often, such words as fizzed and puzzle sound like ‘fizhd’ and ‘puzhl’ (a /ʒ/ in consonant clusters). Also in Southern Anglo-Irish, words such as thin and then sound like ‘tin’ and ‘den’ (/ǒ, ɵ/ replaced by /t, d/). Words such as try, dry, butter, and under sound like thry, dhry, butther, and undher (with interdental rather than alveolar plosives).

Grammar

Standard Anglo-Irish is close to the standard BrE varieties. Non-standard Anglo-Irish syntax has six features also found outside Ireland: (1) Done and seen in the past tense: She done it because she seen me do it. (2) Special past participles: He has div He has dived; They have went They have gone. (3) Auxiliary have reduced to a: You should a knew You should have known; They would a helped you. (4) Them as a demonstrative plural adjective and pronoun: Them shoes is lovely yet. Them's the ones I wanted. (5) A plural form of you. In the South, it tends to be ye (rhyming with he: Ye'll all get what's comin to ye) or youse (rhyming with whose: Youse childher will get a good beatin' when your father gets in!). In the North, it is yiz (rhyming with his: Yiz'll all get what's comin to yiz, Yiz childher will get…). (6) Singular be with plural subjects: Me and Mick's fed up, Mary and the daughter's out shopping, Yiz is late, Themins (those ones) is no use. Such features are probably tolerated higher up the social ladder than in Britain.

Vocabulary

1. Distinctive words never current in the standard language: atomy a small, insignificant person, as in Did you ever see such a wee atomy of a man?; cog to cheat, for example by copying, as in I wouldn't let just anybody cog my exercise; thole to endure, as in There was nothin for it but to thole (shared with ScoE).

2. General words with distinctive senses: backward shy, bold naughty, doubt strongly believe, as in I doubt he's coming (shared with ScoE). Most regionally marked words occur in the speech of older, often rural people; it is unlikely that biddable obedient, feasant affable, pishmire/pismire ant, occur in the natural usage of people under 40. See BELFAST, DUBLIN, IRISH ENGLISH, NEWFOUNDLAND ENGLISH, NORTHERN IRISH ENGLISH.

Anglo-Irish ascendancy (protestant ascendancy). Problematic labels generally applied to the dominant Church of Ireland landed interest: ‘protestant ascendancy’ appears to have been first coined in 1782. However, the origins of this interest lay with the land confiscations of the 17th cent. The Ulster plantation (1608–9) brought a substantial transfer of property from the Gaelic lords to English investors and settlers; the Cromwellian confiscations (1652–3) brought the expropriation of the great majority of catholic landowners throughout the rest of Ireland. The Restoration land settlement brought a minor catholic recovery, but this was short-lived. The victory of the Williamite cause in the war of 1689–91 paved the way for further confiscations, and—more importantly—for a series of measures designed to bolster the new protestant landed interest. These ‘penal laws’ targeted the residual catholic gentry, and ensured a virtual protestant monopoly over freehold proprietorship until the end of the 18th cent.

The 18th cent. was, therefore, the golden age of the ascendancy. Rural economic growth after c.1740 helped to finance the widespread construction or remodelling of the ‘big houses’ (mansions), and the building of lavish town houses, most spectacularly in Dublin. The height of ascendancy political power came after 1782–3, with the grant of legislative independence to the gentry-dominated Irish Parliament. But increasingly powerful and vocal catholic and dissenter interests effectively challenged this dominance in the 1790s, and the apparent helplessness of the ascendancy during the 1798 rising made it vulnerable to English intervention. The Act of Union (1800) abolished the Dublin Parliament, and represented a severe blow to the political authority and prestige of the Irish landed interest. Further political set-backs came with catholic emancipation (1829) and with the rise of an ambitious and radical peasant nationalism. The land legislation of the British government at the end of the 19th cent. weakened the rights of Irish proprietors, and encouraged a transfer of land to the former tenant farmers. Land purchase legislation, especially the Land Act of 1903, facilitated this transfer, and brought a swift if relatively cushioned end to the economic predominance of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy.

Alvin Jackson

Anglo‐Irish ascendancy (protestant ascendancy). The term ‘protestant ascendancy’ appears to have been coined in 1782. However, the origins of this interest lay with the land confiscations of the 17th cent. The Ulster plantation (1608–9) brought a substantial transfer of property from the Gaelic lords to English investors and settlers; the Cromwellian confiscations (1652–3) brought the expropriation of the great majority of catholic landowners throughout the rest of Ireland. The victory of the Williamite cause in the war of 1689–91 paved the way for further confiscations, and for a series of measures designed to bolster the new protestant landed interest.

The 18th cent. was, therefore, the golden age of the ascendancy. The height of ascendancy political power came after 1782–3, with the grant of legislative independence to the gentry‐dominated Irish Parliament. But increasingly powerful catholic and dissenter interests challenged this dominance in the 1790s, and the apparent helplessness of the ascendancy during the 1798 rising made it vulnerable to English intervention. The Act of Union (1800) abolished the Dublin Parliament, and represented a severe blow to the political authority of the Irish landed interest. Further political set‐backs came with catholic emancipation (1829) and with the rise of a radical peasant nationalism. Land purchase legislation, especially the Land Act of 1903, facilitated the transfer of land to the former tenant farmers, and brought a swift end to the economic predominance of the Anglo‐Irish ascendancy.

