They say the victor in every war gets to later write the history of it. So, when it comes to Ireland, who exactly was the winner in its war of Independence? Many in the south who today live in an independent state, would say they enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy in a state derived directly from a war fought for Independence from Britain in the years between 1919-1921. So, it might seem the Irish were the winners and therefore have developed a particular narrative of what took place during the period in question.
However, no one on the island of Ireland asked for or fought to have their country partitioned, but partitioned it was. Nor did anyone here sign up earlier to fight in a civil war of someone else’s making, but a civil war there was, with the republic as declared in 1916 and confirmed at the ballot box in 1918 falling with it. So, on the face of it, if we are really honest with ourselves, the British won that first southern leg of our war of Independence by a score line of 2-1.
The second and northern leg of the war of Independence, from 1969-1997 was a whole other matter and was one of the longest games ever played. There were many spectacular goals scored along the way and there were equally as many own goals scored. Both teams played themselves out and agreed in 1998 to call it a draw and share the spoils, with the British also conceding that if the Irish ever agreed among themselves to field a future single team from the entire island, they would gladly hand over the trophy for Ireland to keep permanently.
However, that is not a narrative shared by some in Dublin, particularly by people associated with Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin. Their narrative excludes the part where Dublin had turned its back on the people of the north for the greater part of the 20th century when their assistance was needed most. They also omit the part about the conflict being a continuation, or second leg of the Irish war of Independence, but rather instead refer to it as a criminal conspiracy be those resisting the British through force. That particular narrative, ironically ignores that such a description was also used by the British to describe the souths first leg of the Independence struggle fifty years before. Back then of course, the term ‘Terrorist’ was not the currency of the day, but if it had been, and the British were using the infamous deck of playing cards with pictures of republican suspects on them, you might safely bet that the Ace of Spades would have had a picture of Michael Collins as the number 1 most wanted terrorist. The same man whose portrait hangs over Leo Varadkar’s desk today. Leo of course doesn’t do irony.
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