William Thomas Cosgrave

William Thomas Cosgrave

William Thomas Cosgrave ( Irish name: Liam Tomás Mac Cosgair ; born June 6, 1880 in Dublin , † November 16, 1965 ibid) was an Irish politician and successor to Michael Collins as chairman of the Irish Provisional Government from August to December 1922. Thereafter WT Cosgrave (as he is widely known) served as the first President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from December 1922 to 1932.

Political career

Cosgrave was born at 174 James's Street, Dublin, in 1880 and attended the Christian Brothers School on Malahide Road. Cosgrave first became politically active when he attended a meeting of Sinn Féin in 1905 . From 1909 to 1922 he was a Sinn Féin council member of the Dublin city government and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913 . At the Easter Rising in 1916 Cosgrave participated actively - under éamonn ceannt . After the uprising, he was sentenced to death and sent to prison in Frongoch , Wales . The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Although he was in jail, Cosgrave won both a by-election (by-election) in 1917 a seat in the House of Sinn Fein as well as in the election in 1918 as MP for the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Cosgrave was released from prison by a general amnesty in 1918 and was a member of the newly established revolutionary Dáil Éireann in 1919 . In the same year, on June 24th, Cosgrave married Louisa Flanagan in Dublin.

Minister for Counties and Municipalities

Although Cosgrave was one of the most politically experienced members of Sinn Féin, he was not part of the party's leadership. But the close friendship with Éamon de Valera brought Cosgrave a ministerial post in his government. His main task was to organize an alternative system of government and to break away from the United Kingdom - a role in which Cosgrave was very successful. In 1920 he oversaw the elections at the community level, in which proportional representation was used for the first time . Sinn Féin won in 28 of 33 parishes; these parishes immediately terminated their relations with the British and swore allegiance to the parish ministry.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty

Cosgrave and de Valera fell out over the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921 - one half of Sinn Féin (to which de Valera belonged) saw in this document a betrayal of the “Irish Republic”, for the other half it was “freedom for freedom to achieve ”(according to Michael Collins ) an important goal on the way to independence. So Cosgrave joined Collins and Arthur Griffith , the successor of de Valera as the leader of Sinn Féin, and thus became part of the provisional government under Arthur Griffith.

Chairman of the Provisional Government

Cosgrave (back right) at the sixth Imperial Conference with King George V and other Prime Ministers of the Dominions (1926)

In August 1922, both Griffith (natural death) and Collins (murdered) died in quick succession. With de Valera as the leader of the treaty opponents in the Irish Civil War , the Free State (which was just emerging, but only officially came into effect in December) had lost all of its well-known executives. Although there was the alternative General Richard Mulcahy for Collins's successor as National Army commander , he voted for Cosgrave as the new chairman. Cosgrave was thereby both President of the Dáil Éireann and Chairman of the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland . When the new Irish Free State was officially created on December 6, 1922, Cosgrave was its first Prime Minister - the official title was President of the Executive Council .

WT Cosgrave was a short, actually quiet man who, at 42 years of age, was the oldest member of the cabinet and never wanted to reach the leadership position in the country - but when he held the position, he did a very good job. One of his main tasks was to hold the still very unstable new state structure together and to prove that the Irish could rule and administer themselves. Some historians claim that Cosgrave never had great visions as a leader and was surrounded by people who would probably have been more suitable for the office, but in the more than ten years as president he is considered a very stable and mostly level-headed statesman.

Domestic politics

As the leader of the Free State government during the Civil War, Cosgrave was very ruthless when it came to defending the state against his former Republican allies. Law and order were a top priority, but many citizens refused to forgive him ordering the execution of Republican prisoners without trial. A total of 77 prisoners were executed between November 1922 and May 1923 - far more than the British executed during the entire Irish War of Independence .

In April 1923, the supporters of the Sinn Féin treaty formed a new political party, with the name Cumann na nGaedheal and Cosgrave as leaders.

The 1932 election

1932 was the year in which a new election for Dáil Éireann had to take place and although this would not have been necessary until the end of the year, Cosgrave surprisingly put it as early as February. The background to this was the emerging unrest in the country and a clear mandate was necessary for important Commonwealth negotiations in the summer. Cumann na nGaedheal led the campaign with 10 successful and stable policy back years and painted in terms of opposition to Fianna Fáil to communism on the wall. But Fianna Fáil advertised with a fresh and effective manifesto and social reforms and was able to achieve strong profits, so that Cumann na nGaedheal lost the election to Cosgrave and became the opposition.

In 1933 Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Center Party and the so-called Blueshirts united to form the new Fine Gael party . Cosgrave became its first leader and remained so until his political resignation in 1944.

Legacies

William Thomas Cosgrave

More of an effective chairman than a charismatic and colorful leader, Cosgrave led the new state through what was arguably the most difficult period in its history to lay a solid foundation for independence. The government around Cosgrave played a major role in the development from the British Empire to the British Commonwealth .

Looking back on the difficult reign, Cosgrave's role as a leader is often underestimated. In the period after the First World War , when many democratic governments developed into dictatorships , the Irish Free State under Cosgrave undoubtedly remained democratic - recognizable by the fact that Cosgrave lost his former friend, then opponent, Éamon de Valera after the 1932 election Incidents left his position. In doing so, Cosgrave nipped in the bud deliberations within the army that wanted to instigate a coup to keep him in power.

Probably the greatest confirmation of Cosgrave came from his longtime political opponent de Valera, who was reconciled with him before Cosgrave's death. De Valera said in 1932 - and shortly before his own death - to a reporter who asked him what his biggest mistake was, "not to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty". In 1932, de Valera also said to his son Vivion , after taking power and reading his predecessor Cosgrave's papers on the Commonwealth, "You were just fantastic, Viv".

death

WT Cosgrave died on November 16, 1965. The government of Fianna Fáil under Seán F. Lemass honored the dead with a state funeral, at which the entire cabinet, the leaders of all political parties and Éamon de Valera (as President of Ireland) were present.

Cosgrave's son Liam followed his father into politics in 1944 as Teachta Dála and was chairman of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977, and Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977. Cosgrave's grandson, Liam T. Cosgrave , was also TD and senator in the Seanad Éireann .

Web links

• Newspaper article about William Thomas Cosgrave in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .