Black and Tans
The Black and Tans ( Irish na Dúchrónaigh ), officially the Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve , was one of two paramilitary groups in Ireland from 1920 to 1921. Officially, the Black and Tans - like the second group, the Auxiliary Division - belonged to the Royal Irish Constabulary , but in fact they acted almost independently. Both groups served to suppress and combat Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and practiced pro-British state terrorism .
background
In protest against British rule in Ireland, armed Irish nationalists occupied buildings in downtown Dublin on Easter 1916 . The so-called Easter Rising was put down and its leaders executed. In the 1918 election, the nationalist party Sinn Féin ( We Ourselves ) won a large majority.
In 1919 the IRA started the Irish War of Independence and Sinn Féin proclaimed an independent Ireland. In 1921, Unionists in Ulster were given the opportunity by the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Home Rule (1920) to exclude six counties in the northeast of the Irish island from the newly established Irish Free State .
Black and Tans
In January 1920, the British government launched a recruiting campaign for "men ready to take on a tough and dangerous job" to support the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in increasingly anti-British Ireland. This government campaign was the brainchild of Winston Churchill , who was British Secretary of War at the time .
As it turned out, there was no shortage of recruits. Many of the applicants were veterans from the First World War . In November 1921, the Black and Tans numbered about 9,500 men. This large number of men quickly led to a shortage of RIC uniforms, so that new recruits were equipped with khaki army uniforms (usually just the pants) and dark green RIC or blue British police uniforms. This mixture of colors led to the nickname "Black and Tans" (literally translated: black and brown ), a reference to a well-known pack of hunting dogs from County Limerick . The name persisted even after the group was given full uniforms.
The new recruits received superficial basic training within three months and were then quickly transferred to RIC barracks (mostly to Dublin , Munster or western Connacht ). The first group reached Ireland on March 25, 1920.
Members of the Black and Tans received the (quite good) pay of 10 shillings a day as well as full board and lodging. Despite minimal police training, their main role was to strengthen the military power of the police stations by acting as guards and escorts, reinforcing regular units, and keeping crowds under control. Because of these activities, they were viewed by the Irish population as an occupation force . They quickly “earned” a reputation as brutal thugs as the RIC's fight against the IRA and Sinn Féin increased and reprisals by the police forces due to IRA attacks by the government were tacitly tolerated. Much of the atrocities attributed to the Black and Tans were most likely perpetrated by the even more brutal Auxiliary Division . Most Irish Republicans made no distinction between the groups and use the term "Black and Tans" for the misdeeds of both units.
Over a third of the Black and Tans died or left the unit before the group (along with the rest of the Royal Irish Constabulary) was disbanded in 1922 - a very high rate. The Black and Tans and the Auxiliary Division were also known as Tudor's Toughs ( Tudor's rough guys ); named after the Police Commander Major-General Sir Henry Hugh Tudor .
The acts of the Black and Tans were hardly anything other than state-supported (counter) terrorism .
In the summer of 1920 the Black and Tans destroyed entire towns and villages in Ireland, including a .: Tuam in County Galway , Trim , Balbriggan , Knockcroghery , Thurles , Templemore , Tralee . Downtown Cork was burned down. Little emphasis was placed on upholding law and order, primarily the annihilation of Irish separatists . On the other hand, some British politicians as well as King George V made no secret of their aversion to the brutal actions of the "royal" groups, which damaged the image of Great Britain with international headlines. Still, there is no doubt about the viciousness of their actions and the atrocities they committed, and even today many Irish feel high when the Black and Tans come up. "Black and Tan" or "Tan" is still a derogatory term for English people in Ireland today. The Irish War of Independence is often referred to as the "Tan War" by modern Irish Republicans.
Beer and music
Black and Tan is also the name of a popular drink that is filled with Guinness (black) on Bass Ale or Harp Lager (brown) . The Black and Tans are also the content of the traditional folk song " (Come Out Ye) Black and Tans ".
Movies
- The feature film The Wind That Shakes the Barley by the English director Ken Loach takes the massacre of the Black and Tans to the starting point for his portrayal of Irish liberation struggle. For this he received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 . The Black and Tans appeared in the German propaganda film " Mein Leben für Irland " as early as 1941 , but only at the beginning.
- Shake Hands with the Devil (German dubbed A Handshake of the Devil , USA 1959, directed by Michael Anderson (director) ), with James Cagney as IRA leader.
literature
- Richard Bennett: The Black and Tans. Spellmount, Chalford 2007, ISBN 978-1-86227-098-5 (first edition London 1959).
- DM Leeson: The Black and Tans. British police and auxiliaries in the Irish War of Independence, 1920-1921. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-959899-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Black and Tans and auxiliaries in Ireland from eprints.qut.edu.au, accessed on February 24, 2014.
- ↑ a b c The Black and Tans on bbc.co., accessed February 24, 2014.
- ↑ Carmel McCaffrey. In Search of Ireland's Heroes . 2006. p. 233
- ↑ The Irish War on theirishwar.com, accessed on February 24, 2014.
- ↑ Come on Ya Black and Tans on YouTube