Pakenham: Peace By Ordeal

Peace By Ordeal by Frank Pakenham

Peace By Ordeal: An Account from First-Hand Sources of the Negotiation and Signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 by Frank Pakenham is considered a definitive account of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations of 1921.

Peace By Ordeal by Frank Pakenham

Peace By Ordeal by Frank Pakenham

Peace By Ordeal: An Account from First-Hand Sources of the Negotiation and Signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 by Frank Pakenham is considered a definitive account of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations of 1921.

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Peace By Ordeal: An Account from First-Hand Sources of the Negotiation and Signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 by Frank Pakenham is considered a definitive account of the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations of 1921. The negotiations brought the War of Independence (1919-21) to an end and led to the creation of the Irish Free State . The Irish Civil War (1922-23) soon followed however bitterly dividing republicans for decades. The relationship between Britain and Ireland was also enduringly hostile for most of the 20^th century.

The book gives a chronology of Irish history beginning in 1914 when the passage of Home Rule threatened civil war between the Unionist UVF and the Irish Volunteers. However Home Rule was suspended by the outbreak of World War I and both unionists and nationalists fought for Great Britain .

Radical Irish republicans launched the 1916 Easter Rising and in the 1918 general election, Sinn Fein eclipsed the Irish Parliamentary Party. The War of Independence followed in which the IRA fought a guerrilla war against British rule seeking to establish an Irish Republic . Both sides engaged in a ruthless campaign of assassinations and atrocities. Meanwhile the Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the Unionist dominated state of Northern Ireland which remained within the United Kingdom

Domestic and international pressure and a stalemate in Ireland , resulting in a truce in 1921. The British government hosted talks in London with an Irish delegation led by Arthur Griffth, the founder of Sinn Fein and Michael Collins, the leader of the IRA guerrilla war. The British delegation included Prime Minister Lloyd George and members of his cabinet including future British leader Winston Churchill.

The British, who proved to be more experienced and skilled negotiators, forced the Irish delegation to accept British Dominion status for a politically autonomous 26 county Irish Free State in return for a British military withdrawal. The Irish delegation signed the Anglo Irish Treaty when Lloyd George threatened ‘immediate and terrible war.’ Pakenham blames Lloyd George’s sleight of hand for the turmoil which followed.

Collins and Griffth led a majority that believed the deal was the best that could be achieved and allowed political progress toward full Irish independence and unification with Northern Ireland in the future. The anti-Treaty minority led by Eamon DeValera with the support of most of the IRA accused the delegation of betrayal. They refused to accept British dominion status or to take an oath of loyalty to the British monarch. They also opposed the partition of Ireland and the creation of the unionist dominated six county state of Northern Ireland . The treaty was ratified by a majority vote in the Dail but hardliners refused to recognise what they considered a British manipulated assembly.

The Irish Civil War (1922-23) followed in which the Irish Free State government and the National Army equipped with British weaponry ultimately defeated the poorly armed and poorly led IRA. The loss of life and destruction was much greater than during the War of Independence. Bitter divisions lingered for decades in Irish politics as a result of atrocities committed by both sides and the executions of republicans by the Free State government. Relations between Ireland and Great Britain remained hostile for the much of the remainder of the 20th century.

Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (1905-2001), Anglo-Irish writer, social reformer and British politician was born at Tullynally Castle, Co. Westmeath, the ancestral Pakenham residence. He was the son of Thomas Pakenham, 5^th Earl of Longford, a Brigadier General killed in 1915 during the Gallipoli Campaign. Frank Pakenham was educated at Eton and Oxford where he became a don at Christchurch .

In 1931 he developed the Conservative Party education policy but was later persuaded to become a socialist and also converted to Catholicism. He took a seat in the House of Lords and served two terms as a minister at junior and at cabinet level with the British Labour Party from the 1940s to the 1960s.He was knighted in 1971.

In the 1960s, Pakenham, better known as Lord Longford, voiced his high profile opposition to pornography and homosexuality. In later he life he opposed the continued imprisonment of the notorious child murderer Myra Hindley. For these causes and other causes he drew ridicule from the tabloid press. Pakenham also wrote a number of books on Irish history including an official biography of Irish Taoiseach Eamon DeValera whom he greatly admired. His son Thomas, 8^th Earl of Longford (born 1933) also became a renowned writer and historian. Long Longford died in 2001.

Collins and Griffth led a majority believed the deal was the best that could be achieved and allowed political progress toward full Irish independence and unification with Northern Ireland in the future. The anti-Treaty minority led by Eamon DeValera with the support of most of the IRA accused the delegation of betrayal. They refused to accept British dominion status or to take an oath of loyalty to the British monarch. The treaty was ratified by a majority vote in the Dail but hardliners refused to recognise what they considered a British manipulated assembly.

The Irish Civil War (1922-23) followed in which the Irish Free State government and the National Army equipped with British weaponry ultimately defeated the ill-armed and poorly led IRA. The loss of life and destruction was much greater than during the War of Independence. Bitter divisions lingered for decades in Irish politics as a result of atrocities committed by both sides and the executions of republicans by the Free State government. Relations between Ireland and Great Britain remained hostile for the remainder of the 20th century.

Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford (1905-2001), Anglo-Irish writer, social reformer and British politician was born at Tullynally Castle, Co. Westmeath, the ancestral Pakenham residence. He was the son of Thomas Pakenham, 5^th Earl of Longford, a Brigadier General killed in 1915 during the Gallipoli Campaign. Frank Pakenham was educated at Eton and Oxford where he became a don at Christchurch .

In 1931 he developed the Conservative Party education policy but was persuaded to become a socialist and also converted to Catholicism. He took a seat in the House of Lords and served two terms as a minister at junior and at cabinet level with the British Labour Party from the 1940s to the 1960s.He was knighted in 1971.

In the 1960s, Pakenham, better known as Lord Longford, voiced his high profile opposition to pornography, homosexuality and the continued imprisonment of the notorious murderer Myra Hindley. For this he drew ridicule from the tabloid press. Pakenham also wrote a number of books on Irish history including an official biography of Irish Taoiseach Eamon DeValera whom he greatly admired. His son Thomas, 8^th Earl of Longford (born 1933) became a writer and historian. Long Longford died in 2001.