Anglo‐Irish agreement (15 Nov. 1985), signed at Hillsborough, Co. Down, by the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald. It was agreed that the British and Irish governments would consult regularly and formally on major aspects of Northern Ireland policy, and a small secretariat of British and Irish civil servants was established at Maryfield, near Stormont. The agreement reflected a long‐term move on the part of the British government away from possible internal solutions to the Northern Ireland conflict and towards the negotiation of a new all‐Ireland constitutional relationship. The alarming rise in Sinn Féin's electoral fortunes, at the expense of the constitutionalist Social Democratic and Labour Party, in the wake of the hunger strikes of 1981 added urgency to the quest for political progress. A widespread campaign of protest produced the relatively novel spectacle of unionists in violent confrontations with the police, but failed to repeat the success of the Ulster Workers' Council in overturning the Sunningdale agreement.

SC/ and S. J. Connolly

Anglo‐Irish agreements (1938), concluding the Economic War. There were three agreements: defence, finance, and trade. Despite pressure from de Valera, no progress was made on partition. The defence agreement abrogated articles 6 and 7 of the Anglo‐Irish treaty and returned the treaty ports. In the finance agreement, the Irish government paid a lump sum of £10 million as a final settlement of all financial claims under the treaty and subsequent agreements, although it continued the £250,000 annuity for damage to property during 1919–21. Both governments repealed penal duties on imports. The trade agreement, which caused dissension in the British cabinet, restored Commonwealth preference to Irish goods with free entry to the British market. A tariff commission was to review Irish protective duties and restrictions; preferences were given to certain classes of British goods, including coal.

The agreements, particularly defence, were bitterly attacked by Winston Churchill in the House of Commons. In the Dáil James Larkin was the only opponent.

Deirdre McMahon

Anglo-Irish treaty, 1921. A truce on 11 July ended the war between the Irish Republican Army and the British army which had been raging since 1919. Eamon de Valera, president of Dáil Éireann, the constituent assembly of Ireland, met with Lloyd George to discuss a settlement. Deadlock ensued with Lloyd George wanting dominion Home Rule for Ireland and de Valera insisting on an independent Irish Republic. Negotiations began in earnest in October with Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins representing Ireland. After much debate a treaty was signed on 6 December whereby Ireland became a free state, with the six counties of Ulster remaining as part of the UK, but with full dominion status. It followed an ultimatum from the British that the Irish agree to their terms or face the renewal of war. The Dáil eventually accepted the treaty on 7 January 1922 by 64 votes to 57 and it came into effect on 6 December.

Richard A. Smith

Anglo-Irish agreement, 1985, signed at Hillsborough, Co. Down, on 15 November 1985, by Margaret Thatcher and the taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, Dr Garret FitzGerald. The agreement was intended to promote reconciliation within Northern Ireland, a greater understanding between the unionist and nationalist traditions in Ireland, and co-operation between the British and Irish governments. It established an intergovernmental conference and an attendant secretariat, the latter based at Maryfield, Co. Down. Although the document recognized the constitutional rights of the majority, Ulster Unionists saw it as establishing a form of joint authority, and mounted a ferocious campaign of opposition in 1985–6.

Alvin Jackson

Anglo‐Irish free trade agreement. Concluded in 1965, this provided for a phased dismantling of the tariff barriers which had existed between Britain and Ireland since the 1930s (see protectionism). Free trade was to be achieved by 1975. The agreement reflected the continuing ties between the two economies and a joint interest in joining the European Economic Community (see european union). Despite the agreement, the proportion of Irish exports destined for the British market fell sharply from 75 per cent in 1960 to 43 per cent by 1980, though Britain continued to provide approximately one‐half of Irish imports throughout this period.

Mary Daly

Anglo-Irish Agreement (Hillsborough Agreement) Treaty on the status of Northern Ireland, signed (1985) by Margaret Thatcher and Garret Fitzgerald. Aiming to clarify the status of Northern Ireland, it gave the Republic of Ireland the right of consultation; it asserted that any future changes would have to be ratified by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland; and it set up the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (AIIC) to promote cooperation. The Ulster Unionists denounced the agreement. See also Downing Street Declaration

http://www.uhb.fr/langues/cei/agree85.htm

Anglo‐Irish treaty, 1921. A truce on 11 July ended the war between the Irish Republican Army and the British army which had been raging since 1919. Negotiations began in earnest in October with Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins representing Ireland. A treaty was signed on 6 December whereby Ireland became a free state, with the six counties of Ulster remaining as part of the UK, but with full dominion status. The Dáil eventually accepted the treaty on 7 January 1922 by 64 votes to 57 and it came into effect on 6 December.

Anglo‐Irish agreement, 1985, signed at Hillsborough, Co. Down, on 15 November 1985, by Margaret Thatcher and the taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, Dr Garret FitzGerald. The agreement was intended to promote reconciliation within Northern Ireland, and co‐operation between the British and Irish governments. Ulster Unionists saw it as establishing a form of joint authority, and mounted a ferocious campaign of opposition in 1985–6.

Anglo-Irish of English descent but born or resident in Ireland, or a member of such a family, and associated particularly with the Protestant Ascendancy.

Anglo-Irish Agreement, see Fitzgerald, Garret